Preventing Underage Access to Premier’s Beer Cave: Using MyCheckr Age Estimation Technology from ITL
MyCheckr situated at the entrance to the Beer Cave at a Premier store in Glasgow
Girish Jeeva, Owner & Director, Premier, Barmulloch, Glasgow
Background
Girish has owned the Premier store for three years and installed the beer cave about a year and a half ago. A beer cave is a walk-in cooler specifically designed to store large quantities alcohol at optimal temperatures.
Innovative Technology (ITL) started the partnership with the Barmulloch store about a year ago, initially utilising MyCheckr & MyCheckrMini at the till points for age verification for alcohol and tobacco sales.
In summer 2025, ITL’s MyCheckr age check technology was extended to the beer cave entrance to assist with age-related access control.
Location: Girish’s Premier, Quarrywood Avenue, Barmulloch, Glasgow
Owner & Director: Girish Jeeva
Core Business: Convenience Retail
With over 4,400 stores nationwide, Premier is the UK’s largest and fastest growing symbol group*.
All Premier stores are locally owned by independent retailers.
Challenges
The store has several schools and colleges located nearby and so many children use the store. Girish needed a device to help prevent those underage from entering the beer cave, to protect minors accessing alcohol and safeguard the business by reducing liability and ensuring legal compliance.
Staff often feel pressured when determining a person’s age. Human judgement during the age check process is influenced by a number of factors such as pressure, intimidation, mood, fatigue, distractions, unconscious bias (people tend to be more accurate when estimating people close to their own age) and even confrontation when asking for ID.
The store was also experiencing an increasing amount of shoplifting.
Aims & Objectives
As a responsible retailer, Girish’s team at Premier take Challenge 25 seriously to ensure they stay compliant. The Challenge 25 policy plays a critical role in preventing underage access to age-restricted products like alcohol, tobacco, and vapes. The principle is simple: if a customer looks under 25, staff should ask for ID before selling age-restricted products. Assisted age estimation technology is designed to reinforce Challenge 25, not replace it.
The store embraces the latest innovations so were keen to integrate technology at the beer cave entrance to help:
• Protect employees during the often difficult age check decision making process
• Protect the business to ensure they stay complaint and deter theft
• Protect underage customers from harm by preventing access to age-related products
• Provide a seamless shopping experience for those over 25
Project Plan & Solution
Following the success of the MyCheckrMini implementations at the till point, the decision was made to install MyCheckr at the entrance to their beer cave to prevent underage access.
Staff needed a mechanism to be able to quickly react to underage customers trying to enter the beer cave without leaving the till point so ITL recommended MyCheckr linked with MyConnect.
How does it work?
The beer cave door is controlled by MyCheckr which is set with an age threshold of 25 years.
If a customer approaching the beer cave appears over 25, the door will automatically open with no interaction.
If a customer approaches the beer cave who appears under 25 the door remains closed. The MyCheckr is linked to a Hub, so alerts are sent to staff via the MyConnect App (https://www.innovative-technology.com/age-identity-verification/#MyConnect-section). Staff at the till point have the app on a tablet which notify them of any potential underage customers at the beer cave. The customer will need to show ID to the member of staff in order to gain access. Once the ID has been checked, staff can remotely open the door to the beer cave and allow access.
MyConnect also records all activity in a digital format for compliance logging too. The age check process does not store any images so privacy is assured, but age approvals and denials are logged for audit purposes.
Achievements & Results
• Shoplifting eliminated: Since installing MyCheckr at the beer cave entrance, the store have reported no theft. If someone enters the store with the intention of shoplifting when they see the MyCheckr device it makes them reconsider their intentions, therefore acting as an effective theft deterrent
• Seamless shopping experience for over 25s: Frictionless, fast (< 1 second) non-intrusive age checks with automatic entry for those overage
• Efficient customer service: Automatic entry gives staff more time to serve customers and be more efficient at the till
• Time savings: Remote notifications for underage customers via MyConnect saves time and allows more effective deployment of resources
• Improved confidence to ask for ID: If a customer is flagged as underage it gives staff the reassurance that they need to ID them, removing subjectivity and awkwardness
• Less confrontation & frustration: As the technology is recommending the ID check, customers are less likely to be aggressive towards staff
Additional features
If a customer appears underage but is over 25 and have previously presented ID, they may wish to be enrolled to allow automatic entry to the beer cave. Employees can easily action this via MyConnect at the till point, ensuring a convenient shopping experience for future visits. Approved young staff members can also be enrolled for uninterrupted access to the beer cave.
A full audit log is available with digital records of all age checks for compliance audits. This information can be easily downloaded and exported.
Interested in preventing underage access to age-restricted products in your store?
Contact sales@innovative-technology.com to find out more.
*A symbol group is a type of retail franchise in the UK and Ireland where a central company acts as a wholesaler and supplier to independent retailers who then trade under a common brand name.
MyCheckr is a standalone device with a camera and screen that performs anonymous age checks
MyCheckrMini - compact version of MyCheckr without a screen
Rebecca Brierley
Innovative Technology
rbrierley@innovative-technology.com
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