Local pub recognised for takeaway smarts

THE Western Hotel has trumped a number of Melbourne-based finalists to take home the trophy for Best Takeaway Initiative at this year’s Australian Hotels Association (Victoria) State Awards for Excellence, at a glitzy ceremony at Crown Palladium.

“It’s a pretty satisfying reward for the effort, for all the work the team did during the lockdowns to try and keep us afloat,” owner Dan Cronin said.

“Everyone loves to win something, but to win an award from an industry nominated category that’s judged by peers and industry leaders is pretty gratifying for sure.”

Like many other Victorian hospitality venues, Mr Cronin said a significantly increased focus on takeaway food became crucial for the hotel throughout the course of 2020.

“We had takeaway available in the past but it certainly wasn’t a large percentage of what we did each week. It wasn’t a key focus for our business,” he said.

“But then obviously, during the lockdowns, we were trying to find a way to increase our revenue, which enabled us to employ more of our casual staff that weren’t eligible for JobKeeper or JobSeeker for whatever reason.”

“It meant that we were able to maintain a reasonable level of casual staff and stay in touch with our customers as well.”

Cronin credits the pub’s increased social media presence, plus the establishment of a new drive-through option – built from an old shipping container – as two key elements that got the judges’ attention.

“Our social media presence played a huge part in staying engaged with the community and our customers,” he said.

“We also fitted the shipping container out and put it in our driveway to create a drive-through coffee and food venue, which was open from seven o’clock in the morning till two o’clock in the afternoon.”

“So that was a key driver, as well as our usual busy nights of Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”

“We were quite surprised and really encouraged by how much the community supported us, and how much locals got behind local businesses in general.”

Zagame’s Ballarat Hotel claimed the region’s second win for the night, taking home the gong for best regional gaming venue (51 machines or more).

Timothy Fulton from Irish Murphy’s was nominated for Excellence in Service and Irish Murphy’s was also nominated for Best Speciality Bar.