Justin Hemmes at forefront of pubs’ shifting sands

Justin Hemmes at Coogee where the old Beach Palace Hotel is undergoing renovation as part of the Merivale empire. Picture: Britta Campion Source: News Corp Australia

Less than two weeks before it reopens, the Merivale chief executive is spending his days at the dusty site.

“I’ve always been hands-on,” Hemmes tells The Australian.

“You’ve got to get your hands dirty; you can’t be a pointer.”

Hemmes, known for hip Sydney CBD venues such as the Ivy and the Establishment and his lavish lifestyle, rejects the idea a more family-oriented venue is a change of strategy for Merivale.

“All our developments relate to the precinct where they are and the demographic of the customer,” he says. “Coogee is about families, it’s the safest ocean beach in Sydney and that’s what attracts all the families. Coogee used to have a prolific backpacking community, (but the) council has made a very definite strategy to move away from that and they have done so over the past 10 years.”

The pub, renamed the Coogee Pavilion, has been leased from former Rothschild managing dir­ector of investment banking David Kingston with the deal including an option to buy.

Hemmes, who has so far built his 50-venue-strong pub, nightclub and restaurant portfolio purely in Sydney, says the group is looking at opportunities in other major Australian cities.

There is also an interest in taking the Merivale brand overseas.

But where would his first offshore bar likely be?

“The Maldives,” he jokes. “But every time we think of doing something overseas, something really exciting comes up here and it takes our resources.

“We’ve got all these ideas sitting there, that we’ve come up with over the years, and if the right property presents itself then we’ll act on it.”

Hemmes is not interested in following other hotel operators and floating Merivale or listing a pub fund. “I probably wouldn’t be good at justifying myself (to shareholders),” he says.

“We operate very quickly. I can come up with an idea and we’re activating it the next day and I don’t know how that would work as a public company.”

Merivale was founded in the 1950s as a fashion company by Hemmes’ parents, John and Merivale. His mother designed hats and his father, a Dutch immigrant who came to Australia after World War II, sold them. The company expanded into a broader fashion label and also became a substantial property investor.

In 1992, when Hemmes was 21, his father put him in charge of ­creating the first hotel the company would manage: Hotel CBD in the heart of Sydney.

He says the hotel was a revolutionary change from the Sydney scene at the time, where food, pub and dance club offerings were always in separate venues.

“I thought: wouldn’t it be great if you could go to a pub that had great music, cocktails on the bar menu and actually have a food ­offering in the hotel and the pub that was of restaurant quality. It was the first multi-facet pub offering. It revolutionised the pubs industry in terms of what pubs offer, now every pub (has) that.”

Hemmes became chief executive of Merivale in 1999. Since then, the company has grown to become one of Australia’s largest hospitality companies, employing 1400 people. Another game changer, he says, was in 2000, when the group opened the ­Establishment on ­George Street.

He says his aim was to give Sydney a world-famous bar. The $50 million redevelopment opened two days before the 2000 Olympics. “You couldn’t get a better launching pad,” he says.

“We had nearly every gold medallist that was in the country in there. One night, there must have been 14 gold medals around people’s necks in the lounge,” he says, adding that US runner Maurice Green brought his own DJ so he could host a victory party after winning the 100m sprint.

In 2007, the group opened the Ivy, which includes a restaurant, nightclub, pub and a pool bar.

But don’t tell Hemmes that the Ivy and Establishment are trendy.

“Don’t say that, you make it sound so boring,” he says.

“I hate anything on trend because I think if you’re on trend that means you can be out of trend. We don’t try to be on trend and we don’t want to be on trend; I think the nicest offerings are the ones that you feel comfortable in.”

Hemmes claims he has no master plan for Merivale’s growth and has no goals for how big the company will be in the future.

He says the bar and pub game has become much more sophisticated since he started.

“It’s a completely different business,” he says. “The customer is so educated and so discerning, people want greater value for money now than ever before.”

Source: The Australian - 17 July 14