It Takes A Village - Meet Liam Budd
BACK TO FUN STUFFIt takes a village to bring Eagle Bay Brewing Co. to life, and with every village its people are its backbone. As part of our It Takes A Village journal, we catch up with some of the people that make our village so vibrant. Meet Liam Budd, one of our hospitality supervisors at Eagle Bay Brewing Co, coming up on his third summer with us.
After finishing school and deferring from uni, Liam chose hospitality as a job that could help him to travel, knowing he could work anywhere in the world with a good set of hospo skills. Soon he landed in Canada, where he got into higher level bartending.
“In Canada, you need to work for tips over there. You actually won’t get given a job unless you’re really performing. So, I went through that initial process of figuring out that this is something I really enjoy. I enjoy giving a good experience to people.”
“Over the years I’ve worked for a couple of really good managers, a couple of golden stars. I learnt that I wanted to be one of the good ones. I felt like the managers that just jumped down your throat about things were never really the ones I got along with. It was the ones that took the time to understand what was going on and looked after you”.
“Here at Eagle Bay, we’re not necessarily striving for ultimate perfection in everything. But we’re looking to provide a really good, friendly experience to all of our customers and to be able to help them out with everything that we can. The best way to look after the customers really well. Is to look after your team really well, to make sure your team are trained on doing all the right things. If you look after your team and make sure they’re comfortable and happy at work, that’ll be reflected into the customers as well. Your team know they’ve got support and someone to lean on.”
At the core of it, it feels like we’re a family here. So that’s what I try to encourage for our team and again that flows onto the customer experience.”
Tell us about your favourite bar tending job?
“I got a real appreciation for different flavour pairings when I was in Canada. Saltlick was probably the biggest learning experience, it’s a steakhouse in Banff where we used to have to pair a wine with every item on the menu, a beer with every item on the menu and a cocktail with every item on the menu. And the menu changed every two weeks. It was great fun, especially the cocktail side of things.”
Initially when starting at Eagle Bay, my depth of knowledge with beers wasn’t there. But the more I’ve learnt through talks with Keegan (Head Brewer) and a few brewdays, I began to be able to merge my understanding of wine, and my knowledge on cocktails and gin production, to help me pick out similarities in beer.
Now I love being able to provide a drink recommendation to someone and watch them enjoy those beers. You get that sort of instant gratification feeling that you don’t get in a lot of jobs, you know. You get to take them on a journey.”
When you came back to the south west, what made you choose to work at Eagle Bay?
“I think it boils down to that family dynamic. It’s somewhere I can remember coming to with my family when I was younger. It was always a destination on our summer holidays. And then when I turned 18 it was one of the places Dad wanted to bring me to have a pint of Kolsch, because that’s his favourite beer. So when I started working here, I developed that sense of family in my work place as well.
“It was sort of always a destination I thought about working. The view is incredible and you can go for a swim in the bay on your break. You’ve got beautiful beers to drink at the end of the day. Can’t really complain.”
What are your fave local go-tos down here?
“If I’m relaxing during the day, I’ll pull up somewhere on the coastline between Meelup and Eagle Bay. Then for an afternoon beer, I love going to Wildhop. You also can’t go past Yallingup Lagoon when the wind drops off.
Staffy of choice?
It’s a tough line between a Citrus Sour and a 90 Day Pilsner
Fave dish on the menu?
Tuna Tartare and prawn tacos. They go so well together.
Little bit of life advice to wrap up?
“Really take the time to enjoy the things that are important to you. Deal with the stressful things when you need to but don’t take life too seriously. It’s meant to be a joy.”