On the basis that there is always something to learn from those better than you, this week’s news brings big insight for the nation’s pub industry.
I think it was Robert Holmes á Court that said “big business is just small business with more zeros”. This perspective is one that few but billionaires could really claim to understand first hand, and as an aspirational idealist I have tried to make a practise of watching ‘the big boys’.
On the real estate front, we have just seen five A-grade Queensland venues hit the market at once, and Redcape splash a cool $30 million on another big gaming pub. International monetary funds in New York pull strings as Redcape heads for a public float, and HPI continues to bolster its burgeoning asset base.
And on the ‘how to do it’ front, Merivale has just launched an incredible month of high-production events across a dozen venues that looks set to seriously outperform last year’s award-winning instalment of ‘March into Merivale’.
All too often the hospitality industry is seen in the news for reasons that make owners and operators of descent pubs either cringe, or cry out in protest. As we continue into what could be the greatest year ever for the dynamic, re-inventive and community-embraced Australian pub scene, there is no shortage of good examples to be taken from some of the high-flyers.
But don’t make the mistake of forgetting the country stalwarts. As Queensland mops up after another natural disaster, once again it is the pubs that are looked to as the heart and shelter of real Australians in need.
