HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR VENUES

2020-21 HIGHLIGHTS

Venue

LADY BANKS ROOFTOP BAR

The final piece of the puzzle for the Flinders Centre Bankstown. After years of planning and 12 months of construction, the fitout of the venue was completed in June 2021.

BASEMENT BREWHOUSE AT BAULKHAM HILLS SPORTS

Plans have been submitted to council for the new food and beverage venue inside Baulkham Hills Sports Club. Construction is expected to commence in 2022, delayed due to the most recent lockdown.

Food & beverage

5-STAR FOOD RATING

Bankstown Sports Club was awarded a 5-Star Rating of Food Safety from City of Canterbury Bankstown for all of its restaurants.

HELMUT’S HAUS

Our modern Bavarian food offering opened in December 2020 featuring traditional German food, beers and Bavarian Schnapps. It has been incredibly popular and has been booked out every weekend since opening, with fantastic customer feedback.

Offering authentic Lebanese cuisine and traditional hospitality, Al Aseel Bankstown opened in January 2021. The venue caters for lunch and dinner daily, as well as corporate functions and events.

We also created the Al Aseel Lager which is sold exclusively at Al Aseel Bankstown.

BREWHOUSE CANS

The Basement Brewhouse team purchased a canning machine to allow them to can our in-house beers more regularly, and save on the cost of outsourcing the service.

BIG NILES BREWING COLLABORATION

Basement Brewhouse Bankstown has partnered with Big Nile Brewery at Dalmeny on the South Coast for a keg exchange program. This arrangement sees each venue swap kegs of their in-house brewed beer to sell to their customers. We look forward to continuing this collaboration.

CORNERSTONE COFFEE & KITCHEN

Our café introduced a new self-serve concept, offering pre-made sandwiches, salads and drinks, alongside the a la carte menu.

BURGER BOX AT BIRRONG SPORTS

In the summer of 2020, we opened a new food truck and can bar offering at Birrong Sports, offering a range of Brewhouse Burgers and Craft Beers.

SMOKIN’ ACRES

Smokin’ Acres at The Acres Club continues to grow in popularity and now supplies Basement Brewhouse and Greenfield Station Bistro at Bankstown Sports with all of their smoked meats. Over 100kg of chicken wings and 50 briskets are transported across each month.

Smokin’ Acres has also launched a pick-up service, where customers can select a package and pick it up from the venue for self-catering.

NEW KITCHEN AT BANKSTOWN BOWLS

Bankstown Bowls Club has undergone some interior design changes over the past 12 months, with the most significant update being a the our new kitchen, Grill Central. The new offering has reinvigorated the club with an extensive menu at an affordable price.

MEMBER KIOSK

In order to follow the NSW Health guidelines when we reopened after the March 2020 shutdown, a major upgrade of the Bankstown Sports Club sign-in process was required.

The decision was made to only allow members into the club so that we would have the required personal data if COVID authorities requested it. This meant an overhaul of our member kiosks.

These kiosks helped our membership numbers increase by 60,000 to a total of 120,000 members. Since then, a newer version of the kiosk has been developed which will provide a safe and efficient way for our guests to enter the club. There will also be a special line for our app users.

RESPONSIBLE GAMING POLICY

In 2021, we introduced our new Responsible Gaming Policy for staff at each of our venues. The program trains employees so they are better equipped to identify people who may have a gambling problem and need assistance.

This program has the potential to become the mandatory standard training requirement for all staff who work in gaming areas across NSW. Bankstown Sports is proud to be the first club in the state to have all staff complete the course.

Another responsible gaming initiative introduced this year was facial recognition at entrances to our gaming area. This system works has helped us to identify many people who had previously self excluded.

GAMING FLOOR FOOD SERVICE

A new initiative that’s been introduced as a result of the COVID pandemic and subsequent social distancing requirements is a new ordering service for the gaming floor, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees, members and guests.

Patrons can now order food and drinks direct from their machines, which has reduced face-to-face contact with staff.

Our people

Our members Managing COVID

In 2021, we welcomed Sam Chan to the Birrong Sports team as the club’s new Venue Manager. Sam has over 10 years’ experience in hospitality management and has settled in to the role nicely.

Auburn Tennis Club introduced a new caterer this year; the family duo of Mahendra and Cheena Khatri who are collaborating with the team to create some exciting new things in the food and beverage space at the club.

We are proud of the way we have navigated the COVID pandemic to date, and to ensure our venues remain safe for our staff and patrons, we have implemented some new initiatives at our venues.

We have significantly increased cleaning at all venues to incorporate regular COVID deep cleans.

We have also created COVID management plans for every area of our operations to ensure we are compliant with NSW Health guidelines, and to provide a comfortable experience for our customers.