Key points:
- Customers increasingly seek connection, entertainment and shared experiences – not just food and drink.
- Know your customers: Choose experiences that suit your audience and venue rather than following trends.
- Look beyond turnover: Measure extra gross profit after labour, entertainment, security and promotional costs.
- Track what works: Compare initiatives against normal trading periods and monitor results consistently.
- Invest in what fits: Choose experiences that suit your customers and venue, strengthen community ties and deliver sustainable returns.
The local pub has traditionally been what sociologists describe as a “third place” – somewhere distinct from home and work where people gather, connect and participate in community life. It is where people meet friends, watch the footy, celebrate milestones and, particularly in regional communities, catch up.
What is changing is the level of intent behind those experiences. Across the venues we support, we are seeing alcohol consumption decline in the younger demographic, while customers increasingly seek social connection, entertainment and memorable reasons to visit. Food and drink remain important, but they are no longer always the main draw.
Live music, major sporting fixtures, family entertainment and community events are becoming part of the business model, not just occasional extras.
Customers have plenty of choice about where they spend their money. A good meal, a cold beer and friendly service remain essential, but they may not be enough to get someone off the couch.
Some venues are going much further, adding golf simulators, bowling alleys, playgrounds and other entertainment. The aim is to increase visitation, dwell time and repeat business – but the investment still has to suit the venue and stack up financially.
Create a ‘third place’ worth visiting
This shift is particularly evident among Generation Z. Young people may be drinking less, but they are not necessarily less interested in going out. Increasingly, they are seeking social connection, atmosphere and shared activities rather than occasions centred on alcohol.
For pubs, this creates an opportunity to strengthen their role as a third place – a welcoming setting outside home and work where people can connect and participate in community life. Live music, run clubs, trivia, puzzle nights, games and cultural events can give customers a reason to visit, spend time together and return.
That does not mean every pub needs to become an entertainment complex. The right approach depends on the customers and the venue. A major sporting fixture might lift an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon, a children’s play area can make a pub an easy choice for families, and community events can deepen local relationships.
The more useful question is: what kind of third place do your customers want – and why should they choose yours?
The answer will vary. A regional hotel supporting local sporting clubs serves a different market from a large suburban venue focused on families, while an inner-city pub developing its night trade faces another set of priorities. Start with your customers and the strengths of your venue, rather than copying the latest hospitality trend.
But does it make money?
From a broader perspective, the key question is whether the experience improves the performance of the venue as a whole.
An event or entertainment offer should not be judged only on whether the activity itself makes money. Its effect on food and beverage sales, customer spend, repeat return and the wider trading period matters too.
Compare the event period with a genuinely comparable trading period. Measure incremental revenue and gross profit, average customer spend, attendance or table turnover, and labour cost as a percentage of sales. Then deduct additional entertainment, security, promotional and staffing costs. That gives a clearer view of the return than turnover alone.
Using live music as an example, a band is an additional cost, but the relevant test is whether it generates enough extra gross profit across the venue to cover that cost and reward the effort involved.
Sport works the same way. Most pubs have screens, but turning a final, State of Origin match or major local fixture into an occasion may lift attendance, bar sales and average spend. Those gains need to be measured against the extra costs.
Turnover is only the starting point.
Measure what works
Experience-led hospitality may lift revenue, but a busier venue is not automatically a more profitable one.
Decide what success looks like before the event. Compare the result with a normal week and track the same measures each time: food and beverage sales, gross profit, average spend, labour, promotional costs, security and entertainment expenses. Where possible, also monitor repeat visitation or bookings after the event.
Consistent measurement reveals which ideas deserve further investment.
Live music might transform Sunday afternoon trade but add little on an already busy Friday night. Family entertainment may improve lunch trade, while sporting events may produce their strongest return at the bar.
That evidence shows where the next dollar is most likely to earn a return.
We see this regularly when working with hospitality businesses. Strong sales figures often hide inefficiencies in labour, stock and other operating costs. Timely financial information helps operators distinguish a popular initiative from a profitable one.
Invest in what fits
For publicans, the opportunity is not necessarily to do more. It is to understand which experiences attract the right customers, strengthen the venue’s position as a community gathering place and generate an acceptable return on investment.
The best-performing venues will not always be the ones with the busiest events calendar or the latest attraction. They will be the venues that create genuine reasons for people to visit, connect and return.
In an environment where customers have endless entertainment options at home, the local pub’s greatest competitive advantage may be its ability to bring people together. The challenge for operators is to identify the experiences that customers truly value, measure the financial impact, and invest in the initiatives that deliver both stronger community engagement and sustainable profitability.
Customers may come for the meal or the drink, but they return for the experience. The most successful venues understand that creating a reason to gather is not just good hospitality – it is good business.
