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Renovate pubs as you like but keep serving chicken parmigiana
Publican Matt Mullins and Jemma Lee commemorate the 150th anniversary of Carlton & United Breweries in Melbourne yesterday. Picture: Ian Currie Source: TheAustralian
FOR all the sophistication of inner-suburban Melbourne dwellers, there is a clear lesson being learned by those running and renovating the region's iconic pubs: keep serving schnitzel.
Matt Mullins, who co-owns Richmond-focused pub group Sand Hill Road, says the growing desires of pub-goers for a familiar feel rather than something trendy is well illustrated in his kitchens.
"In our venues, a quarter of the meals we sell are chicken parmigiana - it's extraordinary, one in four," Mr Mullins said yesterday.
"We sell something like 17 tonnes of chicken every year."
He says the 14-year-old pub group is learning that what really works is to avoid chasing trends.
"When we first got into pubs in 2000 we were so keen to do something a little different, we didn't serve chicken parmas, we didn't have TVs, we didn't have pool tables.
"It worked for quite a while, but in the end novelty doesn't last that long and you need to find what will stay true over time."
Sand Hill Road operates Richmond's Bridge Hotel, the Richmond Club Hotel and the Prahran Hotel, and is renovating the Terminus Hotel in Abbotsford.
The comments were made at a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Carlton & United Breweries.
In a nod to his hosts and neighbours, who occupy the huge CUB riverside brewery site at Abbotsford, Mr Mullins predicted recent growth in craft beer drinking would plateau for the same reason he keeps selling parma and now renovates his pubs with a more intimate feel.
"They will always dabble in craft beers, which are moving up from 2-3 per cent to 4-5 per cent (of the market), which is where they will probably stop, and stay forever," he said.
"In the end you still want to be able to walk in and order a Carlton Draught and it should look and taste the same."
CUB has launched its celebrations with a TV campaign promoting what the SAB Miller-owned brewer says is the important, and diminishing, role pubs have played in Australian history.
Source: The Australian - March 28 2014
