A Strategic Approach to Expanding Your Restaurant/Café

Before signing a lease on a second site, answer one question honestly: does the first venue run to standard on a week when the owner is not there at all? If the answer is no, expansion will not fix it. It will multiply it, because the constraint is not floor space or demand, it is that the business currently runs on one person's attention and that attention cannot be in two rooms at once.

Decide why the next venue or channel should exist

The original expansion guide asks a venue to define what makes it distinct, test digital reach and new service opportunities, and develop team leads who can run a shift without the owner. Ask customers and staff what is missing before committing to another site, menu line or channel. The readiness and compliance checks below then show what growth changes operationally.

The readiness test

Expansion is a decision about capacity to delegate, not a decision about opportunity. The practical test is a fortnight of ordinary trading with the owner absent, measured afterwards on the things that usually slip: cost of goods, labour cost as a percentage of revenue, complaint volume, and whether anyone had to be phoned. A business that passes has systems. A business that fails has an owner.

Key-person risk is the same problem viewed from the other side. If one head chef holds the recipes in memory, one manager knows the supplier relationships and one person can open and close, then the second site cannot be staffed without stripping the first. Documenting what those people know, and cross-training a deputy for each of them, is the real precondition for growth. See the benefits of cross-training.

The training package has a name for building that deputy. SITXHRM007 Coach others in job skills is a core unit of both Certificate III in Hospitality qualifications and of the Certificate IV in Hospitality, so the capacity to train a successor is built into the qualification rather than bolted on. A venue where nobody has ever formally coached anybody is a venue with no bench.

The forms expansion takes, and what each one changes

Path	What it mainly buys	What it mainly changes
Second site	Capacity and a second market	A management layer and duplicated systems
Function or events arm	Higher-value bookings, forecastable revenue	New sales and coordination roles, a different service model
Catering arm	Revenue outside the room	Can change which modern award applies
Extended trading hours	Yield from the existing lease	Rosters, penalty structures, liquor and supervision requirements
Taking on a club venue	An established membership base	A different award entirely, and governance obligations

Award coverage can change when the business does

Coverage follows the premises and the nature of the business, not the job titles. And there are four awards, not two, each covering its industry to the exclusion of any other modern award, so exactly one applies to a given employer.

Award	Code	What it covers
Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020	MA000009	Hotels, pubs, taverns, motels, resorts, casinos, caterers, accommodation, and a restaurant or function facility operating in or in connection with those premises
Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020	MA000058	Not-for-profit registered clubs: RSL, bowls, golf, surf, sporting, community
Restaurant Industry Award 2020	MA000119	Standalone restaurants, cafes, night clubs, reception centres, roadhouses, and catering carried out by a restaurant business
Fast Food Industry Award 2010	MA000003	Food and beverages sold primarily to be consumed away from the point of sale, takeaway, food courts

The catering trap

MA000119 expressly includes catering carried out by a restaurant business. But a business whose primary activity is catering is a caterer, and caterers are listed in MA000009 clause 4.2. So a restaurant that grows its catering arm until catering is the primary activity may cross from one award to the other, with a different classification structure on the other side. Classifications are not interchangeable between awards.

MA000009 clause 4.4(d)(vi) separately excludes catering services provided by a restaurant as an incidental business, which is the other side of the same boundary. Where your catering sits on that line is worth answering before the volume makes it urgent.

The club trap

If the expansion involves taking on a club venue, stop and check. MA000009 clause 4.4(d)(i) states that the hospitality award does not cover "clubs registered or recognised under State or Territory legislation". Clubs are the one thing it carves out by name.

A club falls under MA000058, and clause 4.3 applies a two-part test. The club must be both registered and licensed under a relevant State or Commonwealth statute, a liquor or gaming Act, an Associations Incorporation Act or the Corporations Act, and established and operating on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of members and the community. The not-for-profit limb does the real work: a commercially owned venue with "club" in its name is not a club for award purposes.

And the counter-intuitive one: a night club is MA000119, not MA000058, because a night club is commercial. If your late-trading concept is a night club, it stays in the restaurant award.

The fast food trap

A takeaway window or food-court site is MA000003. The test under clause 4.2 is whether food is sold primarily to be consumed away from the point of sale, and the clause expressly excludes coffee shops, cafes, bars and restaurants providing primarily a sit-down service. The food-court outlet and the cafe two doors down with tables sit under different awards even with an identical menu. The test is sit-down service, not the menu.

MA000009 also excludes hospitals, aged care catering except within an aged care facility by an employer otherwise covered, boarding schools and residential colleges, orphanages, councils, theme parks, in-flight catering, and contract cleaning, security, gardening and maintenance. Contract catering into any of those settings needs its own award answer.

The classification consequence: the Level 4 floor follows you, except into fast food

Under MA000009, MA000119 and MA000058, a relevant AQF Certificate III or higher that the employee actually uses at work sets a minimum classification of Level 4. The fast food award, MA000003, has no equivalent provision. So the qualification argument works in a pub, a restaurant, a cafe and a registered club, and fails in a food court.

That has a direct bearing on an expansion decision. If the growth path is a second restaurant or a club venue, your qualified staff keep the Level 4 floor. If the growth path is a takeaway window or a food-court site, it disappears, and your wage model changes shape. That is a structural change to your labour cost, and it is invisible if you only think of the new format as a different customer.

Award	Clause	What the definition says
MA000009	cl 18.1	AQF Certificate III or higher relevant to the classification, and the employee makes use of the skills and knowledge derived from those competencies
MA000119	cl 18.1	Identical wording
MA000058	cl 18.3	"AQF Certificate III qualifications relevant to the classification" — no "or higher", and the Fair Work Commission may require the employee to demonstrate they utilise the relevant skills
MA000003	—	No equivalent note. No Level 4 floor

Dispute routes differ: MA000009 clause 40, MA000119 clause 34, or for MA000058 referral to the Fair Work Commission.

Under MA000009, the qualification can reach a trade grade

In the hospitality award specifically, Level 4 is the award's reference point — the standard weekly and hourly rate from which its apprentice percentages are calculated — and it is attached to cook (tradesperson) grade 3 and food and beverage attendant (tradesperson) grade 4. The cook stream reaches grade 3 by apprenticeship, trade test or "the appropriate level of training", so a relevant Certificate III, used at work, is a route to a tradesperson grade without serving an apprenticeship. Useful both as a retention argument and as a budgeting input.

"The appropriate level of training" is defined in MA000009 clause 2, and completion is only one of three limbs:

Limb	Route	Available today
(a)	Completing a training program meeting the requirements of a qualification, or one or more units of competency, from a training package	Yes
(b)	Assessment by a qualified skills assessor as having skills at least equivalent to those attained in such a program	Yes
(c)	Having done the work of that classification for at least 3 months, as at 30 June 2010	No — closed

Limb (c) is a closed transitional provision anchored to 30 June 2010. It is not a rolling three-month test and cannot be newly satisfied. Worth being precise about, because misreading it runs in the employer's favour: it gets used to argue that a long-serving employee already has the appropriate level of training and therefore needs neither training nor reclassification.

Two scope cautions. First, clause 2 is MA000009's own definitions clause, and so are the grade names above; do not carry either into MA000119, MA000058 or MA000003 without reading that award's definitions and classification schedule. Second, clause 2 is a different mechanism from the Certificate III Level 4 floor in the table above — the floor turns on holding and using a relevant qualification, and the two are easy to conflate once both appear on the same page.

Rates reset every 1 July, so use the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool. The payroll consequences are in improving the bookkeeping in your business.

Crossing a state border changes the safety framework, asymmetrically

Work health and safety duties in Victoria sit under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and are framed as duties of the employer. Every other state and territory uses the model WHS laws, where the duty holder is the person conducting a business or undertaking. An operator expanding out of Victoria inherits a different statutory vocabulary and should not assume the Victorian framework travels.

The divergence that actually bites is the coordination duty, and it is not symmetrical:

	Victoria	New South Wales
Labour hire	s 5A deems a labour hire provider the employer of a worker it supplies, recruits or places	No separate labour hire duty
Coordination	s 35A, inserted 2021: each person with a duty in relation to the same worker must consult, co-operate and co-ordinate. Confined to labour hire	s 46: a general duty whenever more than one person has a duty in relation to the same matter
Maximum penalty	180 penalty units individual, 900 body corporate	243 penalty units individual, 1,214 body corporate

So in Victoria an arrangement that is not labour hire under s 5A attracts no statutory coordination duty at all, though coordination remains the practical way of discharging the other duties. New South Wales imposes it either way.

The workable rule: build coordination procedures to the New South Wales standard nationally. A protocol satisfying NSW s 46 will satisfy Victoria's s 35A where labour hire is involved, and Victoria's underlying duty structure otherwise. The reverse leaves a gap. See health and safety best practice.

Liquor requirements differ by jurisdiction, and not in a guessable pattern

RSA is one unit, SITHFAB021, also available as the standalone SITSS00071 Responsible service of alcohol skill set, but eight jurisdictions regulate it separately:

Jurisdiction	The position
Victoria	Use a current Victorian RSA certificate. Eligible interstate holders can apply for free bridging: approved original training within three years, with the online-course residence condition. Specific exemptions apply at qualifying producer events. Victorian RSA Refresher every three years.
New South Wales	Eligible temporary interstate workers can use approved interstate RSA. Permanent movers and security or RSA marshal roles must meet NSW training and competency-card requirements; eligible holders can use bridging instead of the full NSW RSA course. NSW competency card: five years. Interstate concessions have separate eligibility and certificate-age requirements.
South Australia	Check provider approval and training date. Training from 1 November 2020 must be through a Commissioner-approved RTO. Earlier RSA training need not be repeated solely because of that approval change. No routine RSA renewal period stated in the cited CBS guidance; check applicable licence conditions.
Queensland	Accepted where the evidence is a Statement of Attainment for the nationally accredited Provide Responsible Service of Alcohol course. An attendance certificate is insufficient. Valid RSA training generally has no expiry; training completed before 2002 must be replaced.
Western Australia	Provide the RSA certificate showing completion of the nationally accredited course. An interstate RSA card alone is not accepted as evidence. Keep the RSA certificate as training evidence; approved-manager cards have separate renewal requirements.
Northern Territory	Certificates from an RTO registered to deliver RSA are accepted, including interstate certificates. Check certificate age and the NT refresher requirements. NT guidance gives a three-year limit for interstate certificates and directs holders to a refresher; check current renewal guidance.
Australian Capital Territory	Valid interstate RSA certificates are recognised, subject to the ACT’s three-year currency limit and ACT-approved refresher requirements. Three years from course completion, then an ACT-approved refresher.
Tasmania	Interstate certificates can be accepted under the Commissioner’s conditions. Requirements differ for employees and liquor licence holders; check the appropriate role. No RSA expiry date in the regulator’s FAQ; an employer may request updated training.

Current regulator guidance: NSW, VIC, SA, QLD, WA, NT, ACT, TAS.

For a multi-state operator the consequences are concrete. A Melbourne-trained team member cannot start behind a Sydney or Adelaide bar on their existing certificate. A Brisbane or Perth site can accept interstate certificates and has no renewal cycle to administer. A Tasmanian licence holder needs Tasmanian training regardless of what they hold. See RSA and how long does an RSA last.

Extended trading hours also mean more shifts where supervision of intoxicated patrons falls to junior staff, and the statutory threshold is unduly intoxicated, not drunk. That duty attaches to the person serving as well as to the licensee.

Food safety scales with volume, and the records duty is category-specific

A venue that cooks is category one under Standard 3.2.2A of the Food Standards Code, which commenced 8 December 2023. The categories are activity-based: category one processes unpackaged potentially hazardous food into food that is both potentially hazardous and ready to eat. Caterers are expressly named.

Category one carries the substantiation records duty, which category two does not. The records cover receipt at correct temperature, storage under temperature control, process steps achieving pathogen reduction, minimising time at growth-permitting temperatures, cooling and reheating within specified timeframes, display and transport under temperature control, and cleaning and sanitising of food-contact surfaces and equipment. They must be kept for 3 months and be accessible at the premises.

The two that scale worst are cooling and reheating and transport under temperature control, and both become materially harder when food is produced in one place and served in another. That is the operational reality of a catering arm, and it is why a catering expansion is a food safety project before it is a sales project.

A Food Safety Supervisor must be appointed before the business engages in a prescribed activity, must hold a certificate issued within the immediately preceding five years, and must remain reasonably available, on site or easily contacted, for example by phone. A second site does not inherit the first site's supervisor by proximity. One honest note for New South Wales: we are not on the NSW Food Authority's approved provider list, so we cannot issue the NSW Food Safety Supervisor certificate, which in that state is a separate document from the national Statement of Attainment.

The management layer is the actual cost

A single venue can be run by an owner and a roster. Two cannot. Expansion forces roles that did not exist: a venue manager accountable for a profit and loss, a head office function for payroll and compliance, and a way of setting standards centrally that survives being applied by someone else. That layer costs money before it earns any, which is why the second site is usually less profitable than the first for longer than the plan assumes.

The units describing that layer are specific:

Unit	Where it is core	What it covers
SITXMGT005 Establish and conduct business relationships	Diploma of Hospitality Management and Diploma of Event Management	Supplier, landlord and partner relationships, which multiply with sites
SITXFIN010 Prepare and monitor budgets	Diploma of Hospitality Management	Drafting and negotiating a budget, not only managing one
SITXGLC002 Identify and manage legal risks and comply with law	Diploma of Hospitality Management	The compliance function a second site makes unavoidable
SITXHRM009 Lead and manage people	Certificate IV in Hospitality, both Diplomas	Managing through a layer rather than directly
SITXHRM010 Recruit, select and induct staff	Diploma of Event Management	Hiring at volume
SITXMGT006 Manage projects	Diploma of Event Management	A fit-out or a launch is a project

Building that layer from within is generally cheaper than recruiting it. We deliver SIT50422 Diploma of Hospitality Management (28 units, 11 core, Victoria only, CRICOS 115534C), SIT50322 Diploma of Event Management (20 units, 13 core, Victoria only, CRICOS 118427D) for venues developing a functions arm, BSB40520 Certificate IV in Leadership and Management (12 units, 5 core), and BSB50120 Diploma of Business. We deliver to AQF level 5 and no higher.

Our scope of registration carries 17 current qualifications and 81 current skill sets, built from 579 current units, every component at the extent "Deliver and assess". Three skill sets are directly relevant to an expansion: SITSS00082 Essential Business Skills for a Restaurant Manager; SITSS00092 Event Coordination, if the growth is a functions arm; and SITSS00084 Governance for Board Members, which is the one to look at if the venue you are taking on is an incorporated not-for-profit club.

Register interest through the expression of interest form or arrange delivery on site via workplace training. Confirm current fees and intakes directly. On developing the person rather than the structure, see how to train up a hospitality manager; on improving the first site instead, how to take your restaurant to the next level.

About us

We are Complete Hospitality Training, RTO 3722, CRICOS 04242E. Legal name Complete Hospitality Training (Vic) Pty Ltd, ABN 27 006 947 262, ACN 006 947 262. Registered as RTO 3722 since 1 June 1994, transferred from the Victorian regulator to the national regulator, ASQA, on 8 September 2017, with the current registration period running 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2032. Level 3, 28 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, and 410 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. Contact melbourne@cht.edu.au or +61 3 9654 1554.

We link to the relevant course and regulatory sources in this guide. Check those sources for current requirements, and confirm course availability, delivery, fees and entry requirements with us before enrolling.

Source records and further guidance

We link the unit records and regulator guidance relevant to this page below. Check the current source before making an enrolment, licensing or employment decision.

What is the single best indicator that a venue is ready to expand?

That it trades to standard for an extended period with the owner absent, verified against cost and complaint figures rather than impressions.

Does adding catering change which award applies?

It can. Catering carried out by a restaurant business sits under MA000119, but a business whose primary activity is catering is a caterer and falls under MA000009. MA000009 separately excludes catering provided by a restaurant as an incidental business.

How many awards could apply to a hospitality group?

Four are in play: MA000009, MA000058, MA000119 and MA000003. Each covers its industry to the exclusion of any other modern award, so exactly one applies per employer, but a group with several distinct businesses can be dealing with more than one.

We are looking at taking over a bowls club. Same award?

No. MA000009 clause 4.4(d)(i) expressly excludes registered clubs. A not-for-profit registered club is MA000058, and clause 4.3 requires it to be both registered and licensed under a relevant statute and operating on a not-for-profit basis for members and the community.

Our new concept is a night club. Is that the clubs award?

No. A night club is commercial, so it stays under MA000119. This is the most commonly misapplied line in the set.

We are opening a food-court site. Which award?

MA000003, the Fast Food Industry Award, where food is sold primarily to be consumed away from the point of sale. It expressly excludes venues providing primarily a sit-down service.

Do our qualified staff keep the Level 4 floor if we open a second site?

If the new site is covered by MA000009, MA000119 or MA000058, yes: a relevant AQF Certificate III or higher, used at work, sets a minimum classification of Level 4 under all three. If the new site is fast food under MA000003, there is no equivalent provision and the floor does not apply.

Can a Certificate III reach a tradesperson grade?

Under MA000009, yes. Level 4 is that award's reference point and is attached to cook (tradesperson) grade 3, and the cook stream reaches grade 3 by apprenticeship, trade test or the appropriate level of training — so a relevant Certificate III used at work is a route to that grade without serving an apprenticeship. Do not assume the same grade names under MA000119 or MA000058; each has its own classification schedule.

One of our long-serving staff has the experience but no certificate. Anything we can use?

Under MA000009 clause 2, limb (b): assessment by a qualified skills assessor as having skills at least equivalent to the training program. Limb (c), three months in the classification, is anchored to 30 June 2010 and is closed, so it is not a rolling test and cannot be newly satisfied.

Do Victorian work health and safety obligations apply interstate?

No. Victoria retains the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 with duties on the employer; every other state and territory applies the model WHS laws with duties on the person conducting a business or undertaking.

If we operate in Victoria and New South Wales, which safety standard should we build to?

New South Wales. Section 46 imposes a general duty to consult, co-operate and co-ordinate whenever more than one person has a duty in relation to the same matter. Victoria's section 35A is confined to labour hire, so a NSW-standard protocol covers both.

Can our Melbourne staff work behind a Sydney bar on their existing RSA?

An RSA Statement of Attainment is a national training record, but permission to serve alcohol depends on the destination’s rules. NSW permits eligible temporary interstate workers; permanent movers and security or RSA marshal roles must meet NSW training and competency-card requirements, using bridging where eligible. Victoria offers bridging to eligible interstate holders. SA applies approved-provider rules to training from 1 November 2020, with earlier training not required to be repeated solely for that change. QLD and WA require suitable national RSA evidence. Tasmania distinguishes staff from licence holders; the ACT and NT have local currency and refresher requirements. Check the regulator before your first shift. See RSA recognition by jurisdiction (/rsa/), NSW’s rules (https://www.nsw.gov.au/business-and-economy/liquor-and-gaming/training/rsa-bridging) and SA’s rules (https://www.cbs.sa.gov.au/sections/LGL/RSA-approved-providers).

Is Victorian RSA finished when the unit is complete?

No. Victoria requires a Liquor Control Victoria approved provider and a second stage: the LCV Learning Hub pre-training survey, the SHARPR module and a post-training survey. Three-yearly currency applies to every certificate holder, not only licensees.

Does a second site need its own Food Safety Supervisor?

An FSS must be appointed before the business engages in a prescribed activity and must remain reasonably available, on site or easily contacted. A supervisor at the first site is unlikely to satisfy that for a second premises, so plan for one per site.

Why is a catering arm a food safety project?

Because the two category one record requirements that scale worst are cooling and reheating within specified timeframes and transport under temperature control, and both get harder the moment food is produced in one place and served in another.

Can you issue us the NSW Food Safety Supervisor certificate?

No. We are not on the NSW Food Authority's approved provider list. In New South Wales an approved RTO issues two separate documents, and the national Statement of Attainment alone does not satisfy the state requirement.

What qualification suits the manager we need to promote?

If they will run a shift and a team, the Certificate IV in Hospitality, where three of nine core units are HR units. If they will own a profit and loss and the compliance function, the Diploma of Hospitality Management, which carries SITXFIN010, SITXGLC002 and SITXMGT005 as core. If the growth is a functions arm, the Diploma of Event Management, 13 core units out of 20. Discuss it via contact (/contact/).