The designated driver has long occupied an uneasy position in American social life — celebrated in public service announcements, tolerated at the table, and handed a glass of water while everyone else orders another round.

Now Heineken USA and OpenTable are attempting to upgrade the experience, or at least make it slightly less abstemious.

The two companies have formed a partnership, announced Monday, that allows diners booking reservations through OpenTable to identify themselves as the evening's designated driver. In return, Heineken will cover the cost of a Heineken 0.0, the company's non-alcoholic beer, and provide a ride-share voucher through SafeRides.org for a future outing.

The program, which begins Thursday at select restaurants in Houston, runs through Oct. 31.

"By elevating the DD experience, we want to raise awareness that opting out of alcohol doesn't mean opting out of the fun," said Anne de Graaf, chief corporate affairs officer at Heineken USA. (What, you were expecting the campaign to say, "Against fun"?)

The initiative operates under Heineken's broader "There's No Such Thing As Fine To Drive" campaign, which has the admirable quality of being both a slogan and a complete sentence. Ms. de Graaf called the OpenTable arrangement "first-of-its-kind," a designation that may say more about how long the industry has ignored designated drivers than about the novelty of the idea itself.

Heineken cited survey data suggesting that 71 percent of Americans would be more likely to plan a safe ride home if prompted at the time of booking, and that 64 percent would volunteer for designated-driver duty more often if someone else picked up their bar tab. The Houston-specific findings were grimmer: 34 percent of respondents said they had underestimated their intoxication until they were already driving.

Whether a free non-alcoholic beer and a future ride-share credit will meaningfully change behavior remains to be seen. But it does suggest that the industry has finally noticed the person at the table nursing a soda — and decided, at minimum, to buy them something Dutch.

Original story published in mediapost.com: "Heineken, OpenTable Buy One For Designated Drivers -- A Non-Alcoholic One 07/28/2026"