In this episode of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, host Leon Kennedy sits down with Kate Bradford to unpack the least glamorous but most essential pillar of hospitality success: finance. Sitting within the Consistency layer of the PAX Pyramid, this episode explores how financial literacy, transparency, and disciplined reporting form the backbone of every sustainable business. Leon and Kate walk through the five key components of financial architecture — forecasting, weekly reporting, month...

In this Happy Hour episode, Tim Varney, Michael Bascetta, and Loren Daniels crack a Bridge Road non-alc and wade into award season — where Michelin, Good Food, and the ever-turning wheels of recognition are all up for debate. After a bumbling beginning, they take a sharp left and look at validation in Australian hospitality: who gives it, who needs it, and who’s over it. With Michelin reportedly asking Tourism Australia for $7.5 million to bring its stars Down Under (and being politely declin...

The best venues don’t try to be everything, they just know who they are. When that clarity of identity runs deep, the product, the choices, and the guest experience all align without forcing it. In this episode of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, the team dig into the “Product” layer of the PAX Pyramid with guest Rob Libecans (Caretaker’s Cottage, Three Horses). They reframe product as the discipline that connects menu, service, space, systems, and culture to true market-fit — not just “what’s on...

In this Happy Hour debut, Tim Varney and Michael Bascetta shoot the breeze on coffee automation—from the romance of hand-made shots to the reality of rising costs, labour shortages, and the need for consistency. They map the spectrum: rock-bottom convenience (7-Eleven) at one end, high-touch specialty bars at the other, and today’s “weird hybrid era” in between—puck presses, auto-frothers, machine-grinder handshakes, and scales in the drip tray. Tim traces how roasting already crossed that br...

In this episode of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, hosts Leon Kennedy, Michael Bascetta, Loren Daniels, and Tim Varney tackle one of the most overlooked — yet defining — disciplines in hospitality: product. Moving up the PAX Pyramid from Identity to Product, the group explores what it means to be truly product-led — not just in the physical sense of dishes and drinks, but as a system of thinking that aligns identity, customer needs, and operational decisions. From examples like Chin Chin’s perfe...

In this episode of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, host Leon Kennedy sits down with Joseph Abboud (Rumi, Rocket Society) to unpack what “identity” looks like when you move it from gut-feel to something a whole team can use. Rather than trading in abstract brand-speak, Joseph shares the hard-won process of articulating Rumi’s purpose—“to embody Middle Eastern hospitality with a contemporary attitude so that we can have a positive impact on our immediate and broader community”—and how writin...

In this frank episode of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, host Leon Kennedy sits down with Phillip Spry (Director, Mawson)to demystify what happens when a venue slides from strain to financial distress—and how to avoid becoming part of the predicted contraction. Rather than fear, the focus is clarity: a plain-English definition of insolvency (“can’t pay debts when they’re due”), the day-one reality of administration (what administrators actually do, when trading can continue, and why prepar...

In this episode of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, host Leon Kennedy is joined by Loren Daniels, Tim Varney, and Michael Bascetta to explore one of the simplest yet most powerful frameworks in hospitality: the Pyramid. What starts as a practical chat quickly evolves into a deep dive on why so many businesses pour money into marketing without first building the foundation that makes promotion actually work. We break down the four layers of the Pyramid — Identity, Product, Consistency, and Promo —...

In our very first episode of The PAX Hospitality Podcast, we—Leon Kennedy, Loren Daniels, Tim Varney, and Michael Bascetta—sit down to introduce the show and share the story behind it. This isn’t a pitch or a polished presentation. It’s an open conversation about where PAX came from, why we care so deeply about hospitality, and how we want to help operators thrive through collaboration rather than secrecy. PAX grew out of relatively informal advice sessions that have gradually become somethin...