Rising costs push pints towards A$22
Publicans say the days of the A$22 pint are closer than many would like, as food, beverage and energy costs continue to climb.
At some Australian Venue Co pubs, a pint of Stone & Wood is already A$18.90.
Tom Francis, chief executive of Francis Venues, which operates 11 pubs across Melbourne and Sydney, said he had expected prices to stretch even higher.
“We’d put the price up of a steak and then next minute, [the price of] cattle has changed, [and we’d] go again,” Francis told the Financial Review Property Summit.
He added that beer across his venues remained “pretty cheap”.
Francis said menus now need to reflect changing tastes as well as rising costs.
“Food and bev is very important, which was something my family wasn’t strong on. I would say they were pretty poor, and they admit it, my dad and my granddad,” he said.
For Angela Gallagher of Gallagher Hotels, supplier and energy bills are the main challenge. “Probably at least two or three times a week we’re getting notifications of price increases [from food suppliers],” she said. “Energy prices, I think this year, double what they were last year for some of our venues.”
Gallagher said she has nudged up specials but has held beer steady thanks to the government’s draught excise freeze. “I don’t know of any other pubs that have put their beer up. We certainly haven’t,” she said.
Former Carlton & United Breweries chief executive Peter Filipovic, now a publican, said keg prices had driven up pint costs. “When you have a pub as a business, you end up having to increase your pint prices to stay open,” he said.
That A$22 pint has already made an appearance on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Jonathan Jackson, 4th September 2025
