HOSPITALITY REVIEW TASMANIAN August/September 2026
The Sea Stacks Story
A decade-long vision transforms the old Silver Sands site into a new era of eco luxury on Tasmania’s East Coast
Also Inside: Kingfisher Hobart | Hobart Airport milestone | NORTH Festival
SUPPORTING TASMANIA’S VISITOR ECONOMY
PROUDLY CONNECTING TASMANIA
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Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
President Update 5 CEO Update 7 FEATURE: Sea Stacks 8-12 Events Calendar 13 Minister Update 15 Opposition Leader Update 17 FEATURE: Kingfisher 18-21
FEATURE: NORTH Festival 22-23 FEATURE: Trevor Oakley 24-26 Workforce Development Update 29 FEATURE: Hobart Airport 30-31 East Coast Roadshow 32-33 FEATURE: Eventlab 34-37 Great Customer Experience Update 40-41 Industry Engagement Update 41-42 FEATURE: Biggest Ever Blokes Lunch 44-45 TasTAFE Update 48-49
Trevor Oakley
Clubs Tasmania Update 52-53 Hospo Health Update 54-55 Business Events Tasmania 57 Tourism Tasmania Update 59 Hospitality Dr 61 Corporate Glossary 62-63
East Coast Roadshow
Cover Photo: Sea Stacks Bicheno. Picture: Lasse Hauschild
TASMANIAN HOSPITALITY REVIEW BY
For editorial enquiries contact Adam Smith adam@tha.asn.au 0417327093
@hospitalitytasmania
@hospitality_tasmania
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Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
PRESIDENT UPDATE
The hospitality industry has never been more complex to operate in. Whether it’s workplace laws, award changes, licensing requirements or day-to-day compliance, the expectations on business owners continue to grow. Most operators genuinely want to do the right thing, but keeping on top of every change while running a business is no small task.
working together, we’re helping create a stronger culture of compliance across the industry, giving employers greater confidence and ensuring employees receive the wages and conditions they’re entitled to. It’s a reminder that membership is about far more than having someone to call when an issue arises. It’s about being part of an organisation that is working every day to strengthen the industry through education, advocacy and practical support. This month also provided another example of what can be achieved when businesses come together. The launch of Beer Tasmania brings together more than 40 independent breweries with a shared ambition to grow beer tourism, support local producers and showcase one of Tasmania’s great success stories. It’s exactly the kind of collaborative initiative that Hospitality Tasmania is proud to help deliver. Whether we’re advocating for better policy, helping businesses navigate increasingly complex regulations or bringing operators together to create new opportunities, our purpose remains the same: building a stronger, more sustainable hospitality industry for everyone. Because when our businesses succeed, Tasmania benefits.
That’s why strong industry representation matters.
This month’s Fair Work Ombudsman announcement highlighted areas where businesses fell short, but there was another message that perhaps received less attention. It also recognised the value of education, practical support and employer associations in helping businesses understand their obligations and improve compliance. That’s exactly the role Hospitality Tasmania strives to play every day. Our objective isn’t simply to step in when something goes wrong. It’s to help businesses get it right from the beginning by providing trusted advice, practical resources and access to experienced workplace relations specialists who understand the realities of operating in hospitality. The positive relationship we’ve built with the Fair Work Ombudsman is an important part of that. By
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CEO UPDATE
There is something special about bringing our industry together, and this year we’re preparing to do it on a bigger scale. Our 2026 Hospitality Tasmania Awards for Excellence will move from the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens to MAC 02 on Hobart’s waterfront, giving us the opportunity to welcome more people and continue growing what has become one of the most important nights on our industry calendar. The Gardens have provided a fantastic backdrop for the Awards over the past three years and we’ve created some great memories there. We’ve also been fortunate with the weather on two of those three occasions – and anyone who has organised a major outdoor event in Tasmania knows you can only push your luck so far. Moving to MAC 02 gives us greater certainty, but just as importantly, it gives us room to grow. Interest in the Awards continues to build each year and we want as many people as possible to be there to celebrate the businesses, operators and people who make our industry what it is. This year’s event on September 30 will be bigger, but the purpose remains the same: recognising excellence, celebrating achievement and giving our industry an opportunity to come together. We were reminded recently just how important those opportunities are with the inaugural Clubs Tasmania Awards. It was fantastic to see the club sector come together for its own night of recognition and celebration, and I want to congratulate Tom Darke and the entire Hospitality Tasmania team who worked incredibly hard to deliver such a successful first event. Most importantly, congratulations to all the finalists and winners, and to everyone who attended and helped make the night what it was. For an inaugural event, the response was outstanding and showed there is a real appetite to recognise the contribution clubs and the people behind them
make across Tasmania.
Clubs hold a particularly important place in our communities, and it is something I have seen firsthand over many years. I’ve been fortunate to be involved with sporting clubs and organisations at different levels, from local through to my time as Chair of the Tasmania JackJumpers and Jewels. The scale might change, but the fundamentals don’t. Clubs bring people together. In many regional communities they are among the places where people regularly connect, volunteer, share experiences and feel part of something bigger than themselves. Their contribution also extends well beyond the clubhouse or sporting field. Clubs are a critical part of the health and wellbeing ecosystem in Tasmania. They give kids a reason to get active, provide opportunities for adults to stay involved in sport and recreation, and create environments where people of all ages can build friendships and maintain social connections. At a time when we are constantly talking about the importance of physical activity, mental wellbeing and stronger communities, clubs are already doing that work every week. Much of it is driven by volunteers who give up their nights, weekends and countless hours behind the scenes simply because they care about their club and their community. The inaugural Clubs Tasmania Awards gave us an opportunity to put some of those people and their achievements in the spotlight. That is ultimately what our awards events are about. Whether it is a volunteer keeping a community club moving, a hospitality professional building their career, or a business continuing to invest and innovate, these are people and organisations worth celebrating. We saw that at our first Clubs Tasmania Awards, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again when our hospitality industry fills MAC 02 in September.
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Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition 8 A Bicheno Evolution INDUSTRY FEATURE
SEA STACKS GENERAL MANAGER SUE GILBERT
Rising gently from the rugged edge of Bicheno, where land meets sea at Peggy’s Point, a development more than a decade in the making is finally at completion. Sea Stacks Bicheno is not simply a place to stay, it is a project shaped by patience, purpose and a quiet determination to do things differently. T he story begins long before construction crews arrived on site, dating back to 2002 when the former Silver Sands Hotel was purchased by Tasmanian millionaire and Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron with an intention that was, at the time, deliberately undefined. The site itself, not the ageing buildings that occupied it, was the prize. Perched on a unique peninsula, it was a parcel of land that demanded care rather than exploitation. From the outset, the vision was not to maximise yield, but to protect what was already there. It was this decision that would shape everything that followed. “There was a very clear desire to purchase the site to protect it from overdevelopment,” Sea Stacks General Manager Sue Gilbert says. “The landscape was so special and so unique, and there was a real
concern that if it wasn’t secured, it would be sold and developed at scale. The goal was always to create something that enhanced Bicheno, but also respected and protected the site.” Silver Sands continued to operate for more than a decade as plans slowly evolved. Concepts were refined, tested, challenged and, at times, completely reworked. It was not until around 2015 that a clearer direction began to emerge, leading to a pivotal decision in 2018 to build three prototype structures at nearby Douglas River. Those initial Sea Stacks at Denison were never intended as a finished product. Instead, they were almost a live experiment, an opportunity to test not just design, but how people would feel within the spaces. “What we did in the ensuing years was just sort of look at those three buildings, work out what guests loved about them and worked out which design and layout – because they were each slightly different – was the most popular,” Sue says. “We wanted to find which was the one that resonated most with the guests, and also the ones that we, I suppose from a caretaking position in how we look
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after and care for our buildings, which ones were the ones that we wanted to then progress. “The plan was always to build these buildings on the site of Silver Sands, but rather than move forward straight ahead and build all 14 in one hit, we decided that we were best off, because we couldn’t sort of finalise the design, that we would actually just build those on the site at Douglas River and use that as a prototype, and a trial to make sure that what we were doing was right. “Doing it in smaller scales, it is a lot easier to build three buildings than it is to build 14 and realise at the end that you’ve made a mistake. But the response was incredibly personal. People didn’t just like them, they had a real emotional reaction to the spaces. There’s something about the attention to detail, the craftsmanship and the pared-back interiors that really resonates. It’s very much grounded in that Danish hygge philosophy, warm, calm and understated, without being overdone.” That feedback loop became the foundation for what would follow. Over the next several years, designs were refined, lessons applied and a final concept emerged in 2020. Then, like so many long-
term projects, progress was abruptly halted by the arrival of Covid. Rather than derail the vision, the pause became an unexpected advantage. It allowed for further refinement, iteration and, ultimately, a stronger outcome. “It’s not just about putting some solar panels on the roof and putting a tank in, it is really living and breathing sustainability from the ground up.” - Sue Gilbert Now, more than a decade after the idea first took shape, Sea Stacks Bicheno is open to the public. The development comprises 12 buildings housing 14 luxury, self-contained accommodations, positioned carefully across the former Silver Sands site at 80 Burgess Street. What makes the project distinctive is not just its design, but its philosophy. At every stage, decisions have been guided by a commitment to
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sustainability that goes far beyond surface-level gestures. Each building, or ‘nest’, has been constructed using timber that the industry deemed unusable. Short lengths, irregular thicknesses and imperfect surfaces, materials that would typically end up in landfill, have instead been rescued, re-milled and transformed into the defining feature of the interiors. “These timbers weren’t reclaimed from old structures, they were simply rejected by the industry for not meeting standard specifications,” Sue says. “They move through auction systems and if they don’t sell, they end up as waste. We’ve spent years sourcing, stockpiling and reworking that material into something beautiful. “It’s certainly not the cheaper option. When you factor in the re-milling, the labour and the time involved, there are no cost savings. But being able to save all this beautiful, beautiful timber from landfill is very rewarding. It’s not just about putting some solar panels on the roof and putting a tank in, it is really living and breathing sustainability from the ground up.”
That same philosophy extends across the entire site. Buildings have been designed to work with the natural contours of the land, rather than imposing upon it. Materials have been selected to minimise the use of plasterboard, paint and plastics. Energy and water efficiency have been prioritised from the ground up. Even the way guests move through the site has been carefully considered. A network of illuminated, hand-built boardwalks connect each structure, guiding visitors through the landscape while protecting the fragile ecosystem beneath. “We’ve gone from a site that previously accommodated around 100 guests to one that accommodates just 28,” Sue says. “That’s a deliberate decision. It’s about reducing impact, protecting the peninsula and creating a more intimate experience. “The boardwalks serve a practical purpose as well. This is a known penguin nesting area, so keeping people elevated and contained helps protect that habitat. It’s another example of working with the environment rather than against it.”
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Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the project, however, is not what has been built, but what is being restored. Over the past six years, more than 30,000 seeds and cuttings have been collected from the site and surrounding area, propagated off-site and carefully nurtured. As construction closed in on completion, those plants were returned to their original home. “The old Silver Sands site was this sort of scorched earth with imported grass, a built-in pool and a huge footprint over the site. We’ve taken seeds and cuttings from the original native vegetation, grown them over time and are now reintroducing them to the site. The intention is that, over time, the landscape will reclaim its dominance. The buildings might feel prominent now, but eventually they will recede into what becomes almost an urban forest.”
experience where you retreat away and it’s sort of a soulful moment. This new development is actually slightly different. Located in the middle of town, there’s no restaurant on site, so people have to immerse themselves in the village, and it really is all about experiencing a high-end holiday, but still being able to have that peace and tranquillity and privacy at the end of the day.” As the project finally edged to completion, there was a sense of anticipation, and perhaps a touch of relief, after years of planning, setbacks and persistence. There have been delays, many of them tied to the very elements that make the development unique. Bespoke materials, custom finishes and a commitment to doing things properly have all extended timelines. But those same factors are what define the end result. “We had a few glitches and delays that held us up, as originally we were planning being ready to open around Easter. It is quite emotional, when you look at them now, they have evolved so far. They’ve gone from being a little box drawn on the back of a napkin in a restaurant, to seeing them rising at the end of Burgess Street. It’s one of those moments where you stop and realise that it’s actually happening.”
THE OLD SILVER SANDS
That long-term view is central to the project’s identity. Sea Stacks Bicheno is not designed to be static. It is intended to evolve, to soften and to integrate more deeply with its surroundings as the years pass. The design itself draws on the Danish cube house movement, a concept centred on creating a sense of village within a built environment. At Bicheno, that translates into a collection of individual structures connected by shared pathways, with landscaping playing an increasingly dominant role. “The buildings are quite polarising,” says Sue. “They are buildings that are going to make you stop, and you’re either going to love them or you’re probably going to have a very different opinion on them. “The idea is that over time, as the vegetation grows and fills in, the experience will change. The buildings will feel less like individual structures and more like part of a connected environment, almost disappearing into the landscape.
“Sea Stacks at Denison is a very private, personal
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TASMANIAN EVENTS CALENDAR AUGUST THROUGH SEPTEMBER
Sep 4 Sep 6 through
Sep 12 Oct 18 through
Aug 29
AFLW North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs
Flinders Island Running Festival
Tulip Festival Wynyard
HEAD TO OUR WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST
EVENTS & TO DOWNLOAD OUR EVENTS CALENDAR
Sep 17 Sep 20 through
Sep 27 Oct 3 through
Sep 30
Junction Arts Festival
HT Awards For Excellence
Australian Junior Squash Championships
Oct 3 Oct 4 through
Oct 3 Oct 4 through
Oct 6 Oct 8 through
Oct 8 Oct 18 through
13 Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition NORTH Festival
Tas International Bowls Classic
Freycinet Challenge
PFD Trade Shows
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EDITORIAL
Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events Roger Jaensch
Backing events that deliver for Tasmania’s hospitality industry Tasmania has built a reputation for delivering experiences you can’t find anywhere else. From our world-class food and wine to our stunning landscapes and nature, visitors come here looking for something different. That’s good news for our hospitality industry, with every visitor supporting local jobs, businesses and communities right across the state.
restaurants and cafes, enjoy our pubs and explore everything Tasmania has to offer. That’s exactly why our Government continues to back events that strengthen our visitor economy. Beaker Street Festival is part of a broader calendar of winter events that are encouraging visitors to explore every corner of Tasmania. Through our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future, our Government is supporting events like Island Escape Winter Festival, Dark Mofo, Tassie Scallop Fiesta and Festival of Voices that drive visitation, support our economy and create reasons to travel during the cooler months. Because we know when event organisers, hospitality businesses, tourism operators and local communities work together, everyone benefits. Our tourism and hospitality industry continues to deliver exceptional experiences for locals and visitors, and we will continue working alongside the sector to grow visitation, strengthen regional economies and ensure Tasmania remains a year- round visitor destination. As Beaker Street Festival marks its first decade, it’s another reminder that investing in great events isn’t just about entertainment. It’s about supporting local businesses, creating jobs and giving more people every reason to experience Tasmania in every season.
We know that events are a vital part of that success.
They give people another reason to visit Tasmania, encourage travel during different times of the year, and help showcase regions that many visitors may not otherwise discover. Tasmania’s major events are continuing to deliver strong outcomes for the state’s economy and Beaker Street Festival is a great example of this. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, the festival has grown into one of Australia’s leading science festivals and is helping put Tasmania on the map as a year-round visitor destination. From Hobart’s waterfront to the Styx Valley, Burnie, Launceston, Penguin, Ross, Richmond and Triabunna, the festival will bring visitors into communities across the state.
Those visitors will stay in our hotels, eat in our
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EDITORIAL
Labor Leader Josh Willie
By virtue of spending more time travelling around Tasmania, I am reminded just how lucky we are to live here, and that our hospitality and tourism industry punch well above their weight. As a small island at the bottom of the world, we’ve built an international reputation that far exceeds our size, consistently delivering experiences that rival anywhere in the world. That reputation has been earned through decades of commitment to quality, creativity and hard work. In speaking with operators, I’m also reminded that great hospitality doesn’t happen by accident. Visitors don’t just come to see ‘Tasmania’, they come to see what Tasmanians have created— our produce, restaurants, cafes, pubs, wineries, breweries, distilleries, festivals, museums, markets and experiences. The uniqueness of our island, the pride in our produce and the passion of our people is what drives our visitor economy and gives Tasmanian hospitality a place on the world stage. Despite records in both visitation and spend in recent months, these operators can’t run on postcards and tourism campaigns alone. Supporting one in six jobs across the state, Tasmania’s tourism and hospitality operators are under immense pressure, being squeezed from all sides as the cost of doing business, and cost of living, continues to climb. Business owners, industry bodies, and workers are waiting for the Liberals to deliver on their word to lower costs. Lofty ‘TasInsure’ claims were dead-on- arrival; the night time economy policy never written; reforms to trade waste legislation not delivered; no relief from TasWater price increases; and no red tape has been slashed.
premier dining destinations, our operators and those they employ deserve support through economic uncertainty. We need to celebrate hospitality as a career, and ensure the people who make our industry exceptional can afford to build their lives here. That means supporting venues with the rising cost of doing business; forming stronger pathways into hospitality and tourism careers through apprenticeships, traineeships and high-quality vocational education; investing in housing and services so workers can afford to comfortably live - particularly in regional areas where tourism is growing - and backing infrastructure that will support both visitors and locals. Tasmanian Labor welcomes investment to strengthen and grow our visitor economy. This industry delivers enormous economic and social value, but growth for growth’s sake isn’t enough to thrive. The Government needs to back the people whose skill, warmth and professionalism shape how visitors experience Tasmania. Success can’t simply be measured by visitor numbers or how much they spend. It should also be measured by whether the people welcoming those visitors can afford a home, whether businesses can find staff, whether young Tasmanians see a future here, and whether regional communities are stronger because of tourism and not struggling despite it. Tasmania is an extraordinary place to visit because it is home to extraordinary people. If we continue investing in them, our visitor economy will remain one of the state’s greatest strengths for generations to come.
If we want Tasmania to remain one of Australia’s
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After years behind two familiar Hobart waterfront names, Leo and Amelia Miller are preparing to unveil their biggest venture yet. With a new concept, a major investment and a changing hospitality landscape, they’re backing a different kind of night out for what comes next. F or Leo and Amelia Miller, closing the doors on two successful Hobart hospitality businesses wasn’t about walking away from an industry they had spent years building their lives around.
It was about deciding what came next.
After six years of Billy’s Burgers and their time running neighbouring waterfront stalwart T42, the couple could have opted for familiarity. Instead, they are preparing to unveil an entirely new venue on not only the former T42 site, but also the adjoining former Asian Gourmet space as well. This venture is one shaped by months of research, a significant investment and a belief that the way people experience hospitality is changing. The decision to close Billy’s was perhaps easier than outsiders might have expected for Leo, despite its popularity. “Because we made the decision so far in advance it was a bit easier, it wasn’t a split-second decision,” he says. “I just think Billy’s had run its course. Some businesses are around for 50 years and some aren’t, and it was great while we had it, we loved it, and it went well. “I think we did a good product and gave people a good experience, and feedback was always good. But we were just probably ready for something new.” Amelia agrees. The burger market that Billy’s entered had c h a n g e d considerably during its six years, with more
INDUSTRY FEATURE All in on somethin
LEO MILLER OUTSIDE ELIZABETH STREET PIER.
we’re sort of happy to move on to a different challenge,” she added. That challenge began, somewhat unexpectedly, while Amelia was waiting for knee surgery. At the time, the pair were considering upgrades to both Billy’s and T42. What they initially envisaged as a refresh soon became a much bigger conversation after a phone call from their landlord. “He came to us and said, ‘look, I think your more traditional hospitality model is getting pretty hard work’,” Leo says. “He’s from WA, he’s got a lot of commercial property around the country and a lot of tenants, and he said there were people doing some exciting things and some concepts going quite well. “So he suggested we head to WA and he’d take us to have a look at a few bits and pieces.” That trip became the starting point for a much broader research exercise. Leo and Amelia travelled around Australia looking at venues, concepts and changing customer habits, gradually piecing together what they believed
operators competing for the same customers. “ T h e r e ’ s so many businesses now who are competing in that burger space that
LEO MILLER WITH ONE OF BILLY’S BURGERS FAMOUS OFFERINGS
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semi-private areas, entertainment and spaces designed to accommodate everything from a small gathering to a major function. It is a significant investment at a time when rising wages, utilities, insurance, food and beverage costs and cautious consumer spending have made hospitality an increasingly difficult equation. Leo doesn’t pretend there aren’t moments when the scale of what they have taken on hits home. “As someone that goes into business and does entrepreneurial things, for want of a better term, you have those days [where sometimes you question it all],” he says. “One day you think you’re crazy, and the next day you think you’re taking on the world. But that’s just par for the course, I think. One of our mantras was that we felt it was important to do it properly, and what that meant to us, regardless of the effort, the size, the cost, whatever the parameters were, we felt that we either did it properly or didn’t do it at all.
“It was all in or nothing.”
ng new
What emerges from their plans is a venue designed not simply around what hospitality has been, but around how Leo and Amelia believe customers now want to spend their time. At T42, Amelia says, that shift was already becoming apparent. “What we were finding towards the end of T42, and we had a huge amount of function business coming through that venue, was people were looking for an experience over and above eating and drinking,” she says. “So, when we were walking around the venues [interstate], we were thinking about what could that experience be? Just as part of that core offering, instead of something you had to go that extra step to provide.
could work on Hobart’s waterfront.
“We went and did quite a lot of research and looked at a lot of venues around most of the country and picked up a few ideas on some exciting things that were happening,” Leo says. “We got a bit of a vision for what we wanted to do. “The crux of that is that we wanted to do a little bit more than just offering food and beverage. We wanted to offer some sort of social entertainment in the venue as well.” It was the beginning of a process that would take around nine months of planning before construction even started. Billy’s remained open for as long as possible, both for the business and its staff, before building works and the arrival of a new tenant next door made closure necessary. T42 had already closed, allowing work to begin in earnest on the much larger redevelopment. And this is no cosmetic makeover. The new venue will accommodate up to 470 people, with around 290 seats across its indoor and outdoor areas. There will be a large bar, casual dining, private and
A RENDER OF THE NEW LOOK ELIZABETH ST PIER
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HAMLET KITCHEN STAFF
A RENDER OF THE INSIDE OF THE COMPLETED NEW VENTURE
“People do want more than just food and drink now, they really want an experience, which is why we have gone down that path.” The answer they landed on combines the familiar elements of hospitality – food, drinks, service and atmosphere – with social entertainment that gives customers another reason to stay. Leo describes the philosophy as creating something of a “one-stop shop” for a night out. “I think by offering the food, the drink, the entertainment, and the DJ sort of thing, you can come for an evening and go, ‘We’re going to eat. Now we’re going to play games, and then we’re going to have a dance’, and then it’s time to go home.” That thinking carries through to the food and beverage on offer. The menu will be approachable and built around flexibility, with share plates, seafood, burgers and shared paddle pizzas among the options. A large drinks offering will include cocktails, tap products and extensive fridge and non-alcoholic choices.
the day, reflecting a shift Leo has seen away from the traditional entrée-main-dessert model. “You’ve definitely got to be very flexible,” he says. “There’s a lot more sharing. There are a lot of people having smaller meals more often during the day, or having lunch and dinner combined into the afternoon. Things like having the kitchen open all day, and having a range of size and plates, and different options both for dining customers and for functions, can suit a whole range of different requirements.” The physical venue has been designed with similar flexibility. Semi-private spaces can be combined or separated depending on the occasion, allowing groups of varying sizes to have their own area without being disconnected from the atmosphere of the wider venue. A fully private space will provide another option, while DJs on Friday and Saturday evenings will add another layer as the venue moves from day into night. For all the scale of the redevelopment, Leo is reluctant to describe the finished product as “elevated”.
The kitchen is also planned to operate throughout
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The intention, he says, is not exclusivity.
With the proposed Macquarie Point stadium and associated events precinct sitting nearby, Leo and Amelia see the waterfront as an area with enormous potential over the coming years. Amelia says that future was part of their thinking as they researched concepts and considered what their next business should look like. “We’re excited about the stadium being built. That will be a big boost for all the venues in the area,” she says. “We think that it’s going to be highly beneficial to the whole hospitality industry. “We wanted to do a little bit more than just offering food and beverage. We wanted to offer some sort of social entertainment in the venue as well.” - Leo Miller “When we were looking at all the concepts, we were also thinking of how will this tie in with what we see is going to happen when the stadium is filled with all the concerts and the football and the conventions that it’s going to achieve, and what can we provide to enhance that? So that’s quite exciting for us as well.” For now, though, the focus is on finally welcoming people through the doors very soon. After Billy’s, after T42, after months travelling, researching, planning and building, the next chapter of “Kingfisher” is almost ready. There will be familiar ingredients – good food, good drinks and a desire to give people a good time – but Leo and Amelia are betting that hospitality’s future lies in offering something more. “It will be a bit different, there will be some Tasmanian firsts in there. But we just like giving people a good time and bringing people in for an enjoyable experience.”
“I don’t like to use the word elevated too much because it sounds fancy, when this is for everyone,” he says. “Just a very nice, comfortable venue. Along the lines of a cocktail bar, with the social entertainment aspects we’re putting in.” Its waterfront setting has also played heavily into the design. Amelia says the history of the pier has informed a 1920s-inspired aesthetic, interpreted through a modern lens. Timber, warm materials and rich fabrics will create a space intended to feel particularly inviting through Hobart’s colder months, while nodding to the ships and activity that once defined the waterfront. “Given the heritage of the pier, we really want it to feel quite grounded in that heritage,” she says. “We’ve gone for a 1920s with a modern kind of feel to that in terms of all the design. Lots of timbers, very warm, lush fabrics to make it feel very cosy and inviting, especially for the Tassie winters.” There is a commercial reality behind the evolution too. Hospitality businesses cannot survive on interesting concepts alone, and Amelia says expanding the experience available to customers is also about building a model capable of succeeding in a difficult operating environment. “Obviously, it’s no secret that hospitality is a tough industry,” she says. “But if we can bring something that gives a great experience to the customer, but also keeps them longer or increases revenues or provides those other options and helps support the business, then it’s a win-win for everyone.” Their confidence also extends beyond the four walls of the venue.
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INDUSTRY FEATURE Celebrating Northern Hospitality
Northern Tasmania’s iconic annual food festival is set to return for it’s sixth year in October, but what is it about NORTH Festival that’s makes it a must- do for so many local hospitality businesses? Inspired by Launceston’s bid to become a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, NORTH Festival was launched in 2021 as a pilot project to activate Launceston’s city centre by showcasing the local food culture and community. Returning for its sixth year in 2026, NORTH has grown to become a highly anticipated annual festival that drives significant visitation and expenditure for the city’s hospitality businesses. With that UNESCO designation now firmly under our belts, NORTH Festival sets itself aside from other festivals by making provenance a core feature in its programming. All event themes, ingredients, and content must be ‘sufficiently Tasmanian’ to be considered for inclusion, with the aim that the majority are northern Tasmanian specifically. This inherent connection to place ensures NORTH patrons have a rich and authentic experience that is unique to Launceston/northern Tasmania and can’t be replicated elsewhere.
The event is led by Launceston Central, a small not- for-profit engaged by City of Launceston to deliver a range of services to the CBD across three core areas: Destination Marketing, Place Activation and Facilitation. Launceston Central’s CEO, Gabrielle Dicarlantonio, explains: “Unlike other food events, NORTH does not take place in a single location but instead encourages
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people to explore the city by foot and attend any number of food - and drink - based experiences across the program. Not only does this present a novel experience for patrons, importantly the format also makes it easy for busy operators to participate in a time and cost efficient manner. “We’re a small but mighty team, made up of myself, our People, Promotions and Communications Specialist, Megan Byrd, our Reporting and Administrative Coordinator Jade Piker and the campaign-lead Charlotte Wright.”
throughout the festival and beyond.
It’s a format that’s proven to work. Last year, 78 per cent of festival attendees surveyed said NORTH had encouraged them to visit a venue that they hadn’t before and 45 per cent of participating businesses reported above-average revenue during the festival. Miss Wright said the 2026 festival was expected to return even bigger results. “Last year, some core staff movements saw us pivot to deliver a bite-sized, four-day festival instead of the typical two weeks. We’re excited to be back with the full program again this year, keeping a strong focus on evening events to stimulate the city’s night-time economy,” she said. If you’re interested in participating or sponsoring the event, please reach out to info@launcestoncentral. com.au For more information visit northfestival.com.au and follow us on socials @northfestival and @launcestoncentral.
Miss Wright explains:
“Hosting events in-house removes many of the challenges of outside catering, like transporting equipment and having enough staff to deliver both an offsite event and normal operations.
LEFT: A NORTH FESTIVAL EVENT AT DU CANE AND BELOW, HAVILAH. PICS: SILEO MEDIA
“Also, giving venues full control over the creative and operational aspects of their involvement means they can choose when to schedule their event – perhaps on a day or time that they’re usually quieter, rather than during a peak period – which we hope will minimise interruption to their normal business operations and maximise opportunities to increase revenue and patronage.” Another core feature of the NORTH model is the facilitation of partnerships between hospitality businesses and local producers, artisans, suppliers, and operators, to create events and experiences that reflect Launceston’s UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation. Last year, NORTH brought together 21 city venues and 50 food and beverage partners in collaborations that provided everyone involved with exposure to broader markets, raising the profiles of individual businesses, and strengthening networks and partnerships within the northern Tasmanian business community,
23 Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
INDUSTRY FEATURE 50 years woven into industry
TREVOR IN THE OAKLEY TEXTILES SHOWROOM IN NORTH HOBART.
For more than five decades, Trevor Oakley has been a familiar name behind the scenes of Tasmanian hospitality, building a business founded on service, relationships and an ability to adapt. As he begins handing more responsibility to the next generation, he reflects on an industry – and a career – that has changed enormously along the way. A fter more than half a century in textiles, Trevor Oakley is finally learning to step away from the business he built.
we keep in close contact with our customers.
“I’m still in touch with my son or daughter every couple of days basically, and I still get some phone calls from people who might not know I’m stepping aside.” It is perhaps understandable when that business has occupied most of his working life. Trevor’s journey began in 1973 when, aged just 20, he joined Sheridan as its Tasmanian sales representative. Also a handy footballer, Trevor was already married and soon raising a young family, so he had plenty of motivation to make the opportunity work. “If you can imagine me as a 20-year-old, I needed the money,” he says. “I had two kids by the time I was 23 and not a lot of money. “I had a very good guy that employed me and I’ve still got the original letter. When he employed me, I was earning $6000 a year plus incentives, and I needed that. It made me work really hard.”
Well, sort of.
These days Trevor is spending more time travelling, escaping part of Tasmania’s winter on the Sunshine Coast and enjoying a little more freedom after more than 50 years in the industry. But completely switching off from Oakley Textiles is proving considerably harder. “It’s pretty hard when you’re in your own small business just to walk away,” Trevor says with a laugh. “I started it from nothing and now we do around three million a year in sales. We don’t do a lot of advertising, but we’re very well known, and
He travelled the state calling on small retailers at a
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Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
time when Tasmania’s textile and retail landscape looked vastly different to today. It was also an extraordinary period to join Sheridan. The company was expanding into bed linen and invested heavily in its Hobart manufacturing operation, where its workforce eventually grew to around 550 people. Trevor grew with the company for nine years before a major decision changed the course of his career. When Sheridan moved away from employing its own representatives, Trevor was offered the opportunity to become an independent agent.
once filled with independent Tasmanian stores, while Australian textile manufacturing was also undergoing enormous change as factories closed and production shifted offshore. For Trevor, adapting meant looking beyond the retail market that had sustained the business. “We decided to go into the commercial area rather than retail,” he says. “From the early 80s we were servicing hospitality and healthcare with textiles, sheets and doonas and pillows, and then we expanded our range into other products.” That shift would help shape Oakley Textiles for the next four decades, including a move to its current North Hobart premises (below) in the mid-80s.
Today the business is part of the Alliance Textiles buying group, continuing as a distributor for Actil Commercial while its range has expanded well beyond linen, including beds and an increasing number of products for accommodation operators. It has also grown into a business turning over millions annually, with a large showroom and warehouse operation backed by a remarkably stable team. Trevor’s son and daughter are part of the business, while other staff have been there for more than two decades. “We haven’t changed our staff for 20 years,” Trevor says. “We work on the fact that we give excellent service, we stock a really good range of commercial quality product, and we deliver quickly.” Over the decades, Oakley Textiles has become closely intertwined with Tasmania’s hospitality industry, growing alongside accommodation operators and adapting as the way they do business has changed.
“I was still pretty young, and it was a little bit nerve- racking, but I knew the sales were going [up], so I became an agent,” he said. It would not be the last time Trevor had to back himself. He later purchased the former Hobart Club building on the corner of Argyle and Bathurst streets, establishing his own showroom and offices and building Oakley Agencies around the retail linen market. But as Trevor’s business grew, the industry around it began changing.
Large retailers increasingly dominated a market
25 Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
The company has supplied accommodation businesses across the state for decades, from major hotels and commercial laundries to smaller operators and, more recently, the rapidly growing short-stay accommodation market. Behind the seemingly simple task of supplying a hotel with sheets or pillows is a business that relies heavily on experience. Oakley Textiles carries around $800,000 in stock, with overseas orders often taking about three months to arrive. A large hotel or commercial laundry can suddenly require thousands of sheets or pillowcases, especially around peak periods – meaning understanding demand and having stock ready is critical. “You’ve got to keep a lot of stock because often they don’t tell you what they want in advance,” Trevor says. “It’s a lot of experience in knowing how to get your stock in, and you’ve got to order a long way in advance. “We’re carrying $800,000 worth of stock, which is quite a lot, sitting there ready to go. And that’s really part of your service.” For smaller businesses, that stockholding can mean the difference between waiting weeks and having what they need almost immediately. “If you’ve got a little business in Launceston, you ring us up today, more than likely you’ll have it tomorrow or at the latest the next day.
and independent retailers to global supply chains, commercial laundries, online shopping and Airbnb, Trevor has watched the industry reinvent itself several times. Through it all, Oakley Textiles has remained a Tasmanian business built around relationships, reliability and knowing its customers. Now, after more than 50 years, Trevor is allowing the next generation to take more responsibility while he spends more time travelling, visiting family and enjoying the Sunshine Coast. There are plans to see more of Tasmania too – although Trevor already knows the state better than most after decades spent on the road as a sales representative. And while the word retirement might technically apply, “semi-retirement” appears considerably closer to reality. The phone still rings. Trevor still speaks with the business. And from time to time, an order still gets sorted from Queensland as though very little has changed. For someone who started with Sheridan at 20, took the leap into business ownership and spent the next five decades adapting to everything the industry threw at him, perhaps stopping completely was never going to come naturally. “I’ve enjoyed the ride, there’s been a few ups and downs like all things,” Trevor says. “I had to work early because I got married so young, and it worked out well, and took a few risks. “You don’t get it sitting still, but I probably didn’t envisage getting to the stage that we’re at. “But you’ve got to take risks if you want to get on in life.”
“People like that.”
It is that connection with customers that has helped the business endure through enormous change.
From the days of Australian-made Sheridan sheets
26
Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
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27 Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
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Join St Lukes on combined hospital and extras products before September 13 for no waiting periods on extras like general dental, optical, and physio. No 2, 3, or 6 month waiting periods on extras. *
Get in touch with us to find out more, and to access your Hospitality Tasmania 8% discount ^
Abbie Chatwin - North West 0417 563 546 achatwin@stlukes.com.au Malcolm Scriber - South 0417 561 948 mscriber@stlukes.com.au
Luke Richards - North 0499 626 417 lrichards@stlukes.com.au Jamie Shearing - South 0439 392 453 jshearing@stlukes.com.au
*T&C’s apply. ^Discount only available on corporate products when payment is made by direct debit. The discount cannot be combined with any other discounts oered by St Lukes. stlukes.com.au 1300 651 988
Sultry Tunes in your bar? Vibe. Playing music in your venue? You’re legally required to have permission - even if it’s from a streaming service. A OneMusic licence keeps your business compliant and ensures the artists behind your soundtrack are paid.
LEARN MORE AND GET COVERED TODAY. onemusic.com.au 1300 162 162
28
Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
Workforce Development
Apprenticeships and Traineeships
Asuria Open Hire
With the school year coming to an end in a few short months, there are a quite a few students currently studying a VET Course in either Cookery or Hospitality. With approximately 120 students completing the Certificate II in Cookery and approximately 65 students completing the Certificate II in Hospitality, it is a great time to transition them into employment in our industry. One of our corporate partners Apprenticeship Support Australia is happy to assist our members in this space – they can explain how the apprenticeship and traineeship programs work, what employer incentives may be available and what support they offer through this process. In addition to this, there are opportunities for School Based Apprenticeships for those students that would like to finish Year 12 but also commence an apprenticeship or traineeship. School Based Apprenticeships can commence in Year 10, 11 or 12 and allows the student to still complete their TCE. Representatives from the Department of Education, Children & Young People are willing to assist. If you are interested in having a trainee or apprentice, please contact us to discuss further.
During the last week of July, Hospitality Tasmania attended the annual Asuria Open Hire Events in Hobart, Ulverstone and Launceston. These events are designed for businesses and industry to talk directly to candidates in a less formal setting.
The desired outcome is to enable employers to directly offer roles on the day and over the three events we spoke to more than 30 potential candidates. These candidates were looking for a range of roles from front of house, barista, bar, housekeeping, cleaning, administration, guest services, baker, kitchen hand, apprentice chef and laundry. During our time with the candidates, we spoke about the industry, the role of Hospitality Tasmania and promoted the Tasmanian Hospitality & Tourism Jobs Portal. With the summer period coming, please do not forget to add your vacant roles to the Jobs Portal Tasmanian Hospitality and Tourism Jobs . If you are interested to know more about any of these candidates, please reach out and I can facilitate an introduction to the Asuria Job Consultants.
Hospitality Showcases
Our hospitality showcases hosted at TasTafe campuses in Launceston, Devonport and Hobart are being conducted in September. We have a range of schools registered for this hands-on experience. The students will rotate through practical activity stations such as barista skills, mocktail skills, front- of-house skills and knife skills. These sessions allow students to experience a genuine taste of what working in hospitality looks like.
Workforce Development Enquiries? Contact Emma Gillie E: emma@tha.asn.au Ph: 0417 741 057
STUDENTS AT A PREVIOUS HT SCHOOL SHOWCASE
29 Tasmanian Hospitality Review August/September Edition
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