Last week I was out doing the rounds, visiting my venue partners to catch up on the successes and challenges they face in driving visitation and spend at their venue. During one meeting I received an interesting insight from one venue manager. Discussing a competitor just down the road from his venue he said, “their meals are fantastic; we’ve got work to do to get to that level.” I was struck by his positive attitude when dealing with a difficult reality. Quite simply his competitor was besting his venue. But he saw it an opportunity to improve. When was the last time you walked into a competitor’s venue?  THE X FACTOR OF HIGH PERFORMANCE If you’re taking your role seriously and always willing to improve, no doubt it was recently. The hospitality industry is enormously and increasingly competitive. Most pubs and clubs are generally surrounded by a multitude of other businesses targeting a similar customer base. In many cases venues are competing with bars, restaurants and even local cafes. I’ve even heard some managers talking about the effect of Materchef and other cooking shows have had on patron’s expectations of dining offerings. Competition is fierce but the best venues are seeing it as an opportunity rather than a threat. Knowing what the competition is providing allows you to ensure your offer is better or different in some way. It also allows you to keep up to date with industry trends and other venue offerings. You may find it worthwhile to create a written competitive assessment on your local venues. Put some time into analysing: Food and beverage offering Target customers Entertainment and promotional offerings Membership program Marketing strategies Strengths and weaknesses THE VALUE OF A LIVELY VENUE Analyse the above indicators at your own venue then compare them to those at your competitors to see where there may be gaps at your pub or club. As always, it’s important not to lose sight of your own business and the goals you are trying to achieve by constantly being reactive to competitors. However, keeping an eye on what their strengths and weaknesses are and conducting an assessment every now and then is a great habit to get into. Just remember, it’s worth keeping a positive spin on whatever tactics your competitors are taking. Like the successful venue manager I visited last week, it’s always advisable to the competitive nature of the Australian hospitality industry as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Things have been crazy here at Full House Group over the last few weeks. A whole bunch of opportunities that the team have been working on are coming to fruition and it’s all hands on deck. It’s one of those things. You work and hope and keep pushing and then, as they say, “when it rains, it pours.” Now we’re walking the tightrope, deciding who does what over the coming weeks and months. We’re creating roles on the fly and team members are suddenly performing a whole range of different tasks. In fact, a few days ago these tasks didn’t even exist. And here’s the thing, everyone is thriving. GETTING MORE FROM YOUR ENTERTAINMENT SPEND The team is engaged and excited. They are working together like never before and rising to the challenge. The experiences we have had over the last couple of weeks have been a real eye opener and what I have learned can be translated perfectly into hospitality businesses like your own. While the business professors would refer to it as “delegation” I think a better way to describe it is “staff ownership.” Giving your staff ownership of a task or project means two things: Firstly, it frees up your time to get stuck into the thousands of other small and major tasks required for running your business. Second, and most importantly, it does wonders for your staff members motivation, confidence and engagement. By giving ownership to your staff you are essentially saying, “I believe in you.” You are giving them the opportunity to take on the task, to think outside the square and to add their own bit of personality to the role. THE BEST PROMOTERS YOU HAVE A few things you could consider letting your staff members take ownership of include: Events Get a staff member to manage and run one of your upcoming events, for example a tribute show. Encourage the staff member to select the band and organise marketing and ticketing. Watch as the staff member beams with pride when the event goes off without a hitch. Marketing Engage a staff member or even a group of your staff to organise a marketing promotion. Give them a budget if required and they’ll no doubt produce a dynamic marketing campaign that may open up your venue to a whole range of potential patrons. Clubs So often venues have a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with local clubs. Why not have a couple of staff members work on welcoming a new local club to your venue? Better still, encourage them to create a club of their own and welcome some new engaged patrons to your venue. The beauty of giving ownership to your staff is that you get the benefit of motivating and engaging your most important resources. On top of this, you get a whole range of fresh, creative ideas which can make a he difference to your venue. Good luck.

Over the last month or two my colleagues have penned some great articles on what it is that helps venues become the social hub of their community. We’re in a fortunate position with our Australia wide network to really have a finger on the pulse of a huge cross section of pubs and clubs. I have really enjoyed seeing the different insights that the team have come up with. Some great suggestions on boosting atmosphere, driving visitation and spend and getting the most out of your sports broadcast. There are unlimited options for venues looking to take things to the next level. There is, however, in my opinion, one key component in selecting suitable entertainment offerings, broadcast providers or even new furniture or renovations. GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR LIVE SPORT? The thing I notice time and again is that the best venues are skilled at identifying value. They spend time weighing up their options and make a selection on what is best for their venue and their patrons. I believe that there are three key components in getting the best value when investing in your venue. Vision There are a huge range of costs in running an Australian pub or club. From licenses to staffing, advertising to entertainment, it never ends. Rather than just paying bills and moving aimlessly on to the next expense, the best venues have a vision of what they want and what their investment will do to benefit their bottom line and the experience of their patrons. Research Once the vision is established the next thing a good venue will do is research. Let’s use entertainment as an example. A venue decides to add something fun to liven up a quiet night. It might be live music, poker, trivia or even bingo. The good venues will step back and think about what’s best for their existing clientele and what may bring in new patrons and make decisions based on their findings. THEMED TRIVIA TAKING VENUES BY STORM! Value vs Price This is the key component. There’s always someone offering lower prices. People who are willing to come in and undercut quality suppliers for a quick buck. But do they have pride in what they do? Can they efficiently market themselves to a major network? Are their staff trained professionally? Looking for value over price will always result in the best ROI and time and again the best venues are the ones with a keen eye for value. For more info on getting value for your entertainment spend please feel free to get in touch.

Live sport has been a staple of Australian pubs, clubs and sports bars for years. Nothing’s better than settling in for a few drinks, catching up with friends and checking out a live broadcast. Footy, cricket, soccer, racing. We enjoy it all and we’ll get involved and have an opinion even if we don’t know the first thing about it. Live sport, just like cold beer, is integral to the success of your venue and no doubt over the years you have filled the bar and had a roaring bistro trade during the big game, race or fight. With year round events and ever improving commentary and insights it’s something that will continue to grow. But how do you get the most out of your sports broadcast? And how do you stand out amongst the thousands of other venues promoting similar live offerings? We’ve worked with venues around the country for nearly twenty years helping to promote sports and sports related entertainment. Even the best venues need to breathe some life into their sports offerings and we often tailor programs to achieve that. SPORTSPICK GAMEZOME: YOUR END TO END SPORTS BAR MARKETING TOOL A few of the most important things to consider are: Scheduling Make sure your patrons know what sports you will be broadcasting and when. Our Game On Live Sports Scheduling product has been incredibly valuable for venues promoting their live sports. People love to plan ahead, especially with major international events. We’ve seen an incredible amount of patrons seeking venues to watch World Cup matches, so much so that Game On is now the top of all Google Searches for “pubs showing world cup.” Do everything you can to keep potential patrons in the loop on what you are broadcasting. Atmosphere Consider the extras that you can include to take your live broadcast to the next level. Things like drink specials until the first goal is scored or cheap meals for people wearing their teams colours. Just because your patrons aren’t at the game doesn’t mean they don’t want the live game atmosphere. Do what you can to boost the atmosphere and you will see more sports fans in your venue more often!  CHECK OUT DARREN’S ARTICLE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF VENUE ATMOSPHERE Food and bev Don’t forget the main reason you invest in your live sports broadcast, which is to drive visitation and spend in your venue. Make the most of this opportunity by offering meal and drink specials to patrons enjoying the match. With most of the best live sports events running on weekends and public holidays you can expect most fans to stick around for drinks and a meal so make sure you are giving yourself every opportunity to capitalise on this opportunity. If you’re looking to take your live sports offering to the next level check out Sportspick Game Zone, Game On Live Sports Scheduling or get in touch with us and we will come out for a visit.