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We’re opening another venue & concept in Brookvale!
Yup, we’ve taken a 5+5+5 year lease on a failed nightclub just up the road from our brewery in Brookvale.
It’s above a pizza shop, opposite a car yard and next door to a vacant site currently housing car parts and empty skip bins. Paradise.
The space is incredible, it’s over 600m2, accessed via a secluded staircase off a back lane.
Once atop the stairs your breath is taken away at the sheer scale of the space, with majestic vaulted ceilings, and a beautiful blank canvas floor plan.
Back in the day it was the go-to wedding venue on the beaches that was supposedly booked solid 6 months in advance.
The Valentines Wedding Venue Circa 1990
LABEL Nightclub circa 2023
It also has a wild 5am to 3am liquor license.
Sick hey?
So I pitched the idea to Lexi:
“Hey babe, I reckon we should take a lease on the old LABEL nightclub, it’s going cheap and we can do a sports bar there, it’s perfect for it!”
“Hmmm”
“And we can also put pool tables in, everyone loves pool, our table is played from the moment we open until we’re shut. So let’s put a heap of pool tables in too!”
“Hmmm”
”And also, what about Karaoke! There’s nowhere to do karaoke on the beaches, we definitely need to offer that as well”
“Hmmm”
“Oh, and there’s a separate area at the front that’s got a beautiful view of the Kia dealership, we need to work out what to do with that…”
“A wine bar maybe?”
“And how much will all this cost? And how are we going to do it? We’ve just had a baby and Bucketty’s so demanding, are you sure we want to do this?”
“It’ll be easy, everything’s already there. Badabing Badaboom”
But just because we can, doesn’t mean we should…
Bucketty’s is continuing to do well and fast becoming a good-times institution on the beaches. So taking on another venue so close to the brewery is a risk of splitting our patronage and diluting the existing venue.
Two venues + same patrons = less vibe + more cost = bad business.
But a completely different venue concept could work?
So we thought about what Brookvale really needs, and came up with 4 undeniable truths:
- More good quality pool tables
- Private karaoke rooms
- A truly killer sports bar
- A fancy pants wine & cocktail bar.
Winner winner chicken dinner!
Now let me take you a step back and explain more on why this new venue is a NEED, rather than a want.
In 2024 we tried hard and failed miserably to expand into the wholesale market, attempting to sell Bucketty’s into pubs, clubs and bottleshops. I’ve detailed in previous blog posts about how ridiculously difficult this is.
We’re a little beer manufacturer, trying to compete with major brands that have huge economies of scale, big sales teams and little robots that do all the brewing. Trying to beat them at their own game is impossible. And if I’m honest, it’s a bit of a shit feeling begging people to stock our beerin a race to the bottom on price, then hope they pay within 30 days (which they never do).
I distinctly remember mid last year venting to Alex, our operations manager:
“What the hell are we doing here? This is just stupid”.
So we reallocated our entire sales team, which was really just Emma, my sister in law, to the venue.
But.
I’m a big believer that nothing stays the same, you’re either growing or dying.
And if we don’t evolve and adapt, I’m worried that I’ll slowlyturn into one of those old exhausted hospo dudes that work 100hrs per week supported by nothing but a bunch of casual staff that don’t really care. You know the one’s? They’re in cafés and restaurants everywhere.
And.
The reason I love brewing & hospitality so much is because of the creativity it affords.
Opening Bucketty’s was the best thing I’ve ever done after getting married and starting a family.
And as proud and I am for what we've achieved at Bucketty's. We've hit a ceiling. There's only so many people that can fit inside our walls and it's becoming harder to curate events and costantly bring something new to the space.
Having a crack at a second venue should fix all that. It’ll be hard, challenging but also super interesting and rewarding.
And the taste of the first pint from our taps and the sound of the first break as the cue ball scatters the table will be one of the sweetest moments of all.
Plus - this is big.
It gives our team a path to growth.
Because the thing that makes Bucketty’s such a trailblazer, is the truly special team we’ve built as the company has grown from startup to now.
Yes. I know everyone says that shit. “Oh, we’ve got the best team blah blah blah”
But for us it’s true.
Our crew has an immense amount of professional and life experience who’ve come from all walks of life.
And looking around at our peers, this isn’t normal.
Many of these individuals have made the decision to jump off the corporate treadmill, forgoing much higher pay to help us make beer and craft memories.
Our team realise there’s more to life than climbing the ladder and pretending to like your co-workers. They care, and they’re on a journey with us, investing their time and energy for the betterment of Bucketty’s, because they believe what we believe.
Life is better shared with people you like/love/respect over a beer.
However!
Motivated, talented and hardworking people need a challenge. They need difficult, interesting work with a mission.
Hence!
Where are we up to now?
It’s 10:05pm on the 17th March 2025 and I’m frustrated to say It’snot been Badabing Badaboom easy.
The building is old and has had multiple issues that we weren’t aware of at the time of signing the lease.
We’ve had to borrow a lot of money because thebudget’s blown out by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the opening date looks like it’s going to be pushed back over a month from the original target.
But I remind myself that nothing worth doing is easy. I’m also heartened that there’s been a heap of hype around Chalky’s, it seems as though people in the community love the concept.
And it’s given us a path to growth. If we can’t grow by selling our beer into pubs, we’ll just build our own, bringing you guys and our incredible team along for the journey.
We’re currently shooting to open mid-April, and if you’ve read to the bottom of this post, I’d truly appreciate it if you'd come down and support us and help make Chalky’s a success!
Cheers!
Nick
