Heineken has lost its legal case against Netherlands supermarket chain Jumbo.
The Amstel brewer had taken the retailer to court over it halting orders of a clutch of Heineken brands.
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A spokesperson for Jumbo at the time, which is part of global buying group Everest, told Just Drinks: “Everest and its partners decided to temporarily purchase fewer Heineken products as they find the procurement prices Heineken is asking [to be] too high.”
Heineken then said Jumbo had paused orders of “a large part of our product range”.
“Jumbo has disregarded multiple requests from Heineken Netherlands to resume orders as usual and honour our agreements,” the Amstel brewer added.
In the court’s ruling yesterday (22 May), the judge concluded Heineken did not have “sufficient grounds to grant its claims in these summary proceedings”, as the brewer’s long-term agreement with the retailer came to an end on 31 January last year, after Jumbo joined the buying alliance Everest.
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By GlobalDataJumbo signed up to the Everest and Epic Partners buying alliances in 2023. Everest includes Germany’s retail chain Edeka, Netherlands-based Picnic and French retail cooperative Système U.
The court filing noted: “Given the foregoing, it is not plausible that the long-term agreement between Heineken Netherlands and Jumbo was continued unchanged after 31 January 2024, and the interim relief judge assumes in these summary proceedings that Jumbo terminated the agreement with Heineken Netherlands as of 31 January 2024.”
Since joining Everest, Jumbo has negotiated pricing for Heineken products through the buying alliance.
The judge added in their ruling however that it wasn’t clear whether Jumbo had granted Heineken a “reasonable notice period” in advance of the termination of their agreement.
“Jumbo has not substantiated at all that the period between 23 November 2023 and 31 January 2024 is a reasonable notice period given all the circumstances of the case, and the interim relief judge does not consider this to be plausible at first glance,” they said.
Heineken’s Netherlands business will be required to pay up €2,375 to Jumbo in legal costs.
Commenting on the ruling, Heineken said it disagreed with the court’s decision that its “continuing performance agreement was lawfully terminated by Jumbo”, given “the court itself indicated that the termination was not carried out in an appropriate manner. The fact that our claim was dismissed on ‘technical grounds’ is therefore unsatisfactory”.
It added: “An agreement is an agreement. Heineken Netherlands attaches great importance to the fulfillment of contractual obligations. As we believe that Jumbo has failed to meet its obligations by boycotting our products, we have brought this matter before the court.
“The court acknowledges our position – namely, that we have maintained a sixty-year business relationship with Jumbo, which constitutes a so-called continuing performance agreement (‘duurovereenkomst’), including a purchase obligation.”
A spokesperson for Jumbo said the retailer was “pleased” with the decision, and stressed it was “keen to once again offer our customers Heineken’s full range of beers at an affordable price”.
“The judge confirmed that the agreement between Heineken Netherlands and Jumbo has been terminated”, they said in a statement. “As a result, Jumbo is permitted to continue negotiations with Heineken regarding a complete and competitively priced beer range for our customers. Jumbo is conducting these negotiations through the international purchasing organisation Everest, which Jumbo joined in 2023.”
It added that customers would still be able to purchase “part of Heineken’s range” at its supermarkets, “including crates of regular Heineken, chilled Heineken, Heineken 0.0, Texels, Amstel (regular), Brand, and Apple Bandit”.
Heineken said that it was to review the court’s decision “thoroughly”.
“Regardless of the legal proceedings, our intention remains to continue the long-standing collaboration with Jumbo, so that Jumbo customers can continue to access their favorite beer on store shelves.”
