Hospitality is a unique line of work.
The staff are semi-nocturnal, usually just clocking on as everyone else is logging off. The nights are late; the hours are long; the music is loud; the punters are boisterous. It’s tough work, and the sub-culture of people who undertake the task do it all to provide other people with quality experiences, and a vibrant social atmosphere to enjoy.
It’s any wonder then why the hospitality industry breeds some of the strongest workplace morale, where colleagues quickly become the closest of friends amidst the chaos of a busy venue. One such manifestation of this is the tradition known as ‘hospo discount’.
Venues like to take care of their own, and in most cities this comes by way of an ‘industry’ discount, applied to food and drinks, and available to hospo staff members who work at other venues in the scene. It’s a show of solidarity, and provides recognition to those who sacrifice their evenings so that others might enjoy them.
For a long time this has been little more than an unwritten rule, and while routinely honoured by venues, your status as a hospo staff member was only as strong as your reputation. But that is about to change, as the ‘Hospo Club’ kicks off in Adelaide.
Adelaide hospitality startup Bellr has recently launched a new digital rewards program, designed to unite hospo venues and staff through exclusive industry prices. The program is called the ‘Hospo Club’, and around thirty venues in Adelaide have already joined.
Venues who sign up are required to post a food or drink offer that is exclusively available to members of the Hospo Club. It can be anything, and venues can change it as often as they like.
In return for providing their own hospo offer, the venue will receive memberships for all of their staff members, allowing them to join the club. Members then access the various hospo offers from participating venues around town through the Bellr app.
This unique ‘invite-only’ model ensures the club remains exclusive to people who actively work in the industry, and rewards the bartenders, wait staff, chefs and glassies, who work hard to make a night out possible for the rest of us.
Speaking to Bellr co-founder Mitchell Stapleton-Coory, we learned a bit more about the origins of the concept: “I worked in the Adelaide bar scene for years, and it was easily one of the best experiences of my life. You always want to take care of other staff members who make the same sacrifices as you do by working nights. The issue was, how could you personally know every single person who legitimately worked in the scene? Hospo Club is about uniting venues and staff through our shared experiences, and encouraging us to spend more time visiting each others venues, on the rare occasion that we’re not working!”
The official launch is targeted for September 1st, with some high quality Adelaide venues having joined the initiative, including Hains & Co, 2KW and Electra House Hotel, among others.
Venue manager Cody Banks, who recently brought Hains & Co onto the Hospo Club platform says “This is a really exciting initiative. The tradition of ‘hospo pricing’ is well known in our industry, and Hains & Co are big supporters of the Adelaide hospo scene. Hospo Club is a great platform to help organise and promote what venues are already doing for fellow staff members. We’re very keen to be a part of this!”
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