Feasibility Study Report

Introduction

The hospitality industry is one of the key industries in Australia that makes significant

contribution to this country’s gross domestic product (GDP). According to Main (2022), the

hospitality and tourism industry contributes approximately 10% of Australia’s GDP, and

directly employs approximately 748,200 people. Thus, this country cannot afford to ignore the

contribution and role of the hospitality industry to its economy. Importantly, one of the factors

that influence the success of businesses in this industry is their venues. Arguably since the

hospitality industry usually seek to offer authentic experience to its customers, most

businesses in the industry focus on identifying ideal venues to host their operations. This is

affirmed in the work of Wark (2018), who observes that the appropriate venue has significant

impact on the experience and memories of customers. Furthermore, Cloros (2018) observes

that the design of a venue has an impact on its competitiveness. This report analyses two

venues in the Australian hospitality industry namely Revolver Upstairs nightclub and Attica

Restaurant. The aim of the report is to evaluate the feasibility of these venues from the

perspective of their physical planning and design aspects. While the report will consider the

physical planning and design aspects of these venues, it will not consider the architectural

elements of these venues.

Revolver Upstairs

Revolver Upstairs – a night club, which is located on Chapel Street, Prahran, in Victoria,

Australia, was established in 1992 by a Camillo Ippoliti – a Melbourne-based venue manager,

and Tan Punturaumporn – a pop star from Thailand (Carmona, 2021). Revolver Upstairs night

club targets young people who enjoy going to parties, and it is renowned for operating on a

24-hour basis from Friday to Monday Morning while on the other days of the week, this

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nightclub is open between 5:00 pm in the evening to between 1:00 am and 6:00 am,

depending on the day of the week. Currently, this venue is capable of hosting between 320

and 350 guests at ago every night. One of the critical aspects to note about this nightclub is

the fact that it has adopted a business model that enables it to operate as a bar and restaurant

during the day and a nightclub at night. Importantly, reviews from previous customers

indicate that customers spend an average of between $20 and $25 per night in this nightclub,

which a significant portion of these charges covering the entry fee (TripAdvisor, 2019).

Importantly, one of the major competitive points of difference between Revolver Upstairs

nightclub and its competitors is the fact that while other nightclubs in Melbourne usually

operate on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, this club operates throughout the week until

early hours in the morning. Furthermore, to enhance its income generation, this club operates

as a restaurant and a bar during the day, thus managing to attract non-partygoer customers

within the week. In addition, the nightclub usually hosts different events such as live bands

and music and record release events among others throughout the year (Revolver Upstairs,

2022). In addition, Revolver Upstairs has its own merchandise such as tote bags, caps, enamel

pins, t-shirts and jigsaw puzzles among others (Appendix 1) (Revolver Upstairs, 2022a).

Importantly, some of the key skillset that this nightclub has include chefs, sound engineers

and professional disk jockeys (DJs).

With regard to this the physical planning and design aspect of Revolver Upstairs nightclub,

there is a need to note that this business is located on the first floor 299 Chapel St, Prahran.

This implies that one of the design and physical planning issues that the business need to

consider is accessibility not only for the physically challenged customers but also for its

customers who consume alcohol in this place. While this is the case, there is a need to observe

that this nightclub is only accessible using a staircase (Appendix 2). This is as a result of the

fact that the nightclub is located on an old building that is categorised as a heritage structure

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in Melbourne (Appendix 2) (Revolver Upstairs, 2022b). Therefore, there are no modifications

that can be done on this building to create an elevator and improve accessibility to this

nightclub. This implies that customers who use wheelchair are likely to find it difficult to

access this venue. Furthermore, customers who get excessively drunk face the risk of falls and

injury when exiting this club. Besides accessibility, one of the biggest challenges that this

venue faces is noise. In response to this challenge, its management uses airlock doors and

triple glazed windows to ensure that the noise from its customers and music systems does not

disturb its neighbours. However, Revolver Upstairs (2022b) observes that this has a negative

impact on the ventilation and airflow in the club and as such, customers should not expect to

enjoy natural air while in this nightclub.

Sails on Lavender Bay in Sydney, Australia

Sails on Lavender Bay, which is located in McMahons Point, is one of the most interesting

restaurant venues in Sydney, Australia. According to Sails on Lavender Bay (2022), this

restaurant was established over 40 years ago and as such, it is one of the longest restaurants

that have been in operation in this country. Moreover, the excellency of this restaurants is

depicted in the fact since 2010, it has consistently received the ‘Two Glass’ rating award from

Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine since 2010.

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References

Main, J. (2022, February 18). 6 reasons why tourism is so important to Australia’s post

COVID-19 economy. Torrens University Australia.

https://www.torrens.edu.au/blog/6-reasons-why-tourism-is-so-important-to-australias-

post-covid19-economy

Wark, K. (2018, November 1). Finding the right event venue. Westfair Business Publications.

https://westfaironline.com/108347/kate-wark-finding-the-right-event-venue

Cloros, A. (2018, April 17). The importance of venue design. Hospitality Magazine.

https://www.hospitalitymagazine.com.au/the-importance-of-design-in-venues

Carmona, E. (2021, January 18). The inside story of Revolver Upstairs nightclub. Stoney

Roads. https://stoneyroads.com/2021/01/the-inside-story-of-revolver-upstairs-

nightclub

TripAdvisor. (2019). Revolver Upstairs. https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-

g261664-d258055-Reviews-Revolver_Upstairs-

Prahran_Stonnington_Greater_Melbourne_Victoria.html

Revolver Upstairs. (2022). Our history. https://revolverupstairs.com.au/our-history

Revolver Upstairs. (2022a). The Revolver online shop. https://revolverupstairs.com.au/shop

Hope, Z. (2019, December 5). Chapel Street nightclub to issue lifetime bans for users of

GHB. The Age. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/chapel-street-nightclub-

to-issue-lifetime-bans-for-users-of-ghb-20191204-p53gz0.html

Revolver Upstairs. (2022b). Accessibility, inclusivity and safety.

https://revolverupstairs.com.au/accessibility

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Sails on Lavender Bay. (2022). About us. https://www.sailslavenderbay.com/about-us

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Merchandise from Revolver Upstairs

Figure 1: Revolver record release 'As We Know It' T-Shirts

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Figure 2: Limited edition artists colab hats

Figure 3: Snakes and Stairs – Revolver Upstairs board game

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Appendix 2:

Figure 4: Staircase entry to Revolver Upstairs [Source: Hope, 2019]