Industry event to support regional pubs

A REGIONAL outreach event to support pubs and venues increase profitability will be held at the Huntly Hotel next week.

The Australian Hotel Association has hosted Pubs, Pots, and Profits quarterly for the past 15 years to assist businesses in regional Victoria.

AHA executive member Troy Patterson, who is a former pub owner from Gippsland, said the main aim of the event was to provide networking and learning opportunities for people in the industry.

“It was put together by a couple of publicans in regional Victoria and the idea behind it is to get out into the regions of Victoria and get the publicans to get together to boost networking.

“And then we have a whole lot of industry people speak, so the likes of PFD foods will speak about what’s going on in the industry, and what’s going well.”

This year, the event will cover a range of topics from costing strategies to food and beverage trends.

Professionals in the industry will share their experience and help participants engage in discussions on how to run a successful pub or venue.

“The whole purpose of the day is for the publicans to be able to walk away and walk back into their business and save some money, and make some money,” Mr Patterson said.

A portion of the event will be dedicated to an interactive round-table led by Mr Patterson.

“I run a session, and just with post-it notes, I say ‘Tell me what the three biggest issues are that you’re currently dealing with’,” he said.

“Then we do a workshop through it all and some of the senior publicans are always there and you can always say ‘What did you do in this instance?’ So it’s good from a learning point of view.”

Pubs, pots, and profits will be held on March 19 at Huntly Hotel.

Registrations can be made by contacting Troy Patterson at [email protected]