Over the last 12 months we’ve spent an enormous amount of time crafting what we think is a plausible but exciting business plan for the next 12-48 months.
We have a very clear idea of where the company should be. The venues might change or their location, but we know what our priorities are, what the available capital will be and what expertise we will require.
A business plan is a combination of who you are, who you want to be and what your capabilities are.
But it is not rigid. We know what the future holds for Keystone but we are open to new initiatives, we are presented to us on a weekly basis and we either accept or reject. If we didn’t know who we are we might take offers at face value when we’re not skilled in that area or they are a poor fit with our DNA.
We often get people bringing business for sale to us and we assess them in a very measured capacity. If we were to put a dollar in this business plan or in a different business plan, where would we find a better return? What is the risk, level of management and skills we might need to run that business?
There are two distinct divisions within Keystone: bars, clubs and wineries and restaurants. They operate as two different entities.
We sell more food at the restaurants and do less beverage sales, but the reverse is true for the bars and clubs. But by bringing the group together, around 50% of our sales come from food and 50% from alcohol.
We do look for sites where there is the potential to merge brands. For example, if we were looking at a larger format site for a Jamie’s Italian and there happens to be a rooftop, we might put in a rooftop bar.
We want to create entertainment destinations, which is very easy to do in regional areas, but a little tougher in capital cities where there is more competition. We are wise to that so we might not take a single building, but two of our venues may well be in the same precinct.
We have done a lot of inquiries about which of our brands are marketable on a global basis and we are well down that path.
The question is would we go there alone first? With a particular brand, we may choose to go with our own capital, seek partnerships or be willing to license the brand on some preferred basis. It would be the reverse to what we have with Jamie’s Italian, which we execute well and treat with dignity. We would expect the same from others.
We want to create the leading hospitality business in Australia, focused on the mid-tier market. We’re not into quick service restaurants at the bottom end, which is already well-populated and quite profitable, but we’re also not in the market of fine dining.
We are well-capitalised with strong brands and we have a desire to exploit those brands. We have a very clear goal to quadruple the business in four years.
What keeps me awake at night is thinking about how we actually improve the business every day. We’ve always got a pipeline of opportunities presenting themselves and we are arguably always moving forward.
I wouldn’t sleep if we weren’t moving forward.
The hospitality industry in Australia is sweet and sour.
It is highly competitive on a daily basis, but it is also highly collaborative. More often than not, everyone knows about each other and what others are doing. We use similar suppliers, we’re interested in the same sites, but we are all different in our own way.
It’s an industry that is growing. It is nearly one of the highest growth areas in Australia and we expect the trend will continue as more people choose to be entertained more and more out of their homes.
It is a very vibrant and exciting industry and hopefully we can play our part in it.
Editor
Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
