Now Sound: Melbourne’s listening
Now Sounds was a feature length documentary that debuted at MIFF in 2018. It explored Melbourne’s love for music, documenting the trials and tribulations that constantly threaten to demolish Melbourne's iconic music culture and the unending passion that revives and sustains it.
Mr Yum: Food for Thought - Ep. 6 Daragh Kan
I had a chat with Dan Stock on this episode to discuss my career in hospitality and some of the things I wished I’d known before starting out as a venue owner.
Calling Operator - Ep.2 Daragh Kan
Calling Operator is a podcast focused on hearing stories from the operators behind some of Australia’s most successful startups.
Dancethropology - The Mercat
During Covid, the City of Melbourne funded a podcast series focusing on dance culture and the impact nighclubs had on the city. I joined Andee Frost to talk about the impact that my nightclub, The Mercat, had on me, Melbourne and the wider scene.
Now Sound: Melbourne’s listening
Red Bull Music Academy wrote an article about the visual identity for 13 iconic logos from across the world. I was interviewed to talk about how I created the logo and branding for Animals Dancing.
Killing me softly: the law chipping away at Melbourne’s nightlife by stealth
Sean Ruse interview me as part of this thesis for his Master of Journalism at the University of Melbourne which was later adapted into an article for The Guardian. We discussed the impact that venue closures and Melbourne’s long running liquor license freeze had on Melbourne’s culture.
Hospitality Unites - How the Use of Technology is Important for the Growth of Your Business
As we came out of Covid, Hospitality Unites was an online conference organised to help venues navigate through a challenging environment. I joined the panel to discuss this as both a venue owner and as a product manager creating products for hospitality venues at Mr Yum.
Animals Dancing
Animals Dancing is an events company, touring agency and record label that I founded in 2009. I stepped down in 2018 to focus on other ventures.
City of Melbourne Music Strategy
From 2013-2017 I was a committee member on The Melbourne Music Strategy Advisory Committee, representing represents the interests of the city and providing advice and guidance to the City of Melbourne about the music sector. One of the key outcomes of the committee was the Agent of Change principle that was introduced into Victorian planning to protect exisiting live venues from new developments and has become a blueprint for other music cities around the world.
The Mercat
The Mercat was one of Australia’s premier underground nightclubs. After sitting dormant for a number of years, we took over the lease in 2007 and ran it till the building redeveloped in 2017.
Homeslice
Homeslice was a local pizza store we designed and built in Richmond in 2015. We sold it sometime, I forget when.
C Grade
C Grade was a legendary monthly party that was held at The Mercat. Run by Tornado Wallace, Otologic and myself, the all night parties were notorious events and often ran past 7am.
Heroes
Heroes is a 4 level karaoke and rooftop bar we designed and built in 2018. We sold the venue in 2021.
me&u
I’m a Principal Product Manager at me&u, joining pre merger as Mr Yum's first PM. I work with our Reward and Connect squads to build products and features that supercharge hospitality businesses and improve guests experiences.
Fancy Hank's
Fancy Hank’s was one of the originators of the slow cooked American BBQ scene in Melbourne. Starting as a pop up in various locations, they eventually ended up at a permanent residency at one of our other venues, The Mercat, where we merged the businesses and eventually moved the restaurant to Bourke Street in 2016.
Good Heavens
We opened Good Heavens, a rooftop bar above Fancy Hank’s in 2016. One of the most popular rooftop bars in Melbourne, we completed a significant renovation in 2023 when we took over the adjoining rooftop and tripled the size of the venue.
Mr Burger
Mr Burger started life as a food truck in 2012, before expanding into a fleet and a number of stores.
Springrock
Springrock is a new venue we’re opening in 2024. It’s located below our recently renovated Good Heavens rooftop and next to Fancy Hank’s. It will be a pub serving up pub classics and drinks.
Belles Hot Chicken
Belles Hot Chicken is a Nashville hot chicken restaurant that we bought into in 2016.
Welcome To Thornbury
When Mr Burger started to outgrow it’s warehouse in 2014, we looked at a property to expand our fleet. We ended up taking the lease on the entire site and built a warehouse for our food trucks and used the rest of the space to open Welcome To Thornbury.
