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What was I thinking?
“Welcome to twice the problems, and half the money” - Was the quote from a trusted mate who ran multiple venues.
At the time I laughed it off — because, you know… this wasdifferent
Let’s rewind to October 2024.
I was becoming frustrated with our lack of growth, sales were down a bit and costs were up a lot. What had previously been a pretty lucrative brew pub, and a vibe to run, was turning grey as we fell into the operational rut of running a business, now in its 5th year.
Sure, we were still doing well, and the place maintained its edge, but as the guy running the show I was finding it a bit same same. And without anything significant on the horizon, my mind turned to the future.
What’s next?
At the time the DA at our farm in Bucketty was still in limbo, with no sign of a resolution anytime soon.
And as I’ve detailed on the blog, wholesale is a waste of time. The amount of effort required to sell a few cases, to make, maybe $100, that doesn’t get paid for a month or two, and sometimes not at all… Not my jam.
Then my phone rings.
It was the real estate agent who managed the old LABEL nightclub up the road.
He was offering a fully approved venue with unlimited patron capacity and a 3am liquor license. And the rent was half what we currently pay at Bucketty’s.
Surely this was an opportunity too good to pass up.
Coupled with a bit of imagination and some cash saved from Bucketty’s success, we could do something special here.
Let’s build another venue with 16 taps to sell our beers direct to customers, and create a space to COMPLIMENT Bucketty’s, capturing the sport watchers, the pool players, the cocktail drinkers and the late night revellers.
So we did!
We committed to a new 5 year lease. Pulled up a Pinterest page and started planning.
I’d forgotten how much was involved in creating a venue, the decisions were endless, and all of them expensive. Meanwhile Lexi and I are trying to juggle an existing brewpub with a couple of young kids, manage the stress and not go the way of so many couples who delve into a difficult situation like this.
Our initial budget of $2-300k quickly disappeared during conversations like….
How big should we make the TV?
Or should we get a projector?
Or…!
Should we make the whole wall a TV!?
YES! Let’s make sure we’ve got the biggest TV on the beaches!
So we did, and it cost about $150,000 - and that’s without speakers.
Timelines blew out, and our build team started to fall apart from the stress, dust soaked tears were a common occurrence, but we had to get it done.
Because there was no turning back.
When presented with a problem I’d say “How can we solve this right now?” which would always be followed with “Just spend the bloody money so we can open”.
And eventually we got there. Our 3 month build took 7 and cost over 7 figures...
On the 6th May we opened our doors to fanfare, from near and far.
We even got featured in the SMH!
Chalky’s was born!
Open 7 nights a week. With every one of them was packed, pool being played around the clock. Karaoke rooms heaving, the Valentines cocktail bar at capacity. Our biggest problem finding space to put the revellers, because I hate to turn thirsty people away!
There were teething issues of course, so we pulled together a team to help share the load and take some of the day-to-day pressure off me.
We were spending big, but sales were strong — and the buzz was worth it.
I really believe we should over invest in the early stages and make people’s experience special, so they tell their friends and build awareness through word-of-mouth. Which led to Bucketty’s success.
But 4 months in, cracks started to form.
Our Valentines cocktail bar wasn’t working, instead of being greeted by a host and putting your name on the waitlist, we were only getting 10 people booked on a Saturday night.
We tried a bunch of different things to turn it around. It was a piano bar, then it was a live music venue, then it was a restaurant, and eventually it was just closed.
Lights off, closed.
The weather warmed up and the footy season finished. It turns out people don’t want to sit inside a windowless room while the sun is out, regardless of how lovely it is.
Sure, we were still busy after 9pm, but we’d lost the late arvo crowd which made a big difference to the week.
Weekday trade dwindled and I started to panic. We’d sit around as a team trying to think of quirky events to pull people in.
Movie nights? Pool comps? Trivia? Magic! Some worked, some didn’t, but an inflection point came when Old Man Bucketty suggested he host the Old Man Bucketty Singles Night.
A voice in my head said “What the fuck are we doing here? This is not Chalkys”
So I grabbed a coffee laced with concrete, and we reset.
We needed to stop chasing sales and focus on what we know works:
People love the pool tables.
The karaoke crushes on Fri & Sat night.
We need some outdoor space, let’s turn the carpark into a beer garden.
Happy hour is definitely a thing, let’s lean into that.
Use the Super Duper Screen to its potential, show a classic movie if there’s no live sport.
Curate playlists to match the vibe.
Be consistent
And focus on what matters:
That people have a mad time and tell their friends.
That team enjoys working here.
That we're proud of what we’re doing.
So that’s what we’re doing, and green shoots are starting to emerge.
The beer garden’s a hit, and we turned it into a dog friendly vape/smoking area, much to the vitriol of people on socials.
Here’s a couple of my favourites:
Ewwww disgusting. How disappointing, you must be desperate for customers. We'll know where to avoid now.
(tagging) @zalisteggall not really cool with this advertisement. You wouldn’t advertise smoking and it’s not good to be advertising areas for people to vape. I agree that smokers/vapers should have an allocated area, but it’s the advertising that really bothers me on this one.
But if you’ve got no haters you’re not trying hard enough though I reckon.
And we’ve converted Valentines into a private party room for big celebrations.
Engagements, 30th’s 40th’s, 50th’s, work shindigs. It’s a perfect space where the party gets their own bar, bartenders, curates their playlist all with incredible food and drinks from our team. We’ve had a couple in there now and it’s a killer night for everyone.
We’re also about to unveil a membership program allowing punters to book pool tables online, get early access to the best seats for big sporting events and receive discounts on pool, food and drinks.
We’re building something more intimate, leaning into those that love what we do and rewarding them for it.
It’s been a ride — stressful, messy, and full of lessons — but we’re finally finding our rhythm.
I want to say we’re building a community but that’s such an overused word.
We’re building a club.
Chalky’s Club Memberships coming soon.
Thanks for reading and following the journey (another overused word, but I really like it!)
Cheers
Nick
