By Laura Box
The new live music program at Brookvale’s 7th Day Brewery is not only driving patronage, but it’s also increasing staff engagement and retention, according to General Manager Joel Ridzuan.
Independent breweries make up just five to seven per cent of the Australian brewery market – yet they employ 51 per cent of the whole brewing industry. For businesses like 7th Day Brewery, the scene can be extremely challenging. The brewer is up against big names with nearby breweries like Asahi (4 Pines Brookvale), and many punters don’t know the difference between independent and non-independent businesses.
“But when people understand it, there’s this real community angle. They’re like, yeah, you know what? I actually do want to drink at a small business. I’m okay with spending maybe a dollar more on a pint,” says Ridzuan.
Now, the brewery has found a way to draw a bigger crowd.
“We’ve always had a DJ on a Saturday afternoon, and we’ve always had trivia and comedy and all that kind of stuff. But last year we were fortunate enough to do a New South Wales government program called the Venue Accelerator Program,” says Ridzuan.
The Live Performance Venue Accelerator program provides small and medium hospitality venues with the major elements required to stage a long-term program of live performances – from marketing, to liaising with acts, to creating the right performance space.
After completing the course, the brewery was successful in receiving an $80,000 grant from the state government.
“It was the piggyback that we needed. If we knew what we knew now, we would have done it anyway,” says Ridzuan.
The grant enabled the business to buy speakers, to soundproof an area of the brewery, and to book bands they hadn’t ever expected to be booking. Ridzuan says that while they’ve been “stumbling and learning” along the way, customers are receptive to the process and there’s a strong appetite for the music.
“There’s a whole new diversity of people coming to the venue. There’s a completely new style in how they dress and how they talk … We like that feeling of experiencing something new with like-minded people in the same room,” says Ridzuan.
“Obviously, there’s numbers behind that as well; The business has improved. The staff are also coming to work and wanting to dress up a little bit more … there’s just been a real morale boost,” says Ridzuan.
There’s been an influx of sales, which the business has reflected with hiring more staff. “We’re turning over 30 per cent more money, so we’ve just been relaying it straight back into spending 30 per cent more on wages.”
It’s the nature of the industry that staff will be young and transient – but the bar’s atmosphere is drawing an enthusiastic employee base and employees aren’t hard to come by. “We haven’t had moments where we’ve been scrambling for staff. We’ve been able to really think about the people we want to take on.”
The brewery is also helping to provide a platform for young, up and coming bands in the community. “We can’t necessarily afford big acts, but there’s something really exciting about picking a band that’s not perfect, but that’s part of the delivery of art. I think the punters come in and they get it.”
For business owners wanting funding to implement their own music program, the general manager says its possible to apply for grants without help, and points out they didn’t use grant writers.
“It’s extremely possible. They just want to know that the business is genuinely interested in hosting live music. And I think if you fill out the grant with that kind of idea in your head, there’s a really good chance that you might be able to get a live music grant.”
This article originally appeared on our sister title, Hospitality Magazine.