Why only Hansa?!
Why only Hansa?!
Journalist: Henning Gran Kjøsnes
Translator: Eva Weston Szemes
Illustrator: Ingvild Sperstad
A lot of people have been wondering why Samfunnet is selling what they are selling. And now that even the wise men of PB have said in their revue earlier this autumn that they wonder why, we in Tuntreet have listened and investigated the case.
We mainly wanted to investigate three questions: Why is there only Hansa at Samfunnet, how does Samfunnet choose what to sell and why does UKA always sell so many other things? To get the answer to the first two questions we went to Samfunnet’s office and spoke to Head of Finance Egil Natvik Vestrheim and Head of Bodega Rakel Orvedal.
We ask: “Why is there only Hansa at Samfunnet, can you explain that?”
“We buy our beer through SiÅs, and they are committed through Nores, a big alliance of purchase for bars and other establishments buying food and drink. Hansa-Borg is their main supplier.” Egils says. Rakel adds: “It is part of the serving agreement.”
“But what is the serving agreement?”
“The serving agreement is an agreement between us and SiÅs about how purchases and serving is to happen on the premises. It is the reason why we cannot have food from other suppliers here. It has to go through SiÅs, unless there is a specific deal with them in place. For example, associations are allowed to try to order a different type of beer for their revues.” They elaborate that they get good prices and kickbacks from Hansa, so the prices of drinks can increase quickl
What are the details of this agreement?
“We have to pay a bit over a million NOK per year for them to handle all the administrative things, the liquor license and paying the bar attendants at all SiÅs events. So we have considered everything and concluded that it’s a good deal for us, so we don’t have to take on all the responsibilities around having a liquor license.” They have considered trying to deal with the liquor license themselves, and doing all the purchases and everything else themselves, but they have concluded that it would be too much administrative work for the volunteers. Samfunnet would also have to hire a general manager, and they have decided that this is not the best solution as of today. “Samfunnet does not have any employees now and hiring someone would mean a lot of new rules around being an employer.”
“But why would it be such a hassle to have our own liquor license?”, we ask, pointing out that a lot of small student pubs in Oslo can handle it on their own. “I mean… The rules around a liquor license are quite strict. And you have to have a general manager. This means that when the board changes very often, it’s nice to have an employee on the side who is dealing with this. So I think it is very nice for us to have them do it. They deal with all the responsibilities of an employer.”
Before the serving agreement, they could not even choose their own prices. They generally have more wiggle room now than before, and the selection is better as well. They have noticed that a lot of people want an even better selection and tell us that they are working on it. For example, other brands like Nøgne øl. They often have technical issues with others. For example, Nores only has Bayer in keykeg barrels, while Samfunnet’s system uses tanks.
Større utval under UKA
To answer the question about why UKA is so different, we went to the UKA office and spoke to Head of Serving Erlend Salvigsen Okkenhaug. We asked why there is such a big difference between UKA and Samfunnet. He explained that it is simply because UKA is a festival, and the work there is more like a project, while Samfunnet is run continuously. Both have the same terms through SiÅs. It is also much easier to try something new if you can prepare ahead of time. And UKA also has a lot more volunteers than Samfunnet, he adds.
Oftentimes, an experiment during UKA ends up as part of the day-to-day running of Samfunnet, like the beer mugs in the Bodega. They started as an UKA thing. It is not always easy to predict what will work, and it can vary from year to year. Cocktails on tap worked well in 2022 and not so well in 2024. Some things that sound cool can end up not working, like Breezer buckets and things you don’t really believe in, like Bock beer, can work really well. The fact that UKA is for a limited time makes it much easier to evaluate what works and what does not. It makes it a lot easier to experiment.
