LOCAL ENGAGEMENT: AT THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY

At the heart of the community

Seamus May discovers how pubs are engaging with their local areas to give back, gain goodwill and establish themselves at the core of their neighbourhoods.

IT’S FOR good reason that pubs have been called ‘community living rooms.’ The experiences of the lockdown era have refocused attention on the importance of having social spaces, areas termed ‘third places’ by celebrated urban sociologist, Ray Oldenburg. After the home (‘the first place’) and the workplace (‘the second place’), the third place is crucial for developing social connections, a sense of belonging and civic engagement – in short, the very stuff that communities are made of.

Pubs, particularly in regional Australia, fulfill this role, as Lion’s head of sustainability, Libby Davidson, explains. “Social connection is at the heart of our business and culture at Lion,” Davidson says.

“We know that pubs often are that place where people can connect and have meaningful conversations, especially in rural and regional areas, and we are thrilled to be working with our customers to support them and their communities in this way.”

Davidson’s comments follow a 2018 study commissioned by the drinks giant, entitled ‘Where Everyone Knows Your Name: the social and psychological value of having a local in Australia’.

The Figtree Crushers at Redcape venue Figtree Hotel

The study showed that people who “have a local are more trusting and satisfied with life” and that “most people who have a local say they use it for socialising and drinking with other people.”

Moreover, “those who lived in rural areas… and had a local, and greater general mental health and less anxiety that those without a local.”

Lion followed this study by partnering with ‘mental fitness’ charity Gotcha4Life, and hosting events at regional NSW pub the Armatree Hotel at the end of 2021.

Media personality Gus Worland is the founder of Gotcha4Life. He outlined the crucial role that pubs have to play in rural communities.

“Gotcha4Life is all about getting right down to the grassroots to start conversations around what it means to be mentally fit, and how to have vulnerable conversations,” Worland said.

“There is no better place to do this than the pub, and we are beyond grateful to Lion for seeing the lifesaving potential in supporting these events.”

A Lion spokesperson told Australian Hotelier that there are similar events in the pipeline around Australia, saying: “We have events coming up later this month in WA at Caves House in Yallingup, Settlers Tavern in Margaret River, our venue, Tiny Mountain in Townsville in September and are planning a number of sessions visiting some of the flood affected communities in Northern NSW later in the year.”

Regional pubs supply a lifeline

One pub that demonstrates this is The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, country Victoria, which provides an important community base and is a major employer in the area.

The Royal Mail is part of the Dunkeld Pastoral Company, which maintains a large area of farmland in the region. The company maintains a target of 20 per cent of land set aside for conservation, as HR manager, Sarah Malik, explains.

“Some farms we’ve managed for a long time well exceed this target, newly acquired properties are working towards this target,” Malik says.

“So that’s native revegetation, and we also have an endangered animal program in partnership with Zoos Victoria.”

“This will be the eighteenth year that we have successfully bred endangered quolls, and so guests do have an opportunity whilst staying with us and dining with us to partake in conservation.”

Moreover, Malik says this sustainability practice extends to how the Royal Mail engages with the social side of the community of about 650 people.

Without the Royal Mail Hotel, I think this town would perhaps be like some of the other smaller towns, which are shrinking. In fact, it’s growing, the primary school has more than120 kids.

-Sarah Malik,HR manager

“We employ about 100 people, that’s one in six, and of course those one in six – they have parents, partners and kids. We’re very lucky that we’ve got a very supportive local community.”

The Royal Mail engages in several practices it terms ‘Social Sustainability’, including providing team members with housing options, sponsoring local sporting groups and non-profits, providing support for indigenous students to go to nearby schools and awarding an annual scholarship to student graduating from the local primary school.

“We talk about the experience in terms of four pillars: food, wine, people and place. And people are a really big part of it,” continues Malik.

Indeed, for Malik, the importance of pubs like the Royal Mail to their local environments can’t be overstated.

“Without the Royal Mail Hotel, I think this town would perhaps be like some of the other smaller towns, which are shrinking. In fact it’s growing, I think at the primary school it’s more than 120 kids.”

“It’s a fairly young town, we’ve got a lot of young people, which brings a lot of youthful energy to the town too, with very active sporting clubs.

“There’s a genuine sense and acknowledgement that without the Royal Mail being where we are, we wouldn’t be getting the sort of visitors we are, and the flow on effects throughout the community.” Like Davidson, Malik identifies rural pubs as vital to their communities. “I think we learnt over the last few years that hotels and hospitality venues, they’re central meeting places for connection and community.

The Royal Mail Hotel helps manage farmland in the Dunkeld community

“Having a place for people to come together – it’s essential for small towns.”

There are also benefits for pubs who engage with the community in this way, particularly with regards to future recruitment.

“Most people say now, ‘hire an attitude, we can teach something’ and that’s our proposition.”

“It’s been a really important part of us building our team here in Dunkeld, with people who do have a core desire to be working for a business that is willing to make sustainability and conservation core business activities,” Malik explains.

“In a candidate-tight market, that’s a really lucky position that we’ve been in, in that we’ve been doing these things for a long time. Job seekers can be pretty choosy about where they want to be working, and they want to work with businesses that align with their values.

“That’s been central to my goals within HR at Dunkeld Pastoral: to be known as an employer of choice, and to have a positive reputation in the community.

“Recruitment is not just about ‘we’ve got a vacancy, we can fill it’ – it’s about building a relationship with the community that we’ve got.

“Community engagement is critical to ensuring our business viability – there’s no other option. It’s critical to our success and the success of the community.”

Technology delivers for Redcape and communities

Of course, this kind of community engagement is not limited to standalone hotels, nor to regional pubs, with operators and pub groups in both suburban and major metro areas working with their neighbours and local customers.

This is a point that Dan Brady, chief executive officer of Redcape, is keento stress.

“Our organisational focus is nurturing and enhancing long-term relationships with our local communities and customers.”

“By continuously seeking feedback, actively listening, and engaging in two-way conversations, we deliver bespoke outcomes for our local communities,” Brady adds.

Locals at Armatree Hotel

A key tool Redcape have developed to achieve this goal is the Publinc Communities program. This is a membership system that allows consumers to build both personal perks and community points, that they can then put towards local programs and organisations.

“Simple in concept and complex in back-end data and technology driven design, our Publinc Communities program allows for our customers to strengthen their bonds with our staff and venues,” Brady explains.

“Publinc Communities provides us the unique opportunity to connect 120,000 customers, 1,500 staff, and 160+ local community organisations to create meaningful financial contributions in return for custom in our venues.

“Publinc is a deeply impactful platform whereby teams and business can positively contribute both financial and in-kind benefits to local community groups of their choosing in a simple, automated, and integrated digital way across 40 communities nationally.”

Within the Publinc system, customers can nominate causes that they want to contribute to, with “robust processes and support systems” in place to “ensure the groups legitimately align to the values of their local area and demonstrably contribute to positive social impact,” Brady says.

The Fiddler raised money for the local fire brigade in 2021

In particular, Brady says that the lockdown period of the pandemic provided the pub group with time to regroup and refocus its efforts.

“One example of this is how we engaged our staff and customers during the COVID-19 lockdowns,” Brady says.

“By staying meaningfully connected throughout lockdown by listening to what our customers value, we learned that our customers valued their relationship with staff above most all else.”

Like Malik, Brady also sees direct benefits for hospitality organisations that engage with their communities.

“For our organisation, community engagement is integral to the enablement and success of our vision to enhance our communities through our hospitality,” Brady says.

“Through community connection, we have meaningfully enhanced our employee value proposition and our customer value proposition and achieved an average 17.7 per cent per annum Total Shareholder Return for our investors over a five year period while establishing significant operational capability in all areas.”

Lewis Land Group champions tailored approach

Of course, Redcape are far from the only pub group looking to give back to its local areas, with Lewis Land Group (LLG) also supporting communities with its Lewis Foundation.

Chris Allison, regional manager for leisure and Lewis Land Group explains how the Foundation operates.

“The beauty of it is [that] it’s leveraged through our local connections, and it gives us a good platform for engaging with the community and being a good local and corporate citizen,” Allison says.

“We give back to our local communities by employing locals, entertaining them, and we rely on them too to support us.”

Allison sees a clear advantage to this approach when it comes to recruitment, saying: “One of the biggest attractions for working with Lewis Leisure is that we’re a group that gives back.”

The elastic nature of the Foundation is also one of its strong points, according to Allison.

“It’s definitely tailored to the communities. We have the flexibility to choose who and what we want to support. If there’s a particular area of need in the local community, we can change our focus.”

The endangered animal program at Royal Mail Hotel

One example is the support given during the Black Summer bushfires.

“During the 2019-2020 bushfires, The Fiddler donated $100,000 to the local fire brigade, The Belvedere and Camden Valley Inn also donated to their local fire brigades,” Allison explains.

“So if there’s anything that’s particularly urgent we can be agile, but our core interests are in health, welfare, and paediatrics.”

Major recipients of the Lewis Foundation’s philanthropy include the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, Starlight and the Australian Red Cross.

“All of our venues sponsor their local sporting groups,” Allison adds.

Allison also outlines why this kind of community support is important for any pub.

“Pubs themselves really are communities within a community - so if you’re not in touch with your local area, and if you don’t understand what’s important to the people that are important to you, your product and offer is going to be a missing an opportunity.”

“Our opportunity to influence people’s lives beyond the day to day is something we’re very focused on providing. It’s very rewarding for our staff and recipients of care too, so it’s just another facet of the way we do business,” Alisson concludes.

Publinc members deliver returns for Redcape

Dan Brady outlines how Redcape’s Publinc program has provided monetary support for organisations, and resulted in an increase in repeat custom for Redcape.

“Since its launch the Publinc Communities platform has contributed over $1.33M pledged financial support to over 160 community groups as nominated by our customers and allowed our teams to participate in our 6,000 paid hours of work within these local charities and social change organisations,” Brady says.

“Prior to launching Publinc Communities, our membership program delivered $13m in revenue, it has grown to contribute $150m in revenue with our members spending 24 times non-members in Food and Beverage channels.”

Camden Valley Inn donates $20,000 to Kids of Macarthur

Lewis Land Group venue, the Camden Valley Inn, donated $20,000 to children’s healthy charity Kids of Macarthur in July.

Australian Hotelier spoke to general manager Kayla Seeney about how and why the venue had chosen to partner with the organisation.

“We’ve been a bit involved with them throughout the years. We try to always help as many places and charities around our local area, especially for kids – we’re a very family focused venue.”

Seeney says the money was donated to help the charity develop a space in CampbelltownHospital that it has been given.

“They don’t have any government backing, everything they do is purely raised for support. So I thought, let’s get on board and help them, give them a good chunk to try and get that sanctuary for the hospital, for the families and the kids that go there, up and running.”