Optus Stadium and FSG NickNack reach one million drinks in reusable cups

One million drinks served in FSG NickNack reusable cups.

When Optus Stadium introduced the reusable cups in March, it didn’t start with a trial in one bar or a small section of the venue. Working with VenuesLive, the stadium committed to serving all tap beer in reusable cups from day one.

It was an Australian first for a major stadium. There was no comparable local operation to follow, and the system needed to be ready for the demands of a 60,000-seat venue heading into a busy AFL season.

Six months later, Optus Stadium has reached one million drinks served in reusable cups. The milestone was recorded during September’s Friday night AFL Semi-Final, after a season that has seen as many as 90,000 drinks served in reusable cups over a single weekend.

The achievement belongs to Optus Stadium, VenuesLive, the hospitality teams and the fans who have made the change part of their match-day routine. It also gives other Australian venues something they haven’t had before: a local example of venue-wide reuse operating through a full AFL season.

What reuse asks of a venue

Moving to reusable cups changes more than the type of drinking vessel a venue purchases.

For stadium operators, it means making decisions about storage, distribution, collection, transport and washing, while keeping the bars running through the busiest periods of an event. Those decisions involve hospitality staff, operational teams, suppliers and the people managing the venue’s event calendar.

FSG NickNack, part of FrothStop Group, established and now operates the closed-loop system at Optus Stadium. The work includes a dedicated wash operation in Perth, with the capacity to process up to 10,000 cups an hour, and the collection and return of cups around the stadium’s event schedule.

That operation has been tested throughout the season, including weekends with consecutive events and tens of thousands of cups moving between the stadium and the wash facility.

For the venue, it’s what allows reusable cups to become part of everyday beverage service rather than a separate initiative that needs special arrangements every time there’s an event.

Getting the cups back

The operational arrangements were only part of the challenge. A venue-wide system also meant introducing a new routine to everyone attending matches at Optus Stadium.

Within two months of the launch, the cup return rate was already above 94%.

That figure matters because the ongoing supply of reusable cups depends on getting them back. Washing capacity and stock levels can be planned, but the proportion of cups spectators return has a direct bearing on how many remain in circulation and how often replacements are needed.

At Optus Stadium, collection points have become part of the match-day experience. Fans buy their beer as usual and return the cup when they’ve finished. For other operators weighing up a move to reuse, the early figures show what a large crowd was willing to do when a new system was introduced across the whole stadium at once.

A practical reference for other venues

The first six months at Optus Stadium have shown that the operational model can work at the scale a major Australian stadium requires. The system now supports the venue’s regular event calendar, including some of the largest crowds of the AFL season.

Delivering reuse across an entire stadium has required close cooperation between VenuesLive, Optus Stadium and FSG NickNack. Six months in, the collection arrangements, washing capacity and event-to-event turnaround through a full AFL season, providing practical operating experience that can inform future projects.

Optus Stadium and VenuesLive made the commitment to reuse before a single cup had been served. Six months and one million serves later, their experience gives other stadiums a valuable reference for making the same move.

Congratulations to everyone involved, and here’s to the next million.

FrothStop Group develops drinks dispensing and beverage service solutions for major venues, helping operators serve large crowds faster, with less wastage and a better experience for fans. The group includes the FrothStop Multi Pour and Elevate dispensing systems, FSG NickNack’s closed-loop reusable cup system, FSG eCup and FSG RegardMe Quota. Find out more about our beverage service solutions or get in touch with the team.