Functions market ramping up as festive season approaches
/With the approach of this year’s festive season, the functions market is once again ramping up – with demand quite healthy, despite some scaling back of function sizes likely driven by rising costs. To get a snapshot of the state of play, Foodservice Rep looks at two venues for whom functions is a thriving component of their business.
christmas function at toowoomba’s southern hotel
The Southern Hotel in Toowoomba has been privately owned by the same family since 1986 – now in its second generation, with plans for the succession to continue into a third. Along with its café, restaurant, main bar and gaming area, it has five function spaces which range from accommodating 20 people for intimate dinners through to seating for 150 and various size canape gatherings. Three of the five areas can be further subdivided and while all are fully covered, several are multizoned and so can be opened up as the weather permits.
General Manager Glenn Morton, who oversees the venue and its 85 staff, is a longtime friend of the owner and says much of the hotel’s success is directly attributable to the family’s commitment to and respect for the local community. “The majority of the hotels in the region are owned by corporates – and I’m not criticising their business model – but I think when you are working for a well-run family business, you’re more willing to go the extra mile, and that gives us a competitive edge.
“When you are working for a well-run family business, you’re more willing to go the extra mile”
“The family have lived in the area for nearly 50 years so they are well and truly part of the community. I myself have worked on and off with the owner since 1991 and at this venue for 18 years, and when you work for someone whom you know and you’ve watched their kids grow up and been to their 21sts and so on, you care about what happens to their business.”
“The function is about the patron, not us”
Southern Hotel catering options
Glenn says the hotel offers a range of function packages, from canapes and food platters through to an alternate drop set menu. “What we find works best for us is rather than say to a customer ‘here are our packages’ we will bring them in, show them the spaces and ask what they would like. Then we will tailor a package for them, giving our advice on what might suit, and take it from there. I think too many places are not quite flexible enough – that’s what we strive to offer, because at the end of the day, the function is about the patron, not us.”
He acknowledges that rising prices have impacted the market over the last several years. “No one’s going to dispute that the cost of living plays a part in people’s leisure budgets – and that’s especially the case on the corporate side. That’s where I think we’ve seen the most scaling back. We also now live in a society where if something untoward happens at a Christmas party, for example if someone has a few too many drinks and behaves inappropriately, the venue can be held responsible. I sit in an industrial relations conference every year at which there’s around 80 venues represented – in the past 75 would talk about Christmas parties and now it’s down to 25. So in that respect the functions market has cut back.
“Where the market is hurting is the private function groups – they’re the ones who are probably suffering the most”
“That being said, our functions business is pretty strong. There’s fewer corporate get-togethers, although we do have some for smaller businesses, say around 20 staff, but we don’t see too many Christmas parties of 150 plus anymore.”
The hotel has also benefited from two local businesses having cut back their functions operations, which has provided more work for others to pick up. “Where the market is hurting is the private function groups – they’re the ones who are probably suffering the most in the current economic climate,” Glenn says.
Moving away from the sit down meal
“What we find is that people are moving away from the sit down meal, they’re looking for canapes, finger food style presentation and there’s several reasons for that. The main one is that when you go to a function with 30 others, you want to be able to mingle, you want to be able to move around and mix with a range of people.”
The style of food, especially for the festive season, is also moving away from the traditional. “If you go back 40 years ago, I would say 90 per cent of Christmas functions had turkey, beef and ham – but now people would prefer for everyone to make their own choices off the menu.”
The hotel offers live music three days a week and Glenn says “outside of that, people sometimes elect to bring their own live music for their function. There’s quite often a desire for some kind of audio visual component, whether it’s video slide shows, Nightlife Music DJ which allows people to program their own music – and sometimes people will just bring in their phones with a playlist on them.”
“We always strive to source from local and Australian first”
When it comes to the hotel’s function food presentation and style, Glenn says “we’re a pub, so we’re not reinventing the wheel. What we offer is value for money, good quality pub bistro food. When customers come to us they’re after the roast, the parmy, the steak – we know what our market is and what will appeal to them.
Ensuring consistency of food and presentation
“As we speak, Melbourne Cup Day is coming up and we don’t do a Melbourne Cup function as such. A lot of other venues locally do but with the cost of the music, the fashion parade, the drinks package and so on, they might be charging $200 a head but at the end of the day they don’t make much from it. We’d rather do everything as normal and we find we fill all our areas – rather than running it as a function, we’ll just do it as a really big lunch and that works well for us. It’s all about finding your niche.”
Glenn says the key to success in functions is to keep labour costs down and ensure consistency of food quality and presentation. “That’s what customers are looking for, and today there are plenty of good products out there which can be bought in to cut down on from-scratch preparation. If you can get a great product at a reasonable price, it cuts down your labour costs and that’s a positive. I always say if you can get it from a local supplier, great; if you can get it from an Australian supplier, great; if not, you may have to go further afield, but we always strive to source from local and Australian first. We have a firm belief in putting back into the community and there is some terrific local produce available.”
Catering to a multicultural demographic
Paul Jury is Executive Chef at Liverpool Catholic Club, one of the larger clubs in Sydney’s southwest which does a thriving functions business. “We can cater for about 2000 sit down across all our outlets – which include a ballroom, auditorium, the theatre which holds 270, and the individual outlets across the Conservatory, which is the new side of the club, and the Terrace side.”
Paul has been at the club for three years and describes the demographic as “very multicultural – we have quite a big catchment area, in that we service Liverpool, Hoxton Park, Campbelltown – it goes all the way out and there is a substantial membership base.”
Function seating at liverpool catholic club
Appeal based on strong community presence
School formals make up a sizable chunk of the club’s functions, along with the leisure and corporate markets. “Leisure is particularly big on weekends because we have so many offerings and we will tailor the menu to people’s needs – I’ve just done a multicultural buffet format which goes across the spectrum.”
Ice skating rink, Liverpool catholic club
The club’s appeal is built on its strong community presence and it also benefits from offering a vast amount of parking. There’s also a 192 room Mercure Hotel attached to the club, along with an ice skating rink and two football ovals – all of which ensures it is constantly in demand for functions. “We’ve just had a massive football tournament for the kids – we sponsor a lot of the local football teams and they stay in the hotel as part of a full function package which obviously includes the food component.”
“We have so many offerings and we will tailor the menu to people’s needs”
Heading for the busy season
Paul says his function team are kept busy seven days a week. “There are always people coming through and business for the next quarter is solid, but having said that, there’s always room for more. We’ve just come out of a bit of a lull but we’re now heading for the busy season so it’s really starting to kick in.”
“Whenever we have a customer come in with specific needs, we try not just to meet but to exceed their expectations”
Paul Jury (L) & chef team
The range of function food reflects the diverse nature of the customer base. “We do a lot of Middle Eastern, Nepalese, Indian, Polynesian … we basically adapt our buffet to the cuisine style that’s required. We’ve gone well outside of our standard function package – whenever we have a customer come in with specific needs, we try not just to meet but to exceed their expectations.
“We’ve gone well outside of our standard function package”
mother’s day breakfast buffet
Flexibility is key
“We do a lot of cocktail parties, a lot of conferences – mostly sit down morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea packages. For the leisure side, it could be a buffet, a cocktail party or a three course meal – it’s right across the board. You have to be very flexible in the business these days.
“The minute you walk in the door, you feel welcome”
Father’s day function, liverpool catholic club
“I used to work at another big venue which had a much more straightforward offering, but here it’s a larger footprint and we have more dining options too – we have a food court and our new Rosemary and Thyme café has just opened up. There’s a massive kids area and we work out to ensure that what we do is very family friendly.
“The club itself is very fresh and modern and has everything people are looking for and I think that’s a lot of its appeal. The minute you walk in the door, you feel welcome.”
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