Events such as Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day drew patrons to ALH pubs in the first half of FY24, despite Australians tightening their belts due to cost-of-living pressures.

Endeavour Group this week announced sales of $6.7 billion during the first half of FY24, an increase of 2.5% from the prior corresponding period, with its ALH pubs seeing sales up 1% in a tough operating climate.

CEO Steve Donohue said cost-of-living pressures led to customers visiting pubs as a cheaper alternative to restaurants.

“Importantly for hotels we are seeing nice ‘pops’ in some of the smaller and large events, like the Super Bowl the other week that was a good event for hotels and a nice one because it was out of normal trading hours,” he said.

“And similarly, Valentine’s Day we had a really strong one for our pubs.”

Endeavour has focused on redesigning its menus during the period, with a renewed focus on its sourcing strategy so it could stay competitively priced.

“We go out and track a lot of hotels across the country, and two to five around the vicinity of our hotel and on those pub classics that people love, whether it’s fish and chips, the chicken parmigiana or a burger, rump steak, we make sure we are $2 to $3 cheaper than our local competitive set,” Donohue (above) said.

Pubs in Melbourne and Sydney also enjoyed higher occupancy as a esult of Taylor Swift fans being unable to afford city accommodation. Hotel prices surged by as much as 300% during the tour. 

Donohue also revealed Endeavour Group would respond to competition with promotions and deals to win over shoppers to its hotels in the second half of FY24.

Endeavour continues to acquire assets for its hotels arm. It expects to finalise the acquisition of two hotels in March: The Rye Hotel in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and the Burnie Central Townhouse in Tasmania. The Rye Hotel is a destination for holidaymakers and a social hub for the area, and adds 43 accommodation rooms to the network, as well as a drive through retail liquor store. The Burnie Central Townhouse is an accommodation focused venue with 55 rooms.

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