Across Morris Group venues our teams are getting ready for a big summer with celebrations for Christmas and the New Year about to kick off the season, and a huge calendar of live music and food-focussed events planned to keep guests coming back for more.
We spoke to some key people across our venues to get a preview of what people can expect this summer.
Portsea Hotel
Summer on the Mornington Peninsula is all about time spent at Portsea Hotel, and this year the team has a few new tricks up their sleeve.
“Summer is definitely the busiest time of year at Portsea Hotel,” Senior General Manager Jeff John said.
“As soon as one summer is complete, we start working to make the next one bigger and better.
“Guests can look forward to a new cocktail menu as well as a summer food menu, still with all the old favourites, but with some exciting new options as well.”
The iconic Summer Series is back with an exciting new line-up that kicks off on Christmas Eve Eve headlined by Piero, before Jake Webb takes over the decks to bring in the new year in true Portsea style.
The party continues in 2026 with more great live music including Golden Hour with DJ Levi, Spiderbait and Bodyjar, Salty Sunday Recovery Session with Andy Murphy, and the big Summer Series finale featuring Kate Ceberano, Diesel, and Ross Wilson.
“The upcoming Summer Series is one that the whole team are looking forward to. Working the live music events bring new challenges for the team but are also a fun experience,” Jeff said.
But it’s not just about the entertainment. Enter Shelley’s, the seafood pop-up running throughout January, and The Aperol Beach Club
“Off the back of the success of our Terasu pop-up last year, Shelly’s is a brand-new experience in the Bertrand Bar,” Jeff said.
“Guests can expect a feast of seafood with the beautiful bay as a backdrop. Oysters, flounder and crayfish are all on the menu and ready to be paired with a glass of bubbles or a cocktail.
“We’re also looking forward to our pop-up Aperol Beach Club that will be full of sand, sun and lots of spritzes.”
Beechmont Estate
The festive season has arrived at Beechmont Estate, and the team is pulling out all stops to deliver guests a truly special Christmas and New Year.
Festivities get underway with an indulgent long lunch at The Paddock overlooking the rolling green pastures of the estate.
“Christmas is pretty magical here in the Scenic Rim,” General Manager Sam Holman said.
“Although the perception of a farm-stay in summer lends itself to hot and sweaty days, it’s actually quite cool and breezy given we sit at 600m above sea level.
“The large Christmas tree will be up near the fireplace, and we’ll have presents underneath for each staying guest with us on Christmas morning. Carols will be on over the speakers for breakfast.
“We have around 60 people with us for our Christmas Day Lunch. They can expect a festive approach to two-hatted cooking with elevated turkey & cranberry toast, grilled Mooloolaba king prawns, wagyu, and Bailey’s mousse to finish. I might even make an appearance and float around the floor in a Santa suit (unconfirmed).”
Celebrations continue on New Year’s Eve with a signature Beechmont degustation.
“Our Executive Chef Josh Childs has curated an epic seven-course degustation to bring in the New Year,” Sam said.
“With a bottle of Champagne for each table to celebrate, followed by oyster cracker, lobster, fish, beef and summer mangoes to finish, it promises to be one fancy affair.“We’ll also do massive sparklers on the front terrace for guests and kids at 9pm for an early celebration to bring in the new year.”
Sam said he and the team were looking forward to creating some lasting memories this festive season.
“It’s hard to be in a bad mood come festive season. The joy on people’s faces as they come to visit us and the chance to holiday with family is what makes this time of year special,” he said.
“Whether its work Christmas parties, or family holidays, people are celebrating something. It’s lovely to think that people want to spend such a special time of year with us.
“For us, the break in routine from ordinary operations allows for some extra personality and some fun. Whether it’s decorations, the Christmas tree, holly on the fireplace, or Christmas bon bons, the novelty of working these festive events makes the service fun.”
CBCo Brewing
The team at CBCo Brewing are rolling out some exciting promotions to get people enjoying some time in our breweries, and enjoying refreshing CBCo brews all summer long. Head of Marketing Brent Mortimer took us through what’s happening.
The prawn burger winning the award for Australia’s #1 burger has been a huge success story for CBCo Port Melbourne in 2025. Was that part of the thinking around this limited edition burger you have for summer? What can we expect from this one?
Since Chef Jon won Australia’s best burger (and thus obviously the best burger chef) we have gone from selling around 50 prawn burgers a month to over 750 a month on average. In light of this newfound appreciation of the CBCo burger range we implemented a burger of the month paired with a beer of the month. Basically a limited time only burger and beer that punters can only get in that given month. We are seeing sales of these grow week on week as punters look forward to the next zany burger out of Jon’s kitchen. This month is the jolly gobbler – think xmas in a burger (as well as some deep fried cheese!).
You have a few in venue promotions happening – the electric bikes and the Hazy Daze scratchie. What was the thinking behind those promotions? Can you tell us more about them?
We are always looking for ways to improve our offer to our Port Melbourne punters. We kicked off an in-venue feedback form to assess what we could improve with an incentive of a chance to win a Goldy mini fridge filled with CBCo Goldy. We had over 300 entrants! Following the success of that we are now doing an in-venue giveaway of a very cool CBCo electric bike. The purpose of this is to grow our social engagement and following, with the aim of converting those followers into fans and thus CBCo consumers.
From a trade perspective we are running two promos. One for retail and one for on premise. The retail mechanic is simple: buy two four-packs and receive a very cool custom Hazy XPA trucker cap. On premise is a little bit different. In this instance the mechanic is buy a jug of Hazy and receive a scratchie. The punter is then faced with two choices – a low risk, low reward panel or a high risk, high reward. Both of these low cost mechanics unlock purchases through consumers need for a freebie and the punters love of a gamble!
Twilight hours are back at Margaret River, what’s it all about? What can guests expect? Anything new this time?
After much feedback the Friday night extended hours are back at MRV – giving consumers a few more hours to hit that short range. Over time we will look to build this evening out to include more reasons to stay and pay. Not giving too much away at this stage but Margaret River might be the new spot to enjoy a beer, a hit, and even a movie.
The Ville Resort-Casino
There’s no denying that The Ville precinct earns its reputation as the region’s premier destination for entertainment over the festive season. This year is no exception. Multiple Christmas themed banquets, huge live music events, in-venue celebrations, the list goes on.
We caught up with Events Operations Manager Cameron Campbell to find out what it’s like working on the ground for the events, and what goes into making the magic happen.
The precinct has some pretty large-scale events happening for Christmas and New Year. How many staff roughly work at these events in the lead-up and during the events?
Christmas day will see us host 400 guests in The Pavilion for a massive buffet and beverage package. We will have roughly 26-30 staff on that day to service all food and beverage requirements.
NYE will be even bigger with a Townsville Fire home game at TECC, NYE on the Lawn and a VIP two-course dinner. I expect to have almost 100 staff on that night and a fair few of them will be jumping between events to help service them when required. Overall, it’s one of the busiest periods for events.
As the Event Operations Manager, you basically have to be across all aspects of these events. How do you keep track of everything? How long in advance do you start working on them?
All these events are very crazy. Keeping track of everything does get difficult however having lists of requirements and double checking them is super important. I also like to consistently check in with the sales and marketing team to make sure I haven’t missed any details. Some of these events have been in the works since October with sponsorships and beverage orders, which is wild considering how many events are yet to happen between October and NYE.
Christmas Day Lunch in The Pavilion is a huge event. What goes into making it run smoothly on the day? What do your team do to make it really special for the guests?
Christmas Day is a massive and very important event for us, a day where the guest experience is especially pertinent. We are lucky we get a little “tester” event at the start of December with Giant Christmas Party which is a very similar style event. This is good to see where improvements can be made but more importantly its good for the staff to get a feel for that style of event so they can execute to a higher standard come Christmas day.
I really like to emphasise to the staff on Christmas Day that for the guests this may be a family catch up, reunion or special time with family that only happens once a year. The importance is then on us to ensure the service is seamless and guests aren’t having to worrying about chasing drinks, food etc and can really focus on their time spent with their loved ones.
NYE on the Lawns is a totally different event. What are some of the challenges with this kind of event and how do you deal with them?
NYE is a very different event, anyone who has worked in F&B on NYE will tell you there is no other night like it throughout the year. As we all know, a lot of guests have intentions of having a very big night and a big focus for us as a precinct is to ensure guests have a fun but safe night. This is a major focus for us starting with staff ensuring RSA is enforced right through to the onsite security and medical team. Having duty managers from my team assigned to all aspects of the event is critical to ensure we have fast reaction times when needed but to also maintain control and ensure a smooth experience throughout the night.
What’s it like for you personally working on the ground on event day when it’s such a big event like this? It must be stressful at times. Do you ever get a chance to pause, soak in the atmosphere and enjoy it?
It’s honestly one of the quickest nights throughout the year. From the time doors open to the NY countdown feels like an hour. I’m usually bouncing around between all my duty managers ensuring there aren’t any issues throughout the night. Part of this comes from identifying areas of potential concern ahead of time so we can reaction and fix issues before they really start to affect the event. Yes, I always try to stop and take it all in however this usually happen once all guests have left and the team get to look back at the night and see how well we all did. Having the ability to feel the pressure on NYE is a great experience (maybe not in the moment) and I do truly love the thrill of crazy event days. Call me crazy but I have the most fun on the ground during big days like NYE.