Hospitality Now 2026

Hospitality Now is a forum for food and drink professionals who want to learn, polish, or share the skills needed to survive and thrive in the toughest market the trade has ever seen. This is not a forum to debate abstract theories, or commiserate about how things used to be. It’s focused on the realities of doing business right now – on how to get customers through the door and how to make money – and the opportunities the immediate future holds for this business that we love and believe in.

Your ticket includes access to all panels, plus proper coffee from St Ali, morning tea with Dairy Flat Bake House pastries, a genuinely delicious lunch, and afternoon tea. Hospitality Now is presented in partnership with the Victorian Government.

How to Make Money in Hospitality
There has never been a more challenging time in living memory in hospitality in Australia: fixed costs are rising, staffing is under stress, consumer confidence is shaky, and skyrocketing fuel prices are driving up the costs of practically everything. But farmers aren’t going to just stop farming, producers are going to produce, hospitality businesses are still opening their doors, and people still need to eat and drink – the show must go on. So how do you keep fighting the good fight in ways that keep your costs down, your bank balance up and your customers coming back? These three guests each bring a perspective on the economic realities of the trade in 2026, and will share their views on how to make money in hospitality.

Featuring Guy Greenstone, managing director and co-founder of Stomping Ground Brewery, Phillip Spry, a director of Mawson business advisory and a specialist in restructures and turnarounds, and Rebecca Yazbek, founder and CEO of Edition Hospitality Group, and hosted by Leon Kennedy, CEO and co-founder of Pax Hospitality.

Being Busy: How to Get There and How to Manage it When You Do
Three of Australia’s most famously popular venues – a bar, a restaurant and a patisserie – talk about the goal of pretty much any business: being really, really busy all the time. How much of this success is let-it-happen and how much is make-it-happen? What are the hurdles to overcome in scaling up staff and systems to actually deal with this sort of volume while sticking to your guns and maintaining the standards that brought that popularity in the first place?

Featuring Benjamin Cooper, executive chef of Chin Chin, Kate Reid, founder of Lune, and Matt Stirling, co-founder of Caretaker’s Cottage, and hosted by Pat Nourse, creative director of Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.

Stop Wasting Your Time on Social: Marketing Online and Off In 2026
How much of what you’re doing on social actually makes a difference to your bottom line? How do you know if it’s working? How is the social and marketing landscape different in 2026? What does that mean for hospitality? What about marketing in the world beyond screens and socials? These three expert marketers have the answers, plus some provocative questions of their own that will challenge the way you think about connecting with your customers and fine tune your approach for today's conditions.

Featuring Megan Evans, director of Plenty Of, Hannah Nickels, head of strategy and operations at Bolster and Declan Malone, client partner at TikTok, and hosted by Rick Stephens, head of content at Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.

Good People: Where to Find Them, How to Cultivate Them, How to Keep Them
Great food. A great location. Great drinks. These things are all important but without great staff and great leadership, they’re essentially meaningless. Real hospitality begins and ends with people, setting the tone with the hello said with eye contact at the start and sealing the deal with the goodbye said with a smile on the way out. As much as we might like to tell ourselves that a sense of hospitality is innate, especially in Victoria, we know that great service is a much a science as an art, and right now finding good people, finding the time and the right systems to train them up, and finding ways to keep them engaged and on mission are tougher than ever. Our three speakers on this panel have long-term experience in attracting the finest chefs, waiters and sommeliers in Australia, and their venues are all standard-setters for service and staffing. Today they share how they do it, and how you can too.

Featuring Leanne Altmann, beverage director of Trader House, Dan Hunter, chef and co-owner of Brae, and Christian McCabe, co-founder of Embla, and hosted by Angie Bradbury, executive director of Collective Foundation and director of Bradbury & Co consultancy.

Closing remarks by Alla Wolf-Tasker
A word from our host, Lake House founder Alla Wolf-Tasker AM.

Drinks
Your chance to spend some more time getting to know the forum's guests. Drinks will be available for purchase in the Terrace Room Bar.

Introducing our Hospitality Now 2026 panellists

How to Make Money in Hospitality

Panellists:

Guy Greenstone, managing director and co-founder, Stomping Ground Brewing
With a chemical engineering background and early experience at Lion, Guy Greenstone developed expertise in brewing operations, corporate strategy, hospitality and sales. He later moved into commercial finance, working with diverse businesses. A founder of The Local Taphouse, GABS and Stomping Ground, Guy oversees all aspects of the business, bringing deep industry knowledge and a strategic approach to growth. In 2021, he was recognised by the Independent Brewers Association with a Service to the Industry Award.

Phillip Spry, director, Mawson business advisory
Phil Spry leads the Restructures and Turnarounds team at business advisory and investment firm Mawson, a role that has seen him manage the successful restructure of some of Australia’s most celebrated businesses. He has developed the necessary relationships with financiers, landlords, unions, professional firms and various large Australian businesses to assist his clients navigate their way through a restructure. A Chartered Accountant with over 15 years’ experience in consulting, management, strategy and transactional services, Phil has consulted to privately owned Australian businesses and held roles at Tier 1 accounting firms and ASX-listed companies.

Rebecca Yazbek, founder and CEO, Edition Hospitality Group
Rebecca Yazbek is the founder and CEO of Edition Hospitality Group, one of Australia's most respected independent restaurant groups. With over 14 years in the industry and a background in interior architecture, Rebecca has always approached hospitality through the lens of design, human connection, and a deep respect for place. She founded the group in 2013, with Nomad Sydney, identifying a gap in the market for a cellar door dining experience in the city. She has since opened Nomad Melbourne, Reine & La Rue, and most recently led the acquisition and evolution of the landmark Florentino and its four sister venues. Her philosophy has always been one of considered, quality-led growth to create legacy, impact, and spaces that genuinely matter to the cities they call home.

Panel host:

Leon Kennedy, co-founder and CEO, Pax
Leon Kennedy has been a business owner in the Hospitality industry since the age of 22. While owner/operating two businesses in 2008 he completed an advanced diploma in Leadership and Management. Upon doing so he discovered a deep passion for implementing these principles into Hospitality businesses that he owned, consulted for or worked in. While owning multiple cafes, restaurants, bars and a beer company, Leon has also served in positions at Proud Mary Coffee Roasters as Global Head of Product and B2B Operations, Ordermentum as a Hospitality Consultant, The Mulberry Group serving as CEO and Common Ground Project as chair. As well as being an MBA graduate, Leon has also studied logotherapy and is a certified meditation teacher. In 2025, Leon co-founded Pax Hospitality.

Being Busy: How to Get There and How to Manage it When You Do

Panellists:

Benjamin Cooper, executive chef, Chin Chin
Chin Chin opened to a packed house in 2011 and has been busy ever since, first in its Melbourne home base and now in Sydney and Geelong locations as well. Its chef, Benjamin Cooper, was no stranger to busy and successful restaurants when he came to the gig on day one, having polished his trade at Nobu, Nahm and Terence Conran’s Bluebird in London, and running the kitchens at Melbourne powerhouses Ezard and Longrain, but Chin Chin remains in a class of its own, even now, 15 years later. Benjamin is a father of three, and beyond his life as a dad and a chef, he’s a proud ambassador for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Kate Reid, founder, Lune
Kate Reid is the founder of Lune Croissanterie, a renowned bakery established in Melbourne. Her path to becoming a celebrated pastry chef and the creator of an internationally acclaimed bakery has been anything but conventional. Kate initially pursued aerospace engineering at RMIT University before following her lifelong passion for Formula 1 racing. After she realised that the reality of the job didn’t match her expectations, Kate honed her skills at one of Paris's top bakeries before dedicating countless hours to perfecting the croissant back in Melbourne. In 2012, she took a bold step and opened Lune Croissanterie, a small bakery focused exclusively on croissants, which has since grown to be an internationally recognized sensation.

Matt Stirling, co-founder, Caretaker’s Cottage
Matt Stirling is a career bartender. In 2022 he and his fellow bartenders Rob Libecans and Ryan Noreiks opened Caretaker’s Cottage, a Melbourne bar that quickly shot to prominence as Australia’s most internationally recognised place to get a drink. Caretaker’s has since been a regular fixture in global bar awards, including The World’s 50 Best Bars, which in 2024 named the bar the winner of its Art of Hospitality Award in recognition of the quality of its service. In 2025 the trio opened a second venue, Three Horses, inspired by the sherry bars of Madrid.

Panel host:

Pat Nourse, creative director, Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
Pat Nourse is the creative director of Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. A restaurant critic and travel writer with more than two decades experience, he was an editor at Gourmet Traveller for 14 years, has written for a wealth of other Australian publications including the Good Food Guide, Broadsheet and Time Out, and his work has been published internationally in the likes of The Observer, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel + Leisure and Saveur. He was the longest-serving chair of voting for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, chairing Australia/Oceania from 2006 to 2023. Pat is the co-author of the James Beard Award-nominated book Ester (Murdoch, 2023) a curator of Signature Dishes That Matter (Phaidon, 2019) and a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (2021). You might have also seen him on Netflix’s Chef’s Table and Somebody Feed Phil.

Stop Wasting Your Time on Social: Marketing Online and Off In 2026

Panellists:

Megan Evans, director, Plenty Of
Megan Evans is the director of Plenty Of, a Melbourne-based creative and marketing studio specialising in hospitality and lifestyle brands. With a background that spans both the floor and the marketing side of venues, Megan brings a deeply operational understanding of how hospitality businesses function and how marketing can directly drive revenue. Through Plenty Of, she works closely with some of Australia’s leading restaurants and groups, delivering strategy-led social media, content production, and campaign execution that connects brand storytelling with commercial outcomes. Her approach prioritises purposeful content, refined digital presence, and long-term brand building over short-term noise. Megan pairs sharp creative with commercial thinking, so the work not only lands, it delivers.

Hannah Nickels, head of strategy and operations, Bolster
Hannah Nickels is head of strategy and operations at Bolster Group, a culture-led marketing agency built on a decade of experience inside entertainment. Hannah comes to the role from more than 10 years’ work with local and international brands, focusing on the stories those brands tell. Bolster’s integrated model sees the agency creating strategies and stories that connect fans with brands, and its client roster runs the gamut from international household names such as Nike, EA Games and Jameson through to local cultural powerhouses including Laneway Festival, Rising Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival.

Declan Malone, client partner, TikTok
Declan is a client partner at TikTok, working with major travel brands, tourism bodies and government agencies in Australia and New Zealand. His focus is helping them grow their businesses and meet their objectives using TikTok. Declan has spent many years in the travel industry, most recently leading the consumer marketing team for Tourism New Zealand in both Australia and the Americas and is passionate about leveraging this experience to help brands be a part of the revolution happening on TikTok today.

Panel host:

Rick Stephens, head of content, Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
Rick Stephens is head of content at Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. A digital publishing professional with a decade of experience across lifestyle and food media, he has a keen interest in understanding, engaging and growing audiences across channels, online and in the real world. He has held senior roles at Urban List, including editor and acting managing editor, where he oversaw content strategy and led campaigns across the food and drink, hospitality and lifestyle spaces. He now heads up content direction for MFWF, shaping how the festival connects with audiences, industry and partners year-round.

Good People: Where to Find Them, How to Cultivate Them, How to Keep Them

Panellists:

Leanne Altmann, beverage director, Trader House
A 2009 Len Evans scholar and perpetual student of wine, Leanne holds the WSET Diploma, where she was the top Australian graduate, and the Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced Certificate, dux. She continued her practical wine and service education as the recipient of the Negociants Australia Working with Wine Fellowship, the Ruinart Sommelier Challenge, and the 2018 Vin de Champagne Award. In 2019, Leanne was named Gourmet Traveller magazine's Sommelier of the Year. A passionate wine educator, Leanne is a Certified Educator with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust and runs Level 2 and 3 in Wines for her teams. She has experience judging and as a panel chair in regional and capital city shows, and is Chief of Judges for Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show. After joining Cutler & Co. in 2009, Leanne was part of the Supernormal opening team, and has been in her current role of beverage director for Trader House since 2017.

Dan Hunter, chef and co-owner, Brae
On opening Brae in December 2013, chef and owner Dan Hunter brought to life his vision of a restaurant as an authentic reflection of his values and ambition – a place where he is committed to a sustainable method of farming, cooking and hospitality. At Brae, he and his team grow organic food and use only ethically grown produce from Brae Farm, the surrounding land and local farmers to offer a unique Australian cuisine built around an immense respect for nature, place and seasonality. Brae has held Australia’s highest ranking of three hats from the Good Food Guide since 2014. The restaurant became the first in Australia to be certified by the Sustainable Restaurant Association in 2024. Dan was named the Melbourne Food & Wine 2024 Chef and Restaurateur Legend. The restaurant reached number 44 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017 and in 2021 ranked at number 57. Dan was The Australian Financial Review’s Top Chef in both 2016 and 2017; Good Food Guide’s Chef of The Year in 2012 and 2016; and Gourmet Traveller’s Chef of the Year in 2016. His debut book, Brae, was published by Phaidon in 2017.

Christian McCabe, co-founder, Embla
Christian McCabe is the co-owner of Embla, and has been a restaurateur in Australia and New Zealand for more than 20 years. Like Embla, his previous venues (including Town Mouse in Melbourne and The Matterhorn in Wellington) were both unique and influential, and were seen as benchmarks for their style of service. Christian is also a co-founder, with winemaker Patrick Sullivan, of Principal Wine, an import and distribution business. A stint in investment banking and a role managing the legendary Honky Tonks in its early 00s heyday bring another dimension to his perspective on hospitality. “This part really isn’t talked about in our industry, but it’s irresponsible (and futile) to not focus on building a good business model as the foundation of any restaurant you want to be able to survive the ups and downs. It is very possible to do what you love, to offer value to your guests, and to look after your staff and suppliers while making a profit,” he says. “Some of it is luck, but most of it is the same as any other business and what your values are.”

Panel host:

Angie Bradbury, executive director of Collective Foundation, director, Bradbury & Co
Angie Bradbury is a highly respected and sought-after company director and business strategist with two decades’ experience working with leading brands in drinks and hospitality, retail and automotive, tourism, and agriculture. She has a reputation as a straightforward, direct and pragmatic strategist who always pushes for the better answer or solution. She founded and served as managing director of several leading marketing and communications agencies, chaired Wine Victoria and is now an independent consultant and company director, including executive director of Collective Foundation, which is dedicated to the long-term sustainability of the hospitality sector. Angie was the 2019 Woman of Inspiration for the Australian Women in Wine Awards, played a lead role in the development of the Diversity and Equality in Wine charter and is a regular guest speaker, keynote presenter, workshop facilitator, and agitator on issues right across the sector.

Make the most of your time in Daylesford with these special offers from our friends at Lake House and The Daylesford Hotel for Hospitality Now ticketholders

Stay at Lake House
“Be cocooned by the Lake House team for a night on either side of Hospitality Now. Enjoy six acres of country gardens on the edge of Lake Daylesford, firepits, hot tub, cocktails in the library or a good bottle from the award-winning cellar. Take advantage of a 20 per cent industry discount when booking an overnight stay.

“This offer is valid for Sunday 31 May or Monday 1 June 2026. Book online and include the code MFWHN in your notes to receive the discount on departure, or contact Lake House reservations on 03 5348 3329.

Dine at Lake House
“Enjoy our multi course à la carte menu in our landmark two chef’s hat restaurant with a 10 per cent discount on the menu price.

“This offer is available for lunch or dinner on Sunday 31 May 2026 or dinner on Monday 1 June 2026. Reservations are essential; make your booking online, selecting our normal menu option and include the code MFWHN in your notes to receive the industry discount on departure, or contact Lake House reservations on 03 5348 3329”

Discounted rates for Hospitality Now ticketholders at The Daylesford Hotel

“For Hospitality Now attendees we are pleased to offer the following for either king or queen rooms with shared bathrooms:

Stay one night - $135 (Sunday 31 May or Monday 1 June)
Stay two nights - $250 (Sunday 31 May and Monday 1 June)

To book, simply email and reference Hospitality Now. For details about the accommodation, visit our website."