Australian beer institution Carlton & United Breweries and its recently appointed CEO recently played host to hotel royalty the 15 Club, in a meeting of old and new traditions.
Late April the posse of publicans took the trip to Melbourne, where Danny Celoni and four of his key executives hosted a luncheon meeting of the 15 Club at the Flower Drum restaurant.
Asahi Beverages announced that in February outgoing CUB CEO Peter Filipovic handed over the reins to Celoni, as CEO of its Australia, NZ and South Pacific business.
Celoni’s career in beverages began in 1996 at Diageo, where he rose to the position of commercial director for Australia, NZ and South Pacific.
He joins CUB now from PepsiCo, appointed for his “forward-thinking approach to business” according to Robert Iervasi, Asahi Beverages Oceania Group CEO.
The 15 Club is a group of 15 well-known and successful NSW hoteliers that has been maintaining assembly since 1968, when hoteliers Cyril Maloney, Stan Davis, John Toohey and 11 others joined Des Ryan for a lunch to celebrate his birthday.
It was such a successful day the group decided to make it a monthly occurrence, and while the line-up has gradually seen a changing of the guard over the years, a collection of 15 publicans has met at a host’s venue on the last Tuesday of every month ever since (barring COVID disruption).
Typically, the current members take turns to host the event for the group, joined by invited guests for each occasion.
The Flower Drum, in Melbourne’s Market Lane, was one of the few instances to ever happen outside Sydney, and represented the 573rd 15 Club luncheon.
“It’s always a whole lot of fun, but more importantly, we learn an enormous amount from each other and our guests,” offered Club chairman, ‘Melbourne Cup’ Max Hitchins.
FRONT ROW: Chris Cheung OAM, Ross Ryan, John Daly, Scott Leach (AHA National President), Max Hitchins (15 Club Chairman), Peter Ryan.