Behind each of your favourite stores are passionate, hardworking people who welcome you to take part in their story, every time you walk in. Here, we introduce you to the faces behind some of your favourite Stockland retailers. Learn about the history of their business, the products and services they offer and what they love about their local community.
Meet Michelle & Ian, Malt Shovel Tahhouse
1. Tell us about your store?
Malt Shovel Taphouse is a craft beer taphouse and rotisserie kitchen proudly a part of the Birtinya community. Bold and packed with flavour, we have 16 craft beers on tap and a mouthwatering menu of slow-cooked rotisserie meats. It’s more than a pub - it’s an exbeerience.
2. What products, services or experiences do you offer?
We have 16 craft beers on tap with local flavours like Eumundi ginger beer and Mojo Berry, to craft brews from around Australia and the world. We are all about ‘the exbeerience’. Our beer guides will take you on a journey through our quenching, cracking and flavour packing beers. Whether you enjoy refreshing thirst-quenching beers or more flavour-packed craft beers, we have a beer that’s perfect for you. It’s all perfectly paired with our rotisserie menu. With locally sourced ingredients such as the slow-cooked Glasshouse Mountains chicken, porchetta and lamb, rotisserie is the heart of our kitchen and the reason our chefs get out of bed each day.
Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday you can relax with live music and enjoy a laid back local venue with good old fashioned hospitality owned by a local husband and wife team.
3. What do you love about your store?
People are at the heart of our venue at Malt Shovel Taphouse. We have a great team of hospitality superstars who love our regulars and our local community. Our kitchen team are passionate about serving up great quality rotisserie, and our beer guides are passionate about craft beer and taking our customers on a journey of discovery into the world of craft beer. Even though we are new, I love how the venue has become a gathering place for the local community. On Friday evenings we have regular groups from local businesses and the hospital gathering and networking, we have live music and the beers are flowing. On the weekends, we have local families and groups of friends gathering for catch-ups, celebrations and good conversation over a great meal. It just doesn’t get better than that!
4. What feedback to you get from your customers?
“Great food. Great atmosphere. Great shows. Great venue. Great staff.”
“What a beautiful venue, we had a meal here last night! You certainly have amazing food, great service from super friendly staff. We loved the selection of beer and live music. We will be back!!”
5. What are some common customer questions you get?
Are pets welcome?
Yes, we are dog-friendly in our alfresco dining area!
Do we open for breakfast?
Yes, we are open from 8am every morning 7 days a week serving up breakfast favourites and Tim Adams coffee. Come on in!
Do you have vegetarian and vegan dishes on offer?
Yes! From jackfruit tacos, to bean burritos to Noosa cherry tomato salads, we have a great range of dishes that cater to dietary requirements.
Do you offer delivery and takeaway?
Yes! Order online on our website or find us on UberEats and Menulog.
6. What drives you and the team (where relevant) to success?
Creating a memorable experience for each and every customer.
7. What do you love about our local community?
We are so proud to be in a welcoming and supportive community. Walk down the beach in Bokarina or Warana and everyone says hello to each other. People talk to each other when they are waiting in line at the bar or the coffee shop. Business owners help each other to get ahead and everyone helps their neighbours. Michelle and I love living here and being a part of the 4575 community.
8. With regard to your store type, what are customers wanting right now?
Now more than ever, it’s all about community and connection. Going out is more than eating and drinking, it’s the experience. Feeling the love that the kitchen team has put into the food, the smiles from staff, the atmosphere and the conversations with friends, family and colleagues over a good meal and a beer… it all adds up to a great memory.
9. With regard to your store type, what advice would you have for other retailers?
We have been through an unprecedented experience in our industry, we have nothing but respect and solidarity for everyone in the hospitality industry. From our fellow foodies in Stockland Birtinya who have rolled up their sleeves and changed their business model to survive this period, to other businesses who have hibernated, to businesses who may not re-open. We stand with you and as an industry, we will come back stronger than ever.
10. What did you wish customers know before they visited your store?
Wear stretchy pants! The food is so good you will be wanting to order one of everything!
11. Why do you think shopping centres are important?
Centres like Stockland Birtinya are the heart of the community. They are places to come together to shop, dine and catch up. The businesses in the centre are mostly locally owned and operated and passionate about serving this community.
12. What is your current role and main responsibilities?
My wife Michelle and I are co-owners of Malt Shovel Taphouse Sunshine Coast. You will find us both at the taphouse most days! We love meeting the local community and working alongside our team to deliver great experiences to customers. Come and say hello!
13. What do you love most about your job?
I love the community that grows around a venue over time. A pub is a community gathering place with an ecosystem of passionate hospitality workers, musicians, local suppliers and local people. I love seeing familiar faces and the same people coming in every week to order their favourite beer or their favourite meal and catch up with their mates. You can become part of the fabric of peoples' lives in hospitality… you see birthday celebrations, you see engagements, you see weddings, you see those same people coming back to celebrate anniversaries and bring their children. It’s a small part to play, but it means so much for me to be in the background for those moments.
14. What motivates you?
I have had a long career in the hospitality industry, and I am motivated to use everything I have learned to create exciting spaces with good old hospitality values.
15. What’s three words that describe your store?
Beer, rotisserie and exbeerience.
16. What are some of your favourite stores in your Stockland centre?
We personally shop, dine and use all the services at Stockland Birtinya and recommend them all. It is a great curated selection of retailers and a one stop shop for everything!
17. How have you coped with COVID-19 and what are you looking forward to?
COVID-19 has been devastating for the hospitality industry. It has been heartbreaking for us personally, especially at the start of the crisis when we were (temporarily) closing down a business we had put our heart and soul into and saying goodbye to staff when we didn’t know what was ahead of us.
What has been heartwarming is all the messages of support from the local community and the way our staff have stood by us. Our team volunteered to help us close the doors, and our regular customers have continuously checked in to see how we are going. We have only been operating for five short months before the shut down, so to have so much support in such a short time period has touched our hearts.
We are looking forward to being back on the floor and behind the bar doing what we do best. Our team is now back together and we are looking forward to re-opening on the 12th June!
If you’d like to read more about your most-loved retailers, their products, and the faces behind the businesses, click through to the Retailer Stories page on our Belong hub. There are plenty of stories to share!