Formerly | Dixon Hospitality Group |
---|---|
Company type | Privately held company |
Industry | |
Headquarters | , Australia |
Area served | Australia |
Key people | Paul Waterson (CEO) |
Services | |
Number of employees | 8,000 |
Parent | PAG |
Subsidiaries | Court Hotel Duke of Wellington Hotel Esplanade Hotel Regatta Hotel |
Website | Official website |
Australian Venue Co. (AVC), formerly Dixon Hospitality Group, is a hospitality company in Australia that owns and operates over 200 venues across the country. [1]
in 2017, KKR purchased an 80% stake in the Dixon Hospitality Group. [2] [3] The company's portfolio initially consisted of five venues in Melbourne, but has expanded to over 200 venues across Australia and New Zealand.
In March 2019, Coles Group and Australian Venue Co. established a joint venture (Queensland Venue Co) where AVC would take over operations of the Coles' Spirit Hotels and receive its profits while Coles would run the group's liquor stores and receive its profits. Coles received $200 million from AVC as part of the deal. [4] [5] [6]
In August 2023, PAG agreed terms to purchase KKR's controlling shareholding for $1.4 billion. [7] [8]
In December 2024, the company announced a ban on Australia Day celebrations in 2025 due to the holiday causing "sadness for some members of our community". The decision was subsequently reversed following public criticism. [9]
AVC's venues are spread across various locations in Australia, ranging from coastal towns to major cities. The company's portfolio includes bars, restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, and function spaces that cater to different clientele. Some of the notable venues are:
AVC's Head Office is located at 616 St Kilda Road, Melbourne. [14] AVC has over 8,300 employees across Australia & New Zealand. [15]
Pub rock is a style of Australian rock and roll that peaked in popularity throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and that continues to influence Australian music into the 21st century. It is named after the live music circuit in which most associated bands developed their sound: inner-city and suburban pubs. These often noisy, hot, small and crowded venues favoured loud, riff-based heavy rock.
St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. St Kilda recorded a population of 19,490 at the 2021 census.
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company. As of December 31, 2023, the firm had completed private equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total enterprise value. Its assets under management (AUM) and fee paying assets under management (FPAUM) were $553 billion and $446 billion, respectively.
Federal Group is a privately owned family company which operates tourism, hospitality, retail, and a national sensitive freight company but is primarily known for their casino and gaming assets in Tasmania which is described as "a licence to print money". In the past the company has been known as both "Federal Hotels" or "Federal Hotels and Resorts".
The Esplanade Hotel, commonly known locally as "The Espy", is a hotel and music venue in the inner bayside suburb of St Kilda, in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Built in 1878, it overlooks Port Phillip from the Upper Esplanade. It is famed for its long history of live music, and served as the filming location for the live music trivia program Rockwiz.
Liquorland is an Australian liquor store chain. It is one of three liquor brands within the Coles Group, along with the larger discount format First Choice Liquor and more upmarket orientated Vintage Cellars. The Liquorland chain comprised 743 stores as of March 2023.
Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of liquor through its Coles Liquor outlets. Since its foundation in Collingwood, Victoria in 1914, Coles has grown to become the second-largest retailer in Australia after its principal rival, Woolworths, in terms of revenue.
An Australian pub or hotel is a public house in Australia, an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. They may also provide other services, such as entertainment, meals and basic accommodation.
Malmaison is a British company that operates sixteen hotels in the United Kingdom. The company was established in 1994, and is now owned by Frasers Property.
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) is a federation of not-for-profit employer associations in the hotel and hospitality industry, registered under the Fair Work Act and respective State Laws. The AHA's role is to further and protect the interests of its members throughout Australia which are employers and can be owners, operators or lessees of hotels, bars and other hospitality businesses. The areas of focus include accommodation, food, beverages, entertainment, wagering and gaming; the maintenance of the law; promotion of business activity, education, training and advocating the economic and social benefits of the industry.
Fitzroy Street is the major thoroughfare of the beachside Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. Its fortunes have risen and fallen along with that of St Kilda itself, from wealthy residential district to a popular working and middle class beachside entertainment district, to cheap and seedy, and popular again in the late 20th century. In recent years Fitzroy Street itself has gone from a popular restaurant strip to the situation in 2017 where only a few restaurants remain amongst kebab shops and convenience stores catering the backpackers and many empty shopfronts. It is named after Charles Augustus FitzRoy, Governor of New South Wales in 1842 when St Kilda was first subdivided.
The Tote is a live music venue, pub and former hotel located in Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia. The venue hosts many independent local, Australian and international acts, and carries a reputation for showcasing new and emerging independent musical acts of a variety of stylistic origins, having done so since the 1980s. The venue operates 5 days a week with performances across 3 settings, the "main stage", the "cobra bar" and the "front bar". It is located at 67-71 Johnston Street.
A Music Victoria study finds Melbourne hosts 62,000 live concerts annually, making it one of the live music capitals of the world. Victoria is host to more than three times the live performance national average, making it the live music capital of the country. Melbourne is host to more music venues per capita than Austin, Texas.
Minor Hotels is an international hotel owner, operator, and investor headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, with more than 550 hotels in over 55 countries across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe, and the Americas. Minor Hotels operates as a subsidiary of Minor International, one of the largest hospitality and leisure companies in the Asia-Pacific region. The group operates hotels under the brands of Anantara Hotels & Resorts, Avani Hotels & Resorts, Elewana Collection, Oaks Hotels, Resorts & Suites, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow Hotels, and Tivoli Hotels & Resorts.
PAG is an Asian investment firm that manages multiple asset classes, including private equity, private debt, real estate and hedge funds. It is considered one of the largest private investment firms in Asia.
Endeavour Group Ltd (EG) is an Australian alcoholic drinks retailer, hotel operator, and poker machine operator that was spun off from Woolworths Group in 2021.
Bruce Mathieson is an Australian businessman, sometimes referred to as a 'billionaire pub baron'. He is known for his influence in the Australian pub, hotel, and gambling sectors.
The Claremont Hotel is a bar, music venue and fine dining pub located in Claremont, Western Australia and around 9 km away from Perth CBD. It was also titled Perth’s best venue for 2023 at the AHA awards after its renovation worthing $12 million AUD in 2023. It is also one of the most expensive pubs in Western Australia.