Episode 21 - The Brewing Pub Owner
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Transcript
0:00:00 - (Nicole): This episode of bring your kid to work is brought to you by Lioness Media.
0:00:04 - (Nicole): It's time to bring your kid to work.
0:00:07 - (Nicole): Hey everyone. It's time to bring your kid to work. It's the family podcast that explores the world of work through the eyes of parents and their kids. Each week we interview one parent and their child to chat about what they do for work, what they like, what they don't like, and how they got there in the first place. Let's find out who we're talking to today.
0:00:29 - (Nicole): Our very special guests today are Michelle and her daughter Ellen. Michelle Clark is co owner of the Brisbane Brewing Company, a brewery and two brew pubs in Brisbane, Australia. Michelle and her husband Grant, like probably.
0:00:42 - (Nicole): A lot of parents do, met in a pub.
0:00:45 - (Nicole): But while most people go to their favourite pub and have a great meal and maybe a beer and then go home, they decided they wanted to own.
0:00:53 - (Nicole): The pub and brew their own beer.
0:00:56 - (Nicole): They started with one pub in the city, then sold that one and bought.
0:00:59 - (Nicole): Their pub at Wollongabba.
0:01:01 - (Nicole): They worked incredibly hard living over the pub with their two kids for years, opening their brewery and second pub in West End and then renovating their woolen Gabbit pub. It seems Michelle's daughter Ellen has that solid work ethic too, already working in the pub to get some great experience and to earn some money. These two are dynamos, and you're going to love hearing their story. So let's get on with the show.
0:01:26 - (Nicole): So welcome, both of you, to bring.
0:01:28 - (Nicole): Your kid to work.
0:01:30 - (Nicole): This is a podcast that explores the world of work through the eyes of.
0:01:33 - (Nicole): Parents and their kids.
0:01:34 - (Nicole): And we have two incredibly special guests here today. This episode is called the Brewing Pub owner and I'd like to welcome our special guests, Michelle and Ellen. Ellen, welcome to bring your kid to work. Tell me this episode is called the Brewing Pub owner. That's your right?
0:01:54 - (Nicole): Mm hmm. Yes.
0:01:56 - (Nicole): What does she do? What does that mean?
0:01:58 - (Ellen): So, mum and dad, they own two pubs, one in Wollongabbar and one in West End. And they've been working in the hospitality business since before I was born, since they were working in London. Mum's in the marketing, so she works with all the functions and she's the behind the scenes for when you're trying to get a function working smoothly. And dad basically does everything else. He's the one who fixes everything.
0:02:29 - (Ellen): He keeps everything in line. He sometimes works downstairs, works upstairs.
0:02:34 - (Nicole): Yeah.
0:02:36 - (Nicole): Right. And so what does that mean, Michelle, that you do all day long in your job? What does a typical day look like.
0:02:44 - (Michelle): So, for me, my role mostly involves office work, and as best I can, I juggle motherhood with working. So we work on limited time and fits and spurts of work in between all of our other commitments. For the most part. For me, my work involves working with sort of the department heads in our businesses, so that the head chefs and the venue managers and the brewers. And then I mostly deal with the function side of our business. Actually, we have a full time marketer on our staff, so we're very privileged to have her with us.
0:03:23 - (Michelle): So that frees that side of the business up and leaves me just to organize our functions. And functions are actually quite a large part of our business, and we try and sort of keep a fairly constant flow of functions coming through, and it's enough for me to warrant just giving that my full dedication because it's such an integral part to our business. So a typical day for me is mostly in the office, but I'm certainly still running after two school age children, so at my desk for several hours.
0:03:58 - (Michelle): But yes, before and after that is mum duty.
0:04:02 - (Nicole): Of course, everybody has two jobs if they're a parent, don't they?
0:04:05 - (Michelle): They do have two jobs, absolutely. And it's hard to say which is more important.
0:04:11 - (Nicole): It depends on the time of day. And so if you're running functions, what does that mean that you're doing? Are you cooking things ready for people when they come to a birthday party? What are you actually doing during the day when you're organizing those things?
0:04:25 - (Michelle): No, it's more of a coordination role. So it's actually essentially winning the business. So we have a healthy level of inquiries come through from various function platforms.
0:04:37 - (Nicole): And through our website.
0:04:39 - (Michelle): And I guess I'm sort of in a reactive mode with those. Once the inquiries come through, I then respond and try and sort of tease out of the customer what they're looking for with their function. I very much try and ensure every function feels like they're special. I hate anyone thinking that we have a cookie cutter approach to our functions, that one function looks like the next. That's not the case at all. We try and make every function unique, and we try and honor the person who's having the function in the way that they want to be honored and create the memories that they want to have.
0:05:15 - (Michelle): And that's my role to do that. And I think we do it very well, actually. We try and be as flexible as we can. So once we actually have the function come through and we win the business, I guess then I work with everyone that I've mentioned. So our head brewer, head chef and venue managers, and then just make sure they're all briefed accordingly, that they're well versed on the expectation of the customers.
0:05:41 - (Nicole): And, yeah, just obviously the goal is.
0:05:44 - (Michelle): That everyone has a great night and everything that we promise and put out there is executed very, very well because we call ourselves memory makers. Because at the end of the day, when you've had a function, you're left with nothing but your memories. And to me, that's what life's all about, is celebrating our milestones and making sure that at the end of the day, when the money is spent and the time has passed, is that we're left with really great memories.
0:06:11 - (Nicole): Oh, I love that. That's a really special way to think about it, because that's true. That's what people expect and hope for when they have an event or they're celebrating something, isn't it?
0:06:21 - (Michelle): It absolutely is. We take it really seriously because at the end of the day, everyone gets 120 1st in their life or one 40th in their life or one engagement party or $1 party. And that's a responsibility we take very seriously.
0:06:38 - (Nicole): Yeah, absolutely. And so, Ellen, you've been around this a lot since you were born. Obviously, this is what mum and dad have been doing, you know. Do you know what mum's first job was?
0:06:51 - (Nicole): How did she get to being an.
0:06:52 - (Nicole): Owner of a.
0:06:55 - (Ellen): Think? I'm pretty sure. So, mum, actually, in high school, she wanted to be a dietitian. And then one of mum's older sister's friends went into marketing and that kind of really inspired mum. So when she went off to uni, she decided to study marketing. And I think that she's always worked in retail, I'm pretty sure.
0:07:16 - (Nicole): Yeah.
0:07:16 - (Ellen): And I think that just working in hospitality and then she met dad, who was also very keen on owning a pub and everything. They actually met in a pub, so it all just flowed. And then eventually, after working in retail for so long and studying marketing, they eventually just began to own pub.
0:07:36 - (Nicole): Amazing. So you exist because of a pub. I love that. I'm sure you're not the only person who has that story, Ellen.
0:07:43 - (Ellen): Yeah.
0:07:44 - (Nicole): So, Ellen, what about you? So how old are you and what do you want to do with your life? Have you got ideas about jobs that you want to do in the future?
0:07:52 - (Ellen): Yeah, so I'm 14 right now. I'm going into grade nine. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do. I've always thought about medicine. I mean, everyone from a little age has at least thought about being a doctor once. I love the idea of being an occupational therapist. Or if that doesn't work, or. I'd love to be an architect. Like a solution architect. Those are my two jobs I'd really love to do. Yeah, it's funny because neither of them are in the marketing world, like being in hospitality, but.
0:08:26 - (Nicole): Oh, well.
0:08:27 - (Nicole): But I know that there's been a lot of renovations on the pubs in recent years, so the architect thing, I'm wondering whether that's been inspiring for you as well.
0:08:36 - (Nicole): Yeah, it's been really great, because when.
0:08:40 - (Ellen): I seen the pub, like, my whole life getting changed over and changed over, and then we built our own house, which is where we are now, and so just seeing all of that and it's been a really great experience and, yeah, I think that might have sparked something.
0:08:56 - (Nicole): Yeah, going from page to reality, I.
0:08:59 - (Nicole): Think is pretty cool, isn't it?
0:09:01 - (Ellen): Yeah, because we've always lived somewhere where we've built it, or at least we've touched up on or something. So I think that just watching what people do and this is actually their living, just making stuff happen, making your dreams come true, so, yeah, that's pretty cool.
0:09:17 - (Nicole): And the other one, occupational therapy, they're very different jobs. What gives you an idea about wanting to do that?
0:09:23 - (Ellen): I really wanted to be an occupational therapist. I've been wanting to do occupational therapy for a really long time, because I just like the fact that you get to help someone recover just over time, and someone could have gotten into such a bad accident, like a car accident or something, and they think their life could be over, but then your job to get them back to feeling themselves again. So that's always felt really special to me.
0:09:51 - (Ellen): And then one day I was sitting with one of my friends and her mum's an architect, and all of a sudden I just went, actually, this is what I want to do. I've been surrounded by job sites quite a lot.
0:10:03 - (Nicole): So, yeah, you've got lots of things that are going on in your life that you can take inspiration from. I love that.
0:10:10 - (Ellen): Yeah.
0:10:10 - (Nicole): And Michelle, when you were little, what was the thing that you wanted to do? Ellen mentioned dietitian. Is that something that was something when you were tiny that you wanted to do it?
0:10:20 - (Michelle): Absolutely. So for years I carried that idea through school and know chose science subjects and maths, and I very much saw myself going off to university to do a science based degree. And I have always had a huge love of food, from cooking it, to eating it, to actually understanding the nutritional side of food and what it does for your body.
0:10:46 - (Nicole): And I was always quite a sporty child.
0:10:48 - (Michelle): So to me, all of those things went hand in hand. And then one day, interestingly, I just turned on a dime and I just decided, literally overnight in year twelve to go off and study marketing instead. I still, to this day, probably don't.
0:11:03 - (Nicole): Even really understand why, but fortunately, I've.
0:11:06 - (Michelle): Had a great career and I've never regretted that actual decision. But look, we've been fortunate that our businesses have been successful and I've had no reason to change jobs. But maybe in another life, I might have changed across and actually done that sort of science based degree at uni.
0:11:27 - (Nicole): So it'd be interesting to see if.
0:11:29 - (Michelle): Alan goes down that route, because she'll be living a life that maybe I had once thought of.
0:11:34 - (Nicole): The sliding doors moment.
0:11:36 - (Michelle): It was exactly a sliding doors moment.
0:11:38 - (Nicole): Yes. Yeah.
0:11:40 - (Nicole): And so you chose to be in retail and hospitality. What do you love about the job that you do now?
0:11:47 - (Nicole): What's the best part?
0:11:49 - (Michelle): Hands down. As a working mum, I've been so fortunate as a business owner that the role that I've sort of carved out in the business has offered me tremendous flexibility, which, as a working mum, it's so beneficial to have a role where there's flexibility to down tools and run.
0:12:07 - (Nicole): After children, whether they're sick at school.
0:12:10 - (Michelle): Or whether they've got a sports day, or whether they need to go to school camp, or whether they're on play dates or whatever is being served up to you. I think any role that offers real flexibility is worth holding on to. And, yeah, again, I was in a role in my business where I wasn't customer facing. And if I needed to start work at 02:00 a.m. On the computer, I could have so really awesome that there was so much flexibility in my role. Plus, I love what I do.
0:12:42 - (Michelle): We really believe in our business. We genuinely love serving people and the hospitality industry and the brewing industry. 99.99% of our customers are just absolutely amazing, fabulous people, and we genuinely love serving them. And we've got our little part in our. Carved out our little part of our local community in Wollongabba. And, yeah, all things told, yeah, I consider myself really fortunate to be able to sort of quite easily balance the two sides of my life.
0:13:16 - (Michelle): Motherhood and running a business.
0:13:18 - (Nicole): It's always a hard balance, I think, when you're a parent and you're trying to juggle the things that the kids need and the things that you need to do for your work. And so to be able to carve out that flexibility makes it a lot easier, doesn't it?
0:13:29 - (Michelle): Absolutely.
0:13:30 - (Nicole): So this is a great job for you. What is the worst job you've ever had?
0:13:36 - (Michelle): The worst job I've ever had?
0:13:39 - (Nicole): Yeah. Wow.
0:13:40 - (Michelle): Interesting question. I don't really know if ever I've had one of those jobs that was truly terrible. Like what? The ones that you sort of hear about. I've certainly probably had my share of tough bosses. Some have been probably more demanding than others, but, yeah, look, no, I have actually been quite fortunate in my career. I've always had a succession of roles that I've thoroughly enjoyed. And I think the saying goes, actually.
0:14:09 - (Nicole): That even if it is a terrible.
0:14:11 - (Michelle): Job or even if it is a fairly ordinary experience, you can still take away something quite positive from that.
0:14:20 - (Nicole): You can still learn, even if it is hideous, maybe you're learning what not.
0:14:25 - (Michelle): To do next time or that you won't do something like that again.
0:14:29 - (Nicole): So I've been really fortunate in my.
0:14:33 - (Michelle): Career to have had a succession of great jobs. There's probably parts of my current job that I could give or take sometimes when the buck does stop with you and you have to get things done irrespective of what's going on around you. So sometimes I do find myself these days washing dishes or mopping the floor or. That's not very fun, but sometimes that's what you've got to do, especially if the buck stops with you.
0:14:59 - (Nicole): Yeah, absolutely. Because you're the owner and no one else above you to take care of stuff.
0:15:05 - (Michelle): Well, they say, don't ever ask someone to do something that you're not prepared to do yourself.
0:15:10 - (Nicole): That's absolutely the case. Yes, I agree with that wholeheartedly. I think that is a good marker of a good boss, that somebody who's willing to do the things that need to get done. Ellen, you're wanting to be either an OT or a solution architect, but that's not going to be your first job. What do you think your first job.
0:15:29 - (Nicole): Is going to be?
0:15:30 - (Ellen): Okay, well, I've actually already started working at the pub.
0:15:34 - (Nicole): Yay.
0:15:35 - (Ellen): It's a really small job. I'm not doing much, but, yeah, it's pretty good. And now that we've moved house, I've been thinking about applying for a few of the cafes around our house. So that might be a better option for me because obviously, working in a pub, a lot of the people I'm serving are over 18, and I can't actually serve alcohol until I'm 18. So that's a big part of the job that I can't do. So it'll be great for me to start working in a cafe around our house.
0:16:11 - (Nicole): So, yeah, great.
0:16:15 - (Ellen): It has been the pub, but I reckon my next one will be in the cafe.
0:16:18 - (Nicole): And so, serving customers, what's the best thing about that? What do you like about that?
0:16:24 - (Ellen): I think I like serving because when I go up and I serve for food, I love just saying their order. I just love saying, did anyone order this? And it's always good to hear that someone does say it, because sometimes you get orders that don't actually ever go through. You get to the table and they go, no, we didn't order that. So it's a really great feeling when you go up to them and you go, did anyone order the chicken burger with the sweet potato fries? And they all go, yes, that was me.
0:16:55 - (Ellen): That's my favorite part of doing it, is just when someone says, yeah, that's me.
0:17:00 - (Nicole): It guarantees that the right thing's gone to the right place. That's a good feeling. I get that.
0:17:04 - (Ellen): Yeah, exactly.
0:17:05 - (Nicole): I worked in my parents'business when I was a kid, too, Ellen, so, yeah, that's a good start. A lot of people, Michelle, get a start in hospitality, but they don't continue in hospitality. So what would you say to people who are starting their careers in hospitality in a part time capacity, perhaps?
0:17:25 - (Nicole): What would you say to convince them.
0:17:27 - (Nicole): To keep going in hospitality? What's great about it?
0:17:30 - (Nicole): Look, I think that a lot of.
0:17:33 - (Michelle): People do start in hospitality, and actually, quite often we joke when we look around our staff. At times we say, well, we've got two over there studying law. We've got one studying psychology. There's one studying accounting. Because we quite often will hire university students. The hours suit them and the days of the week suit them and whatnot. Then there are others amongst the team who have decided to make hospitality their career for a short while or however long.
0:18:03 - (Michelle): And a lot of people sort of reason that office work isn't for them and they do enjoy working with their hands. And there definitely is a career that can be carved out of hospitality. You don't sort of need to stay on the front line. You can certainly move into office based roles in hospitality or into management, where you might not be sort of on.
0:18:25 - (Nicole): The front line quite as much. But it's usually the hours that end.
0:18:30 - (Michelle): Up sort of getting the better of people, because the hours can be brutal at times. Long hours and back to backs and early mornings and late nights and, yeah, especially if you can't sort of find a role that offers you some sort.
0:18:41 - (Nicole): Of normality, and you get your life.
0:18:45 - (Michelle): Into a good rhythm with the hours that you're working. But, look, I think that hospitality has been very good to us.
0:18:52 - (Nicole): Obviously, we've always sort of thoroughly enjoyed our trade.
0:18:57 - (Michelle): My children may not follow us into our line of work. They might, and that will be up to them. But, look, I do appreciate that hospitality is not for everyone. But, yeah, sometimes we do have young people come through and they actually change their mind on what they're studying, and they decide to stay in the industry instead of bouncing in and bouncing out again.
0:19:19 - (Nicole): Yeah.
0:19:20 - (Nicole): And I guess part of that would be around the environment that's being created for them. Ellen, are your mum and dad good bosses?
0:19:33 - (Ellen): I think so. Well, they've always been very work harders because obviously, when they first started the business, you spend all your money on buying this business, and now you just need to start working really hard and making all that money back. And mum tells me stories of dad working 23 hours a day when they first started. I think that because of the hardworking, and they strive a lot to make this business as best as they can and be the best parents that they can.
0:20:09 - (Nicole): And I think that that really helps.
0:20:11 - (Ellen): Them be great bosses. Sometimes it's hard for women at home because we never win the arguments, but it's good to know that because of their work ethic and how hard they strive to get the business as well as they can, as perfect as possible, I think that that's what makes them good bosses.
0:20:32 - (Nicole): Yeah.
0:20:33 - (Nicole): And so what do you think makes a good job, though, for young people who are going into the workplace? What should they look for for a good job, do you think, Ellen?
0:20:44 - (Ellen): I think it depends on how you felt at school. So if you went to school and you loved the exams and you loved the writing and you loved typing on your computer all day, or did you, like, when you in science, for example, did you like the prax, where you got to, I don't know, open up a heart? Or did you, like when you got to write the assignments up and when you got to be in groups and you got to be the boss of the group or something? I don't know.
0:21:11 - (Nicole): But I think that that's when you.
0:21:13 - (Ellen): Find out what you actually want to be when you're older, when you're going through school and you experience things that make you want to go down that path. So if you're wanting to go down the hospitality path or when you're working around and you're working with your hands or something. Then you might find that you lacked the practical work of things in school, but then you might go, I loved being able to go up.
0:21:41 - (Ellen): I loved being doing debating at school. So then you might go, well, maybe that's what I want to do when I'm older. Maybe I want to be a lawyer or. You know what I mean? I think it really depends on what you found.
0:21:52 - (Michelle): You loved at school.
0:21:54 - (Nicole): Yeah.
0:21:54 - (Nicole): So taking all those experiences and figuring out which of them made you happy.
0:22:00 - (Nicole): Yeah, exactly.
0:22:01 - (Nicole): And so school is one thing, Ellen, and work is another thing. But what about life stuff?
0:22:07 - (Nicole): What do you love?
0:22:08 - (Ellen): I love my sport. I love water polo. I play in two teams and we train on Tuesday mornings and Thursday mornings, and then I have two games on Saturdays, and then I swim three times.
0:22:27 - (Nicole): A week, or at least try to.
0:22:29 - (Ellen): Sometimes it's a lot because I'm obviously in the pool for wood polo. And then I also love rowing. And rowing. It's been such a great sport, and I really love the community. And for rowing, you can't miss a day, because if you do, then your whole boat has to figure something out. Because if you've got one person away, then something else has to happen for you to actually get out on the water. So, yeah, I love rowing for the community, and I love water sports, which is probably pretty obvious.
0:23:03 - (Ellen): And I quit nepple for rowing, and I'm so glad I did because it's 100% worth it.
0:23:08 - (Nicole): Oh, that's great. I didn't realize how much of a water baby you must be to be able to be doing both of those sports in the water. We're land people here, so we admire the water people, but it's not what we do in our family. Michelle, what do you love outside of work and kids?
0:23:28 - (Michelle): Gosh, really not much at all. I feel like work and the kids.
0:23:34 - (Nicole): Take up most of my time outside of that.
0:23:38 - (Michelle): I have some lovely friends and I enjoy spending time with them. And I have a nice family as well. My husband has a nice family, so we make as much family time as we possibly can.
0:23:49 - (Nicole): Yeah.
0:23:49 - (Michelle): But we actually lead a fairly quiet life by design. Our job is so social, sometimes that's the last thing we feel like doing when we've got some spare time is actually more socialization. So we have some lovely friends, but sometimes we're just fairly content to just stay at home.
0:24:07 - (Ellen): And mum loves her naps bunker down. So.
0:24:11 - (Michelle): Yeah, no, just busy just being a mum at the moment.
0:24:16 - (Nicole): And that'll change in time.
0:24:19 - (Michelle): That'll change. And I'll pick up some new hobbies, maybe golf, maybe tennis, something like that.
0:24:23 - (Nicole): But at the moment, I just don't.
0:24:25 - (Michelle): Have those hours in my day, actually.
0:24:27 - (Nicole): Yeah, this is the busiest period when you've got the kids that you're running them around and they've got so much sport going on and so many activities that they're doing. So that makes a lot of sense. But it's important to understand that work is not everything and that you have lots of different things that keep you happy and whole as a person.
0:24:45 - (Michelle): Yeah, absolutely.
0:24:47 - (Nicole): Well, guys, I know that you have to run, so I want to thank you both so much for being on bring your kid to work. It's been lovely chatting to you about work and life and business and family.
0:24:57 - (Ellen): Thank you so much, Nicole, for having us.
0:25:00 - (Nicole): Nicole, it's been a joy and I love that Murphy came in for a special visit.
0:25:06 - (Michelle): Thanks, Nicole. Have a great day.
0:25:08 - (Nicole): Thanks, guys.
0:25:09 - (Ellen): Bye bye.
0:25:10 - (Nicole): Wow.
0:25:11 - (Nicole): I loved hearing Ellen and her mum talking about working in the pub and what they love about it. That was really special. And I think it's really special also to have a small business and be able to have that flexibility around your work hours, if you can make that.
0:25:25 - (Nicole): Happen, and also that you can work in your parents'small business.
0:25:30 - (Nicole): It's something that I did when I was a kid. I grew up watching my parents work.
0:25:33 - (Nicole): Really hard and learning about all the.
0:25:36 - (Nicole): Things that go into making a business run. So if that's something that's interesting to you about owning your own business and running your own business, you have to get to a certain point to get that flexibility. You have to really work hard in the interim, but you can get there and it's really exciting. So thanks to Michelle and to Ellen and I look forward to talking to.
0:25:54 - (Nicole): You guys again next week.
0:25:56 - (Nicole): Talk to you then.
0:35:59 - (Nicole): Bring your kid to work was recorded in mean on the lands of the Jaggera and Turrbal, people who've been sharing their stories for more than 60,000 years. Thanks for listening to another episode of bring your kid to work. If you haven't already, make sure you give us a review on your podcast player of choice. It helps other people find the show and follow bring your kid to work and subscribe wherever you're listening now and send your favourite episode to a friend.
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0:36:51 - (Nicole): We're always looking for inspiring guests to be a part of our show. If you have a fab idea for a guest, drop us a line at admin@bringyourkidowork.com.Au or dm us through the socials. We would love to hear from you. Thanks again for listening. Bring your kid to work is a lioness media production. This episode was produced and edited by me, Nicole Lessio. Our music is composed by Rukkuo with graphics and design by Anastasia Makkuhka.
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