SABMiller Cleans Up South Africa's Bars to Attract Women

To get more women to drink at her pub, Susan Mathane is sprucing up her ladies’ room. The South African entrepreneur worked with brewer SABMiller on a face-lift for her bar, Susan’s Place, in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg. Last year she updated the space, adding couches and a thatched roof and renovating the bathroom—changes Mathane expects will bring women through the door and encourage them to stay a while.

SABMiller is betting that financing bar renovations, part of a roughly $5 million program in South Africa, will boost stagnant sales in the country by appealing to more of the 17 million women of legal drinking age, especially those who are younger and employed. The interior rehab work includes painting and adding or updating bathrooms; the company is also buying supplies such as beer glasses, because many women don’t like drinking from bottles. “We come here because Susan keeps improving this place—it’s safe, and the toilets are very clean,” says Kgomotso Mbatha, 19.