Penrith

The hospitality space at The Joan.

The Joan seeks hospitality operator

THE Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre (The Joan) is seeking a professional food and beverage operator for an exciting new café that will enrich the experience of visitors to The Joan.

An upgrade to Th e Joan by Penrith City Council, will see a new 19 sqm café built in the atrium foyer, including 66 sqm of internal and external seating, to enliven the venue and provide all-day dining for the whole community to enjoy.

Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown OAM said as an important creative hub in Penrith, the upgrade of Th e Joan plays a starring role in the vision to revitalise signifi cant spaces and places in our city.

“Our community has been waiting in the wings to enjoy live performances at Th e Joan once again when COVID-19 restrictions ease. To support the recovery of the arts community Council is delivering an upgrade of Th e Joan to improve the amenity and enhance patron’s experience at the centre,” Cr McKeown said.

“Th e new café will be the perfect place to grab a meal before a show or catch up over a drink at the bar to refl ect aft er a performance. Th ese facilities will deepen the audience’s engagement with the arts and broaden the patronage at Th e Joan. Th e external seating will also revitalise the Mondo, improving the venue’s connection to the adjacent Westfi eld Penrith,” Cr McKeown added.

CEO of Penrith Performing & Visual Arts (PP&VA), Hania Radvan said that recent community research had underscored the need for Th e Joan to off er a holistic experience for patrons, with a place to gather before and aft er performances.

“A sense of connection is central to people’s engagement in arts and culture, with the social experience of sharing a meal before or aft er a show, in a creative venue, deepening their enjoyment of a local night out. It’s also just fantastic for some of the many hundreds of parents waiting for children taking music or drama lessons to have somewhere on-site to relax and refl ect. Being in a space like Th e Joan off ers something additional to the everyday hospitality experience, so we are very excited to be moving ahead with our much-anticipated café,” Ms Radvan said.

“We are looking for a café operator that will work closely with us to develop food and beverage packages that refl ect our artistic programs. Th is is a fantastic opportunity for a hospitality operator to run a brand-new café in a popular arts and culture venue, with 122,000 people coming through Th e Joan each year.”

Th e café operator will also manage the newly refurbished Borland Bar, located inside the foyer of Th e Joan.

Not just for patrons of Th e Joan, the café will be a popular place to meet with friends or family to enjoy quality café style food as well as theatre favourites such as ice cream.

Th e Development Application for Th e Joan café has been approved, with construction set to commence in January 2022 and completion scheduled for March 2022.

Council and Th e Joan are seeking an experienced food and beverage operator with the fl exibility to cater to a wide audience in a dynamic venue that transitions from daytime café to an evening theatre bar.

Interested hospitality operators can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) from 3 November to 1 December 2021 via this link www.brainandpoulter.com. au/thejoanpenrith

To find out more about The Joan visit www. thejoan.com.au and to find out more about the café visit www.penrith.city/thejoancafe