Australian Hotelier August 2018

Hotelier AUSTRALIAN

AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL HOTEL INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

vol. 35 no. 7 - AUGUST 2018

KANGURU® THE ENERGY DRINK EVOLVED.

IN THIS ISSUE: AGE PREVIEW | PROPERTY AND INVESTMENT | VOTE IN ALIA 2018

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CONTENTS | ED’S NOTE

Vanessa Cavasinni

Editor’s Note

A

big hello to all of Australian Hotelier’s readers. This is a special issue of the magazine for me, as it will be my last for some time. I am heading off on maternity leave for the next year, so will be on a completely different kind of adventure!

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last three years on this publication, and covering the machinations, trends, issues and opportunities that have arisen within the pub world. It’s such a dynamic industry and it’s been my pleasure to cover it. I hope you have enjoyed Australian Hotelier and the Pub Leaders Summit these past few years.

I have great confidence that the magazine will go from strength to strength in the next year as the industry continues to innovate and evolve. Thank you all for being such fantastic operators to write for – I look forward to joining you once more in mid-2019!

In the meantime, please enjoy this issue of the magazine. We’ve got an interview with CEO Paul Waterson of Australian Venue Co on the national group’s acquisition and investment strategy. It's a great read, on page 16. Three operators talk about how they’ve built up such strong identities for their pubs on p 22, and we also take a look at the sizeable new sports bar offering from Momento Hospitality on page 24.

See you again next year!

16

Vanessa Cavasinni, Editor P: 02 8586 6201 | E: vcavasinni@intermedia.com.au

NEXT MONTH

22 26

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Contents | August Special Features

Regulars

10 AGE Preview: What to see and do at gaming’s biggest event.

16 Property and Investment: Insight ED’S PICK into Australian Venue Co’s acquisition strategy.

24 Non-Alcoholic: A new Australian energy drink is set to hit the pub market.

22 Branding: How to create a strong identity for your venue.

24 Sports: Bella Vista Hotel’s AllStars bar scores a touchdown.

8 News: The latest happenings around the country.

26 Design and Build: Landmark is proving that Darwin City isn’t the only place to be in the NT. 30 Sports Calendar: We bring you LIVE! sporting highlights for August.

AGE Review • Training, Super and HR • Foodservice

PUBLISHER: Paul Wootton EDITOR: Vanessa Cavasinni PUBLISHED BY:

Food and Beverage Media Pty Ltd 41 Bridge Road GLEBE NSW Australia 2037 Tel: 02 9660 2113 Fax: 02 9660 4419

vcavasinni@intermedia.com.au

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER:

Jason Wild Tel: 02 8586 6213 • jwild@intermedia.com.au

GENERAL MANAGER SALES – LIQUOR & HOSPITALITY GROUP: Shane T. Williams

GROUP ART DIRECTOR – LIQUOR AND HOSPITALITY:

Kea Thorburn kthorburn@intermedia.com.au

HEAD OF CIRCULATION:

Chris Blacklock cblacklock@intermedia.com.au

PRODUCTION MANAGER:

Jacqui Cooper jacqui@intermedia.com.au

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DISCLAIMER

This publication is published by Food and Beverage Media Pty Ltd (the “Publisher”). Materials in this publication have been created by a variety of different entities and, to the extent permitted by law, the Publisher accepts no liability for materials created by others. All materials should be considered protected by Australian and international intellectual property laws. Unless you are authorised by law or the copyright owner to do so, you may not copy any of the materials. The mention of a product or service, person or company in this publication does not indicate the Publisher’s endorsement. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Publisher, its agents, company officers or employees. Any use of the information contained in this publication is at the sole risk of the person using that information. The user should make independent enquiries as to the accuracy of the information before relying on that information. All express or implied terms, conditions, warranties, statements, assurances and representations in relation to the Publisher, its publications and its services are expressly excluded save for those conditions and warranties which must be implied under the laws of any State of Australia or the provisions of Division 2 of Part V of the Trade Practices Act 1974 and any statutory modification or re-enactment thereof. To the extent permitted by law, the Publisher will not be liable for any damages including special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages (including but not limited to economic loss or loss of profit or revenue or loss of opportunity) or indirect loss or damage of any kind arising in contract, tort or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such loss of profits or damages. While we use our best endeavours to ensure accuracy of the materials we create, to the extent permitted by law, the Publisher excludes all liability for loss resulting from any inaccuracies or false or misleading statements that may appear in this publication.

Copyright © 2018 - Food and Beverage Media Pty Ltd

6 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

Average Total Distribution: 5,497 AMAA/CAB Yearly Audit Period ending 31 March 2018.

NEWS

IS SMS THE NEW WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH PATRONS? There are so many messages that a venue has to get out to its patrons – the live acts its putting on, the major sporting events it will be broadcasting, a new menu or F&B specials, school holiday fun and so much more. So how do you convey these messages?

The tried and true method is via email campaigns – especially in the last decade as smartphones make email accessible anywhere at any time. However with the average office worker receiving 120 emails a day, your message can be just one more lost in a mass cull of unopened emails.

Social media is the other big method of communication that is an absolute must these days – particularly in reaching millennials and Gen Z patrons, who use social media several times a day. However, as the likes of Facebook and Instagram have cottoned on to their value as the conveyors of messages between businesses and their audiences, new algorithms are forcing businesses to ‘pay to play’, to have their messages and posts be seen by their followers. Even when these posts do make it on to your patrons’ feeds, they still have to compete with every other post by a friend or family member, brand, news or pop culture account that your patron follows.

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So how to ensure that your message is heard?

One way that has been largely left unused is SMS. It’s a frontier that many businesses worry is too invasive and will have an adverse effect in pushing patrons away from their venues. But new research shows that this might not be the case any longer. The SMS Advantage Report by SAP & Loudhouse Research, suggests that 64 per cent of consumers believe that businesses should use SMS to interact with their customers more than they do now.

SMS engagement stats are also worth considering, with open rates around 98 per cent (as compared to email, where a good open rate hovers around 20 per cent).

While SMS may not be the best platform for alerting customers of every new thing happening in a venue, early hospitality adopters are using the technology for the likes of table reservations and the promotion of one or two major events per year that will likely sell out quickly – the SMS creates a sense of intimacy and urgency.

As consumer trends move towards a preference for automated interactions (even within hospitality to an extent), SMS is definitely an avenue publicans are now considering when communicating with patrons.

SMS STATS

• The average open rate for SMS is 98% • 90% of SMS are read within the first three minutes of being received • 82% of respondents say they open every SMS text message they receive. * • 64% of consumers believe businesses should use SMS to interact with customers more often.

* Shift Communications Consumer Survey

CHECK OUT THESHOUT.COM.AU

NEWS

The Australian Hotel and Brewery

MOELIS READYING REDCAPE FOR IPO Since Moelis Australia purchased Redcape Hotel Group for $677 million in mid-2017, the national pub group has continued to bolster its pub portfolio across the country, spending over $200 million in pub acquisitions in the past twelve months.

In the latest sign that the financial services group is fattening up the already substantial portfolio before an IPO bid, Redcape acquired two significant pub assets in western Sydney in the last month – the Vauxhall Inn in Granville, and the Australian Hotel and Brewery in Rouse Hill. The two transactions, made within days of each other, totalled around $90 million.

VAUXHALL INN Redcape has turned its focus back onto Sydney gaming, with the acquisition of this Granville gaming pub off Bondi Asset Management (BAM), another investment fund.

Vauxhall Inn was the first asset purchased by the fund started by Andrew Lazarus of Eastern Hotels and business partner Stuart King. BAM purchased the gaming hotel in 2016 for just over $15 million, when it was ranked at number 68 in the hotel rankings and has since improved the gaming offering and revenue. As of December 2017 it has moved up to 47 in the rankings.

The opportunity to purchase pubs within the Top 50 gaming rankings in a high-traffic area has become increasingly rare, as Andrew Jolliffe of Ray White Hotels, who brokered the deal, explained.

“Hotels like the Vauxhall Inn occupy footholds at major transport intersections, and are similarly positioned in respect of relativity to the epicentre of housing development growth corridors throughout Sydney and its

well publicised 100,000 new resident annual expansion rate.”

“As such they are in equal parts highly sought after, hugely profitable and particularly robust in terms of revenue reliability,” advised Jolliffe.

The 3510 sqm hotel includes a modern bar and TAB offering, as well as gaming room with 30 EGMs. It is also located on the corner of the Hume Highway and Parramatta Road, two of the busiest arterials in Sydney. It’s this location that made the pub an attractive asset to Redcape CEO Dan Brady.

“Situated in the suburb of Granville, at the Southern gateway to Parramatta, the purchase of the Vauxhall Inn Hotel represents the addition of another real estate backed quality hotel asset to the Redcape portfolio.”

“The immediate area is currently enjoying significant investment as part of the NSW government’s Parramatta Road Corridor Urban Transformation Strategy. Having recently undergone a renovation by the vendors, the acquisition is an obvious choice given our existing presence in what continues to be a strong growth area of Sydney,” commented Brady.

Vauxhall Inn was purchased for more than $40 million.

AUSTRALIAN HOTEL AND BREWERY Redcape has also moved into the craft beer business with the purchase of the Australian Hotel and Brewery off Momento Hospitality.

The pub and craft beer brewery based in Sydney’s north-west were sold in an offmarket transaction, brokered by John Musca of JLL Hotels & Hospitality. The sale price is

suggested to be around the $50 million mark.

The hotel and brewery is set on a 1.3 hectare site adjacent to Bunnings Rouse Hill. The hotel has a 2500 sqm trading footprint which includes a large bistro, public and lounge bars, function space, gaming and wagering facilities, a beer garden, children’s play areas and extensive onsite parking. There are also DA approvals for activation of the street frontage and for extensive new beer gardens, which Redcape are expected to capitalise on.

The brewery is the other successful part of the hotel business – it has won multiple awards for its craft beers, which are distributed nationally and internationally. Australian Brewery also has approvals to double its production capacity and establish on-site packaging and canning facilities.

While the Colosimo family will remain involved in the brewery business, Redcape will foster the growth of the brewery through its considerable resources, and will distribute the beers through its 30 pubs nationally.

“The Colosimo family have done an excellent job at building up this hotel and positioning it for long term growth,” commented Dan Brady, Redcape’s CEO. ”Anyone who has been to The Australian Hotel and Brewery will have first-hand experience of the personal touches evident across the vast range of food, drink and entertainment offered. This is a classic local pub that is integral to the social fabric of the community and we intend to ensure this continues. We look forward to being part of The Brewery’s ongoing success story and providing support to the team there so that they can continue to grow their creatively authentic craft beer brands.”

AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER AUGUST 2018 | 9

AGE PREVIEW

AGE continues to be a major calendar event for anyone involved with gaming

THE PLACE TO BE

T

he Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE) will hit Sydney this 14-16 August for its 29th year. Coming off the back of a successful return to the new International Convention Centre (ICC) in 2017, AGE organisers are planning to build off the momentum of last year’s event at the same harbour-side location. AGE 2017 was so successful that it was a finalist at the Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia’s annual awards, in the Best Industry Association Event category.

Building off that success, this year’s expo floor has sold out, meaning pub operators will have their choice of the latest technologies, products and services to learn more about – not just in gaming but in all facets of pub operations. Exhibitors cover a range business streams, including F&B, back-ofhouse operations, POS technology, security measures and more. It’s a one-stop show for anyone in the industry.

This year’s AGE will also focus on professional development and education, with appearances from representatives of government, regulation, technology, gaming, communications and research appearing as part of the program.

Ross Ferrar, CEO of the Gaming Technologies Association, believes AGE 2018 will be the best expo yet.

“AGE strives to deliver a bigger and better show year on year for all of our stakeholders. With a core focus on technology and the sustainability of the gaming industry, we believe 2018 will deliver maximum value and a truly enjoyable experience for visitors, exhibitors and sponsors.”

Check out some of the highlights you can expect from a few of this year’s exhibitors.

IT’S ALL ABOUT WHAT’S INSIDE Aristocrat couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome customers to AGE as it once again demonstrates that “it’s all about what’s inside.” Together with its stand partners, Aristocrat will showcase every element, every innovation and everything it has. Experience its commitment and passion

10 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

for every aspect of what sets its gaming experience and customer commitment apart.

Aristocrat’s goal is to give you more of what works for you and your customers including its new range of venue management solutions, leading-edge cabinets to transform your floor and a diverse portfolio that illustrates both choice and flexibility for your venue.

Evident through its AGE stand design, Aristocrat’s content strategy focuses on four unique player experiences including brands, on trend, innovation and next-gen content.

The branded content leverages built-up equity and reinvigorates favourites from years gone by. As pioneers of the Hold ‘n’ Spin game mechanic, Aristocrat is committed to supporting and innovating in this space to address this significant segment. You can expect to see the latest iterations of both Lightning Link™ and Dragon Link on the stand.

On trend content is an experience that innovates on what’s popular right now. Aristocrat has built on the popular Hold ‘n’ Spin mechanic to bring you Welcome to Fantastic Jackpots™ which addresses the growing linked progressive segment. Entertain a variety of players with selectable multi-denomination, scalable bonus prizes and cash on reels.

Every innovation at Aristocrat is underpinned by its culture and company values. The innovation player experience is where Aristocrat spearheads new categories and game mechanics. Debuting at AGE is Cash Boost™, its latest innovation that features a free games feature incorporating a ladder style mechanic.

The next gen content strives to create new product segments through new and alternate player experiences. Aristocrat facilitates a culture of innovation and welcomes top industry talent to create next gen content through its Think Bigger initiative –

IT’S ALL ABOUT WHAT’S INSIDE

From the inspired artists at our design studios to the technical expertise of our mechanical engineers, our core value of passion drives everything we do. Our goal is to give you more of what works for you and your customers like our new range of Venue Management Solutions, and leading-edge cabinets to transform your floor.

Immerse yourself in our diverse portfolio that illustrates both choice and flexibility for your venue.

Visit us at stand 100 at the Australasian Gaming Expo 2018 to see how we can build on your success, together.

EVERY ELEMENT. EVERY INNOVATION. EVERYTHING WE HAVE .

AGE PREVIEW

Intrust Super will be at stand 343

Aristocrat’s innovation accelerator.

As a global sector leader, Aristocrat is giving everything it has for its customers’ success. Aristocrat actively attracts and invests in top industry D&D talent to create the world’s greatest gaming experience, every day.

Join Aristocrat at AGE 2018 at stand 100 as it showcases how “it’s all about what’s inside.”

AN EXCITING NEW SAVINGS TOOL FOR ALL AGES The exhibitor floor at this year’s AGE will be full of exciting innovations and developments to help your hospitality venue go to the next level. Many industry providers, such as hospitality super fund Intrust Super, will be demonstrating products and services that are designed to help you and your staff.

Intrust Super partners with the industry to ensure that the retirement savings of hospitality workers are well looked after. These hardworking individuals have enough on their plates managing odd hours and the costs of everyday living without having to think about retirement savings.

Due to these challenges, they could be missing out on several Government super bonuses that they could be eligible for.

At this year’s expo, Intrust Super will be introducing a fantastic new savings tool, designed to help hospitality workers improve their retirement savings. The fund understands that although superannuation is a great vehicle to save money, it’s hard to prioritise super savings when other costs take up so much of the weekly budget. With this new savings tool, SuperCents, Intrust Super members will be better positioned to make extra super contributions and potentially receive Government bonuses.

Intrust Super members can use SuperCents to invest spare change from their everyday transactions into their super account. Rather than finding enough money to contribute a lump sum, super savers can choose to contribute very small amounts that they are less likely to miss over time.

And the small change they save now could add up to thousands of extra retirement savings in the future.

SuperCents is designed to help your staff grow their super savings without even having to think about it. It’s a savings tool that makes sense for hospitality workers, and suits their time and finances. It could help them become eligible to receive extra super money from the Government – or even save for a house deposit!

At this year’s expo, the Intrust Super team will be on hand to discuss SuperCents with attendees on the exhibitor floor. The industry super fund has been serving pubs and clubs for 30 years, with tailored products and services designed to suit your business. With streamlined super administration, award-winning insurance options, member discounts and now a brand new super contribution service, Intrust Super can help make super even simpler. Find out how SuperCents could benefit your staff – talk to Intrust Super at this year’s AGE at stand 343.

12 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

HEATING UP THE OUTDOOR SPACE Café style heaters are the ideal way to entertain in the outdoors anytime of the year. Supagas provides a complete solution for all of your commercial heating needs for any kind of pub venue. It sells and rents heaters; provides LP gas; as well as servicing and repairing heaters.

Supagas also takes the stress out of ordering by planning your delivery requirements, so that you never run out of gas.

A café style heater provides a cost-effective heating solution. By offering a wide range of commercial heaters, Supagas can fulfil your warmest desires as well as add style to your outdoor area, corporate function or any other outdoor needs.

Supagas’ heater and heatagas range includes: Patio Heater: A patio heater with its simple design is a classic choice to warm up outdoor spaces. Easy to ignite and quick to heat, this is a no-brainer.

Tungsten Smart-HeatTM Portable: The Tungsten Smart-HeatTM Portable Gas Heater provides an innovative design and practical functionality.

Its adjustable tilting head ensures the constant and consistent warmth goes exactly where you want it.

Fire Fountain: The Fire Fountain has been specially constructed for lower ceiling areas. Standing at two metres and providing three separate heat/flame settings, it offers the perfect way to add ambience in any environment.

Pyramid Heaters: Leading the way in style and appearance the Pyramid Heater can be used all year round, as a heater in winter and a lantern in summer.

It creates a magical setting in any environment.

Fire Lamp: This smart retro-style heater lamp feature creates a mesmerising effect at night, adding a touch of flair within its surroundings.

Speak to a Supagas representative at AGE and ask about its current commercial promotions to take advantage of its ‘Supa’ service.

WHEN EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS Prominently featured in the Cummins Allison booth this year will be the JetScan iFX® series of ticket and banknote processing solutions designed specifically for gaming venues. The JetScan iFX series of machines can process and separate next generation banknotes from current series notes as well as scan and image gaming tickets for electronic archive.

The JetScan iFX machines are complete solutions for your back office because they

Fire Fountain

MyPlace loyalty app fully integrated with Bepoz Point of Sale.

YOUR NEW CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION CHANNEL.

1300 023 769

sales@bepoz.com.au

www.bepoz.com.au

AGE PREVIEW

handle large volumes of cash and tickets on a daily basis with unparalleled speed and accuracy, enabling your operation to run at peak efficiency.

They have the ability to connect to your cash management system making the whole process more efficient; and increasing security, productivity and profits.

The JetScan iFX series can grow as your needs change, are the most affordable sorters in the industry, and can: • processe and separate mixed currency from tickets • image and store tickets • provide a total count for currency and for tickets • verify count accuracy • reduce the number of hours dedicated to clearance operations • eliminate the need to physically store tickets With a JetScan iFX series machine you can rest assured that your ticket and note handling problems will be solved.

Also featured this year will be the Money Machine® 2 self-service coin counter. Adding a self-service coin redemption machine into your operation provides an essential service for your customers, simplifies the coin counting process with speed, accuracy and convenience, keeps cashiers focused on service delivery and improves operational efficiencies.

The Money Machine 2 allows your cage team to redirect customers with containers of coins to a selfservice kiosk keeping cashier’s windows open and preventing the need to process coins in the vault.

Cummins Allison’s currency machines have a proven track record of dependability, durability and longevity, and are backed by world-leading customer service.

Check out the JetScan iFX series of currency scanners and the Money Machine 2 in action at stand 610 at AGE.

“With a core focus on technology and the sustainability of the gaming industry, we believe 2018 will deliver maximum value and a truly enjoyable experience for visitors.”

Ross Ferrar, Gaming Technologies Association.

CHECK OUT MYPLACE There’s a real buzz around customer retention strategies at the moment. From loyalty programs, market segmentation, customer profiling, or rewards, it’s a lot to take in when a venue is considering launching a customer engagement program.

14 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

The

Bepoz will highlight the MyPlace app at stand 360

Bepoz Point of Sale (POS) has always had strong loyalty, membership and vouchering capabilities.

Now coupled with the launch of its first loyalty app MyPlace, the offering just got a whole lot stronger. Traditionally seen as a cumbersome, time-consuming task, with little return, loyalty programs and customer profiling is now a seamless process with Bepoz POS’ MyPlace solution. While a time commitment is required the management and reporting capabilities make it worthwhile.

Create interactive customer engagement with this single dynamic app and build a lasting loyalty program that will become your go-to customer communication channel.

MyPlace has a host of great features including: What’s On: Promoting everything happening at the venue from weekly to special one-off events.

Promotions: Marketing the venue’s food and beverage or merchandise offering.

Ticketing and vouchers: Members can buy, view and manage their social schedule, and ensure they have tickets for all their favourite events and venue promotions Member profile: Houses a customer’s details, point balance, tickets, vouchers, history and loyalty card.

Customers love the fact that their data is verified and housed in one database. Communications are actually getting to their members either via email or push notification. Push notifications have fast become integral in promoting events and as last minute reminders that assist in getting the attendance numbers up, boosting revenue.

The gift certificate features gives members the option to instantly purchase a voucher online and send it to the recipient. It’s all perfectly integrated with Bepoz POS and another great little boost to sales revenue.

The integration syncs live between the app and Bepoz POS which includes points, vouchers, promotions, gift certificates, ticketing, events, and member profile information. Customisable content and branding.

2 Find out more information about ® e chin y Ma e MyPlace at stand 360. n o M

KEEPING YOU WARM THIS WINTER WITH ALL YOUR HEATING NEEDS!

Outdoor Heaters and Hospitality Gases

* Free delivery available in most areas

PROPERTY AND INVESTMENT

Fargo and Co, Melbourne

A national strategy AS THE NAME IMPLIES, AUSTRALIAN VENUE CO HAS A FOOTPRINT AROUND MOST OF THE COUNTRY. CEO PAUL WATERSON DISCUSSES THE GROUP’S ACQUISITION STRATEGY AND THE PLANS TO KEEP ON GROWING.

A

ustralian Venue Co has had an extremely acquisitive couple of years, both in its first iteration as Dixon Hospitality, and in the last six months since the rebrand and funding boost from private equity firm KKR – who bought a majority stake in the business for $190 million. Paul Waterson discusses what makes a venue attractive to the business, and what its long-term goals are.

OR FREEHOLD? Only leaseholds. We don’t own any of the freeholds but as we find a good freehold opportunity, we’ve got a number of great partners who will look to buy the freehold and then put us in as the leasehold operator. We do that because it’s a bit more of a capital-light model, so it enables us to grow at scale in a less capital-intensive manner.

Q ARE THERE MORE ACQUISITIONS ON THE HORIZON FOR AUSTRALIAN VENUE CO OR ARE YOU LOOKING TO CONSOLIDATE NOW? We’ve got a 2-3 year horizon where we’re looking to acquire more venues. That will lead to an eventual exit of the business by KKR, because being a private equity firm they will look to realise their investment at some point, whether that’s from an IPO point of view or a trade sale. So we’re very well capitalised and supported by them to do more acquisitions. And we’re doing them pretty much in all markets at this point. We don’t have any presence in Tasmania or South Australia, but other than that we are looking to grow pretty aggressively.

Q ARE THEY AREAS THAT YOU WILL BE

Paul Waterson

Q DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR LEASEHOLD

LOOKING AT? We’d consider them, but in terms of the criteria that we’re looking for, we really want to acquire venues that are doing a minimum of $70,000-80,000 turnover per week. In Tasmania in particular that’s pretty hard to find venues of scale in that market. And South Australia we’ve found, to be honest, to be a bit expensive compared to some of the other markets.

16 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

Q THE GROUP OWNS AND OPERATES A WIDE VARIETY OF VENUES ACROSS THE COUNTRY – WHAT ARE THE COMMONALITIES BETWEEN THEM? Yes, they are all very different. I think that’s what we want to maintain with our offerings. So they’ve got to be unique to what that local community wants in which they operate. So that’s why we maintain all different offerings, multiple brands and multiple types of venues. And all we’re trying to overlay is some of those back-office systems – so things like finance systems, the procurement system and the general operating system – whereas the marketing offering, the food and beverage offering really needs to be bespoke to what each of the markets in which the venue is operating requires. So we really get the venue managers to drive those unique offerings, and we’ll continue to do that.

The exception is obviously the Beer Deluxe brand.

We’ve got the five of them across the portfolio now, and we may look to roll out more Beer Deluxes over time. That would be the only branded offering that we would do.

PROPERTY AND INVESTMENT Q AS DIXON HOSPITALITY, THE BUSINESS HAD A POLICY OF BEING A NON-GAMING GROUP. IS THAT STILL THE CASE FOR AUSTRALIAN VENUE CO? We’ve got some gaming across three venues now, which are the two venues in Darwin and also Beer Deluxe Albury. I think given our aspirations for growth, it’s inevitable that we will need to take on some gaming because of the venues we’re looking at, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, which tend to have gaming. So we would look at gaming venues, but certainly the heritage and the core of our offering is food and beverage.

Q YOU’VE EXPANDED INTO NT AND WA OVER THE LAST YEAR – WHAT MAKES THEM ATTRACTIVE MARKETS TO YOU? We really like these markets. They are quite different. In terms of WA, going back to our business being food and beverage focused, the venues in WA are all food and beverage. We see great attractiveness in that market because they’re similar to the venues that we operate in Melbourne. I think also there’s been some great publican families in that market, and we see WA – and Perth in particular – as a very sophisticated offering and market. Which is relatively consistent with a lot of our Melbourne venues. I think also the multiples that we pay for pubs over there are a little bit less than what we’re paying on the East Coast. And thirdly, we really see that that market, in terms of discretionary spenders, has bottomed out and is starting to turn a little bit upwards. So it’s an attractive time for us to get into that WA market, given we’re starting to see some really good green shoots of growth over there.

In terms of the Northern Territory, we think we’ve probably taken the two best venues in Shenannigans and Monsoons. We really like the Northern Territory market because it’s a lot of fun. There’s a great vibe to the place, a great cycle of tourists coming through there as their first entry point into the country. It’s also a great point in which we can gain staff when they first come into the country, and then travel around multiple

AUSTRALIAN VENUE CO BY NUMBERS

Northern Territory

2 venues

Queensland

3 venues Western Australia

4 venues

NSW

13 venues Victoria

24 venues

Pubs – 25

Bars – 12

Restaurants – 5

Function/event spaces – 3

The Winery, Sydney

Beer Deluxe ,Sydney Airport T2

AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER AUGUST 2018 | 17

PROPERTY AND INVESTMENT

12-Micron, Sydney

“We think we’re well-placed to double again from the size we’re at now. Certainly over the next 24-36 months, that would be our objective.”

The Smith, Melbourne Sweetwater Rooftop Bar, Perth

states and move into our other venues as well. It’s been really good for us.

Given the size of the market, we probably won’t be able to expand more materially in the Northern Territory, but it’s a pretty attractive place for us.

Q ARE YOU BUYING VENUES WHERE YOU BELIEVE THAT THE CURRENT OFFERING DOESN’T NEED TO BE TINKERED WITH? OR DO YOU LOOK TO REFURBISH THESE ACQUISITIONS? We’re not buying venues to fundamentally change the offer that the pub has already provided. We’re attracted to models that are working well on a sustainable basis. Having said that, we’re putting quite a lot of capital into redeveloping existing venues. So for example, we’ve just opened a rooftop at The Duke of Wellington, and it’s a pretty fundamental part of our growth that we continue to do brownfield developments in existing venues to add capacity. We get really good uptick in sales as you add capacity and keep the venues looking fresh. But we won’t fundamentally change the offerings of the venues that we have.

Q WITH SUCH A PROFOUND LOT OF ACQUISITIONS IN THE LAST YEAR, HOW DO YOU ENSURE THAT THE COMPANY DOESN’T OVERCOMMIT ITSELF IN TERMS OF THE STANDARD OF SERVICE, QUALITY OF OFFERING ETC? It’s critical that the standard of offering and the quality of service is led at the venue level. So our involvement in that at the head office level is to ensure that the standard offering is very high. How it’s delivered is really done at a venue-specific level.

We look at things like net promotor scores using a system called Review Tracker very carefully. We watch all social media reviews of all the venues. As soon as we get a one- or two-star review at any of our venues, it pops up immediately in my inbox, and I personally look at and address those with the venue managers. We pretty intensively look at the feedback the customers are giving us.

But it’s very much venue-led in terms of offering, with an overlay of us

18 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

keeping an eye on it if there seems to be a trend that service is declining.

Fortunately we’ve seen good improvements in our ratings across metrics like Facebook and Google – which is what we watch pretty intently.

Q WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM AUSTRALIAN VENUE CO IN THE NEXT TWELVE MONTHS? In the next twelve months we’d love to continue to grow and add capacity to our venues. We think we’re well-placed to double again from the size we’re at now. Certainly over the next 24-36 months, that would be our objective, to try and double again.

We’re really lucky in that we’ve got a great shareholder base and a great mix of managers who are shareholders, as well as having a great partner in KKR. It’s pretty unique to the industry, we’d like to think, and we’ve got a board that’s 50 per cent managers – Bruce Dixon, myself and Vita Pepe – and 50 per cent KKR representatives. It’s a really nice dynamic.

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PUB SALES • F&B • APPOINTMENTS • REVAMPS • LEGISLATION

NON-ALCOHOLIC

THE NEW ENERGY HIT AUSTRALIAN-MADE KANGURU IS SET TO REVIVE THE PLACE OF ENERGY DRINKS ON-PREMISE WITH ITS HEALTH-CONSCIOUS OFFERING.

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new sugar-free energy drink focused on natural ingredients is set to shake up the energy drink market, especially on-premise, where the market has been dominated by a duopoly of brands. Kanguru is the first locally owned and made energy drink, with the recipe revised and scientifically tested by Queensland ophthalmologist, Dr David Kitchen.

Kitchen decided to create the sugarless drink to stop the crash in energy that can often occur hours after energy drink consumption.

Kanguru focuses on natural botanicals – Korean red ginseng, yerba mate, guarana, schisandra and green tea – that give a natural and slower release of caffeine and vitamins to boost energy levels over a longer period of time.

While Kanguru entered the retail market three months ago, the business is now starting to work with a few select venues in a bid to make a splash on-premise “We are working with several premium venues to offer Kanguru as a mixer and a non-alcoholic option for patrons,” explains COO Richard Skelton.

“As we approach summer, we will be looking to distribute more widely, as the market will be looking for refreshing drinks that help to fuel the longer sessions that patrons commit to in the warmer weather. Kanguru is the perfect solution, as it provides a sustained delivery of energy, through clean botanical ingredients that offer a refreshing citrus taste with no sugar.”

With younger pub patrons choosing to be more prudent in their consumption choices for health-conscious reasons, Dr Kitchen sees Kanguru as the perfect fit for the on-premise.

“This is exactly why I started down this path to create my own ‘better for you’ energy drink. It’s not just younger patrons but those getting a little older and greyer like me too!

“Kanguru is the ideal solution for the patron who is conscious of their health or looking for a non-alcoholic option. It’s delicious as a mixer; or for those that are taking a break from alcohol it’s a great refreshing option served straight or on the rocks, or in a mocktail.”

Venues have been encouraged to experiment in the ways they are incorporating Kanguru into their menus, with plenty of support from the Kanguru team, as Skelton explains.

“We’ve invested the time working with our trial venues to understand what the patron is looking for and how Kanguru can fill a need that the health conscious and early adopter clientele are looking for; something completely unique to the market that provides a tangible, proven benefit with a great taste and no sugar."

THE IDEAL MIX With a zesty citrus taste profile, Kanguru lends itself as a mixer to spikey and refreshing cocktails.

Venues using the energy drink in their creations have found that it works best with clear spirits such as vodka and gin, as well as in champagne cocktails and mocktails. Venues are encouraged to keep experimenting and find their own signature drink using Kanguru.

AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER AUGUST 2018 | 21

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

Hart Bar at The Railway Hotel Parkes

CREATING IDENTITY AT THE 2018 PUB LEADERS SUMMIT, THREE OPERATORS OF VERY DISTINCT VENUES EXPLAINED HOW THEY HAD CREATED SUCH STRONG IDENTITIES FOR THEIR PUBS.

THE VENUES THE RAILWAY HOTEL, PARKES One of eight pubs in the regional New South Wales town of Parkes, the Railway Hotel was taken over by Kasie Ferguson and Bianca Sheridan in 2011. The pair brought with them plenty of experience of working on hospitality offerings on Hamilton Island, and wanted to bring some of that level of offering to the pub. While the ground floor caters to the very traditional country town expectations of a pub, the underutilised first floor was transformed into Hart Bar, a more metropolitan offering of tapas, cocktails and live music. The space also has a large focus on functions, hosting everything from product launches to weddings.

THE MARLBOROUGH HOTEL, NEWTOWN The Marlborough Hotel, or The Marly as it’s more commonly known, is an institution in the Sydney city-fringe suburb of Newtown.

Bought by Solotel from the Australian Pub Fund in early 2017, the group has doubled down on the pub’s reputation as a late-night haven for nearby university students and shift-workers from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The Marly practically operates as three venues in one – the traditional pub offering with gaming, TAB and beer garden on the ground floor; a basement nightclub called Tokyo Sing Sing; and Miss Peaches, the first floor cocktail bar and restaurant.

THE LANSDOWNE, CHIPPENDALE A mainstay of Sydney’s live music scene since the 1980s, music lovers were devastated when the pub closed in 2015. After sitting abandoned for two years, Mary’s Group took over the lease and returned the pub to what it had always been revered for: live music, partying, pizza and a general rock and roll attitude. In the past year, the pub has been attracting old locals, music aficionados and plenty of nearby uni students looking for a place to let loose until the wee hours of the morning.

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t the Pub Leaders Summit, Ferguson was joined by then licensee of The Marly, Amanda Verratti, and Mary’s Group cofounder Kenny Graham, to discuss the ways in which they had cemented the identities of their venues.

PLAN, COMMUNICATE, REVIEW When first working on a concept for a venue, having a brand strategy document is a great way of figuring out the narrative for the venue and what your business needs to work on. Graham says that it’s important to share that document with all of your staff.

“Paying a lot of attention to HR and induction of staff [is important].

It made us really sit down and think it through, because anyone who walks through that door to work for us, they should have a better understanding of what it is than our customer.”

Verratti agreed, explaining that Solotel’s narrative briefs for a venue were implemented at the opening of a new venue or after a major renovation, and that it was also important to review those documents regularly.

“It’s good to look back at what worked and then six months later what definitely didn’t work. Being able to be really agile and look back and see where you’ve made mistakes and learning from them.

LISTEN, BUT STAY TRUE Getting your pub’s identity to match what you envisioned is always a delicate operation, as it’s also important to ensure that patrons are eager for the offering. Graham said that as part of the re-opening of The Lansdowne, a female artist was commissioned to create some artwork in the space. The finished product included some female nudity. Since the rise of the Me Too movement, there has been some backlash against the piece, which Graham and his business partner Jake Smyth listened to and engaged with. While that was an important critique to respond to, Graham suggests there have been others where it was important for the duo to stick to their guns, while still listening to feedback. The balancing act is to figure out when to adapt, and when to stay true to your vision.

“It’s a bit of an arm wrestle to not get dictated to by customers. But if anyone is vocal you invite them into your zone to have a conversation,

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

Client Liaison playing a set at The Marly’s Tokyo Sing Song

The Lansdowne’s public bar

and you get to intelligently explain why it is you do what you do. You’re not going to have the reputation of having a strong brand if you just do what everyone on Facebook tells you to.”

Ferguson said sticking to the vision for Hart Bar was especially important at The Railway Hotel. While the space was in the middle of renovations, there was plenty of talk around Parkes about what the offering would entail. Plenty of the discussions were quite negative, with rumours suggesting that it was going to be an overpriced, stuffy fine dining space. While trying to rein in assumptions and expectations, Ferguson had to battle the pressure to overhaul the concept.

“There were definitely people in Parkes who weren’t ready for it, but we knew that there was a market that was.

“Initially we were trying to be something for everyone, and thinking maybe we should steer away from our initial concept but then we realised we needed to stay true to our vision, and be consistent and transparent. It took a little bit of time but a year and a half in, it’s like it’s always been there now.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN The design of your venue doesn’t just create the vibe of a venue, in many ways it is the vibe. It is the first way to communicate with visitors what your pub is all about, and hence should clearly relay that message.

“If you want people to walk in and spend $300 on dinner, it better look like they’re getting their money’s worth,” suggested Graham.

“For us at The Lansdowne, we didn’t want to mess with [the old look] too much. We left a lot of the old crappy stuff and just added elements of ‘in case you’re mistaken, this is where you come to party.’ Take any question out of the conversation, this is what you’re here to do.”

INCLUSIVITY While trying to create an identity as a party pub, a live music venue, a gastropub or a great place to hold functions helps to set venues apart, it’s also important to remember that the basic function of a hotel is to be a welcoming space to all. A big part of that is ensuring that everyone feels safe in your venue. Verratti highlighted one big example that has been a large focus at The Marly.

“When women are feeling unsafe – and a lot of us have been those women in venues when people have made us feel uncomfortable – making sure that your staff and your security guards are educated so that nobody is in your venue feeling a certain way and not feeling that they can say something to you – that’s really important.”

At the end of the day it’s all about your patrons, and their needs.

“Listen to your community because they know the best. They’re in your venue every day, so listen to your customers. That’s paramount to the success of a business.”

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT Social media is another crucial way to express exactly what your venue is all about, and our Pub Leaders Summit panel identified certain strategies that created the best engagement with venue followers online.

Make it personal – For many venues, and particularly those in regional and country towns with close-knit communities, sharing personal tidbits and anecdotes about pub staff is one of the best ways to get that community interested, as Ferguson can attest.

“When we put ourselves or our team up on social media, it just gets so much engagement. It’s crazy to see when you do put up something like the burger of the week, it’s like ‘Yeah, cool’, but when you put up a picture of the team and what we did on the weekend, the engagement is just unreal. Where we are, people really want to know about us, and that leads them to trust us and trust our brand.”

Focus on your specialties – With algorithms restricting how much social media users see from business accounts, Graham’s strategy is to focus on the elements of the Lansdowne he wants the venue known for, to get the message across.

“If you want to be a standout venue, you might be good at ten things but you’re only great at one or two things and you’ve just got to pick those and keep talking about them. At The Lansdowne we just talk about the live music and our food, because that’s what people are coming for. So just keep hammering it home. You don’t see everything posted by those accounts you follow – you might see one of every ten.

So you’ve just got to keep pushing it, pushing it, pushing it.”

AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER AUGUST 2018 | 23

SPORT

Hot dogs are the main draw on the menu

AllStars houses 97 LCD screens AllStars at Bella Vista Hotel

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SPORT

HITTING HOME RUNS MOMENTO HOSPITALITY HAS OPENED ALLSTARS, A MASSIVE US-THEMED SPORTS BAR, AT BELLA VISTA HOTEL.

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ince opening the Bella Vista Hotel in Sydney’s northwest in 2012, Momento Hospitality has owned a large warehouse space behind the pub. With such a large space to make the most out of, it had always been Gino Colisomo’s dream to open a dedicated sports bar within that warehouse to complement Bella Vista Hotel’s other offerings. Six years later, and that dream has been realised with the 4 July opening of AllStars.

Evoking an arena atmosphere with its high ceilings and sheer space as opposed to what Australian sports bars tend to offer, AllStars is more akin to those in the US. As manager of the space, Colosimo says that Momento Hospitality wanted to give locals of The Hills region a premium sports-viewing option.

“The Hills has such an avid sports following, so we wanted to give locals the chance to take their sportsviewing experience to the next level.

“While we all love watching the footy on the couch in our trackies, sports are better watched in a crowd, so we wanted create a space that would facilitate this.”

ALL AMERICAN The aesthetic of the space is simple, yet refined. It encompasses dark wood-panelled walls; leather booths; and a mix of marble-topped high and low tables in the middle of the space. The sports bar also houses a whopping 97 LCD screens with 4K resolution in a variety of sizes, so that regardless of where in the venue patrons are sitting, they have a good view of what they’re watching – not to mention a massive selection of sports to watch at any one time.

Capping off viewing experience is a 360˚ four-screen hanging fixture in the middle of the room, which is an ode to watching a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.

“The space is really reminiscent of an American basketball arena, so we wanted to continue this theme and transport patrons to the US. If

you’ve ever attended an American sports game, you’ll be familiar with the electric stadium atmosphere. We want to bring that vibe to The Hills,” explains Colosimo.

The American theme is hammered home in the menu, which is nice and compact for a sports bar. There are three versions of loaded hot dogs to choose from, the hero of which is the AllStar Deluxe Dog, where the soft bun and Kransky sausage are topped off with caramelised onion, diced bacon and melted American cheese.

The other offerings on the menu are New York-style pizzas – where slices are bigger than your head and are best eaten folded up like a calzone – with a simple selection of margarita, pepperoni or vegetarian. The menu is finished off with hot chips.

“We want to give The Hills a taste of good old fashioned American stadium eats, which is why we’ve created a menu of loaded hot dogs and New York-style pizzas. They’re super easy to eat with one hand, so patrons can leave their other hand free for a schooner or to cheer on their favourite team.”

Washed down with some good beer, it’s no doubt that the sport-viewing experience is what matters most at Allstars. Comfortably housing 150 patrons, the space broadcasts a variety of sports from the NRL to UFC. Trading times until 3am each night (except for Sunday nights when the venue will close at midnight), mean the Allstars can also show major sporting events from all over the world. The knock-out rounds of the football World Cup kicked off the slew of major tournaments shown at the sports bar, with events like the US Open and Superbowl also expected to bring in big crowds.

Speaking to Australian Hotelier a few days before the space opened, Colosimo was excited for how local sports lovers would respond to the space.

“I think patrons will be wowed by the flashing lights, good grub and electric atmosphere of AllStars.”

“THE SPACE IS REALLY REMINISCENT OF AN AMERICAN BASKETBALL ARENA, SO WE WANTED TO CONTINUE THIS THEME AND TRANSPORT PATRONS TO THE US.” GINO COLOSIMO, ALLSTARS MANAGER New York style pizza adds to the American flavour

AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER AUGUST 2018 | 25

DESIGN & BUILD

A new hub, naturally The beer garden

The gaming room

26 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

The basement sports bar/nightclub

DESIGN & BUILD

COLEMANS HOSPITALITY GROUP HAS STAKED ITS CLAIM ON THE GROWING SUBURB OF PALMERSTON IN DARWIN, WITH THE OPENING OF LANDMARK.

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andmark @ Gateway has been a project three years in the making. Colemans Hospitality Group, known primarily for opening and running the premier Shenannigans pub in Darwin City – which it sold six months ago to Australian Venue Co – decided to switch tacks a few years ago, when the opportunity presented itself to get involved at the ground floor in a new entertainment and leisure complex attached to a new shopping centre in Palmerston.

Called The Pavilions, the entertainment and leisure precinct would feature eight tenancies. Colemans Hospitality Group took the first one.

BOOM CITY

The public bar is made from Petrified Wood

Located twenty minutes east of Darwin City, the Colemans had identified Palmerston as an area with plenty of potential for residential growth. In fact the 2016 census had identified Palmerston as one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the country, with a current population of 58,000. It is expected to rival the population of Darwin City within the next three years. The brothers, who have watched the Palmerston area develop for years, wanted to take advantage of the booming suburb, in the same way they had done with Shennanigans on Mitchell Street twenty years ago.

“There were two motivations, one being the rapid growth of this area with the young demographic, and a high disposable income; and whilst there are other venues in this area, there’s probably not the full entertainment venue that we were looking to build,” explains Justin Coleman.

Having observed that Australians across the country were turning more to local avenues of entertainment rather than commuting to city centres for their nights out, the brothers thought they could see the same behavioural pattern happening in Darwin, with the right kind offering.

“We had noticed from our regular interstate trips the return of the suburban hotel, and people’s willingness to use their disposable income on a good food experience, particularly. So we based our venue on some of the things that we’ve based our previous venues in Adelaide and Darwin City, which is that you mainly start with food and the entertainment follows on from that.”

ONE WITH NATURE The concept for Landmark has come a long way since it was first envisioned three years ago. The initial plan had been for a simple ground floor, 500 sqm tavern.

That idea evolved into what it is now – a sprawling, three story pub (including a basement level) that offers a wide range of entertainment offerings.

Having a 35-year lease, Colemans Hospitality Group wanted to ensure that the venue was one that the population could grow into, rather than having to add additional offerings along the way in a piecemeal fashion. The venue includes a basement-level nightclub offering, that doubles as a sports bar during the day; the ground floor houses a family-friendly dining area closest to the shopping complex, with the main public bar in the middle and a large beer garden

and outdoor offering at the other end. The first floor houses the clean and adaptable function space that can be used for a wide variety of events.

For the look of the hotel, the brothers had a very distinct idea to emulate the natural surrounds of Kakadu and Litchfield national parks, both less than 200 km away. They engaged Hutchinson Builders and MODE/ Design Group to help them realise their dream.

“The team helped us realise the dream of what my brother Michael and I had always wanted to do, which was build a venue that was based on the Top End environment, which is a lot of stone, greenery and water, but really focus on the Litchfield/Kakadu environment.”

The concept of the venue as a whole was to feel as if you were moving up and down the different levels of a waterfall as you moved through the different levels of pub.

“The basement mimics what it feels like to swim at the bottom of the gorge, and then as you move up you get that feeling of climbing out of the gorge.

And then with the top level the idea is to mimic that feeling of being at the precipice at the top of some of the beautiful rock figurations here in the Territory,” explains Allison Stout, one of two main architects from MODE/ Design Group, who worked on the project.

Using a variety of natural materials in the different spaces to represent the nearby environment, Stout believes the venue gives rise to a whole new aesthetic that is very distinctive to the Northern Territory.

“There’s a term here for when you attend an event at Parliament – in defining the clothing that you wear – called ‘Territory rig’. I would say that it’s that – it’s a contemporary, Territory feel.”

MATERIAL CHOICES In creating a venue that emulated the natural environment, the biggest challenge was ensuring that the design wasn’t overly kitschy, or present as a themed kind of venue. Stout and her design partner Jade Ah Wang said their simple, streamlined approach to architecture helped to ensure that the concept worked without being too overt. The balance was struck by streamlining ideas and ensuring that the focus was on the types of materials used in each space.

In the basement, which was to evoke the dark rocky bottom of a gorge, lighting was key.

“The basement has two functions – the sports bar through the day, and then the nightclub at night, so it very much needed to be able to blend between those.

So housing something that’s quite dark, but then something that’s going to be lit up through the day.

That was a very exciting and interesting process. A lot of the time nightclubs are really just designed for those night time events where the lights are dimmed, with low lighting levels,” states Ah Wang.

Dark stone walls, grey timber flooring and dark furniture add to the gorge feel in the space, while the lighting ensures that it does not feel like a dungeon in the middle of the day – more like a shady respite from the harsh sun.

AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER AUGUST 2018 | 27

DESIGN & BUILD

The ground floor level is light anf airy

The outdoor TAB facilities Conversely, the ground floor offerings focus on a light and greenery filled space. The internal areas are filled with lighter coloured furniture and greenery hanging from the walls and ceiling in light-filled spaces. The main public bar front is made using a stone called Petrified Wood – the fossilised remains of trees and other vegetation that have petrified into stone. It is believed to be the first instance of the material being used in a bar in Australia.

The beer garden is a simple space focused around an 8m void and a 5x3m LED big screen. The opening faces the north-west, which is a real problem with the harsh afternoon sun. Stout addressed the problem by making a design feature a functional one that filtered light through the space.

“What we attempted to do was in a way a fit-out orientation and not an actual fixed element of the building. We imagined that as you’re coming out of the gorge you have more greenery, you have more vertical climbing plants and filtered light. How we did that was with that rope screen element that runs round the top surround. At night that then becomes even more of a feature – it’s like the starry sky.”

The venue is topped off with the first floor function space that has been left as an elegant and simple space that is a blank canvas for any type of function. It includes a large, deep balcony. The functions space was the last design inclusion, one that is already paying off for the venue.

“There weren’t a lot of function and big restaurant spaces in this area. So we saw the opportunity, particularly for the future. We’re

28 | AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER

not sure how that will go in the early days but signs are good – we’ve taken a number of large function bookings and our first one is tomorrow with 100 people. The bookings are coming in now, so we’re pretty happy that we made that decision to fit-out upstairs and take that on as well,” states Coleman.

SHOP TALK This is not the first pub venue attached to a shopping centre for Colemans Hospitality Group.

In 1998, they opened Shenannigans Adelaide attached to Westfield Marion in Adelaide, which was run by Michael for eight years.

The brothers have learnt many lessons from that experience, including practical matters such as negotiating their lease and tenancy with the joint venture that owns the complex, and how to work with the centre management and the other tenancies in The Pavilions to promote the area uniformly.

“You can’t just rely on being a part of the shopping centre and its traffic flow. You’ve got to be a destination in your own right. We learnt that from Adelaide, where we were probably a bit surprised at how few of the customers of the shopping complex were coming to the venue,” states Coleman.

Knowing this, the group was able to negotiate with centre management to market The Pavilions as a separate precinct, rather than just being a part of the shopping centre.

As more tenants come on board towards the end of the year, that marketing will become even more significant.

“We have a common purpose to promote the

area, rather than being on a street where it’s a much more competitive environment.”

A NEW DESTINATION With residents of greater Darwin having regarded Darwin City as the only place to go to for nightlife for quite some time, Colemans Hospitality Group is looking to change this viewpoint with Landmark. It is a big reason for the name – making the pub a landmark that puts Palmerston on the map. According to Ah Wang, a resident of Palmerston herself, the strategy is already working.

“If people wanted to go to a nightclub previously, you had to travel 30 minutes into the city to experience that. There are a lot of other taverns in Palmerston, but nothing that provided all of these spaces where you can dine but also have this great outdoor area with lots of entertainment, looking over the sunset and more.”

Now, residents in surrounding areas are making a point of driving into Palmerston for a mid-week meal or a Sunday afternoon session, much to the delight of Justin Coleman.

“It’s been really good and we’re absolutely rapt with the response and support we’ve been getting from the local community.

Having had so long to actually design and plan the space, it’s largely gone as expected and we’re really pleased.”

With such a great response from the community to Landmark, the biggest problem Coleman is dealing with these days is choosing between the multiple beers on tap in the beer garden.

CALENDAR

SPORTS FIXTURES CHECK OUT THESE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST – THEY’RE SURE TO BRING IN A CROWD TO YOUR VENUE!

SUPERCARS The 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is moving up a gear this month, with two legs of the race for your viewing pleasure: the Red Rooster Sydney SuperNight 300 and the OTR SuperSprint – The Bend.

When: Sydney: 3-4 August, starts 1:30pm. OTR SuperSprint: 24-25 August, starts 10am.

Channels: 10 and Fox Sports 5.

FOOTBALL

The Westfield FFA Cup get down to the pointy end this month, with the Round of 16 clashes raring to go. It’s a great mid-week fix for domestic football fans who like the immediacy of knock-outs with their football, not to mention a great excuse to head to the pub.

When: 21-22 and 28-29 August, 7pm.

Channels: Fox Sports 3 and 4.

UNION

With the Wallabies almost beating second-best ranked team Ireland in June, there’s real hope that the boys in green and gold can take the Bledisloe Cup off the All Blacks this year. The first two matches will be played this month, in Sydney and then Eden Park.

When: Game 1: Saturday 18 August, 8pm. Game 2: Saturday 25 August, 5:30pm.

Channels: 10 and Fox Sports 1.

TENNIS

The last Grand Slam of the year will begin at the end of August, with all eyes turned to Flushing Meadows for the US Open. Can recent Wimbledon runner-up Kevin Anderson make a consecutive finals appearance? And will the women’s final feature more Americans for the second year in a row?

When: From Tuesday 28 August, 8am onwards.

Channel: ESPN.

NEXT MONTH

Footy finals fever is set to hit both codes in September, when the top eight teams in both AFL and NRL will begin to battle it out for a spot in the grand final. Each showdown is set to be riveting viewing.

AFL: Starts Thursday 6 September. Channel 7 and Fox Footy.

NRL: Starts Friday 7 September. Channel 9 and Fox League.

*All times are AEST

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