📄A Glossary Of Australian Hospitality Terminology

Detailed Glossary listed alphabetically

86’d – An item is unavailable or sold out. Used in kitchens and bars.

Award wage – Minimum legal wage under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020. Includes overtime, allowances, penalty rates.

Back of House (BOH) – Non-public areas: kitchens, prep rooms, admin, staff spaces. Staff include chefs, kitchen hands, cleaners.

Barback – Junior FOH support role. Duties: collecting empty glasses, cleaning, and restocking.

Bottle-o – Australian slang for a liquor store. Some attached to pubs, often with drive-through.

BYO – “Bring Your Own” alcohol, most often wine. Venues charge corkage per bottle or person.

Cash-up – End-of-day process of balancing tills, reconciling floats, and banking.

Chef de partie – Kitchen role leading one section (grill, larder, pastry). Reports to sous or head chef.

Compliance check / Mystery shopper – Visit by regulators or third parties to test RSA/RSG compliance.

Counter meal / Countery – Pub meal ordered at bar counter, typically schnitzel, steak, or fish and chips.

Coursing – Structuring service into courses (entrée, mains, desserts, sides). Managed in POS and kitchen dockets.

Cover – One main meal purchase, used as proxy for one diner. Used in restaurant planning and reporting.

Crowd controller / Security – Licensed guard at venues. Manages entry, IDs, safety, and RSA compliance.

Covers per hour – Throughput measure for restaurants.

Double / Split shift – Employee roster split into two blocks (e.g. lunch and dinner).

Drive-thru – Liquor outlet designed for vehicle access.

Duty Manager – On-shift venue manager with authority over service, RSA enforcement, and compliance.

EFTPOS – Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale. Australia’s card payment system, integrated with POS pinpads.

Float – Till opening balance of cash to provide change.

Floorie – Floor staff working table service.

FOH (Front of House) – Customer-facing roles and spaces. Includes bar staff, waitstaff, and gaming attendants.

Footy – AFL or rugby league/union. Major events driving pub attendance.

Function – Private/semi-private booking for birthdays, weddings, corporate events.

Gaming / Gambling – Covers poker machines, TAB, Keno, sports betting. Staff require RSG.

Gaming attendant – Staff operating gaming floor, pokies, or betting terminals.

Glassie – FOH staff focused on cleaning and clearing glasses and tables.

GP (Gross Profit) – Sales revenue minus cost of goods sold. Key profitability measure.

Happy Hour – Set period with drink discounts to attract customers.

Hold and Fire – POS process for coursing: send appetisers to kitchen while holding mains. Fire mains when ready, either manually or on timed trigger.

Hotel – In Australia, synonymous with pub. May or may not offer accommodation.

House wine / House spirits – Cheapest default option poured.

Invoicing / Electronic invoicing – Supplier billing methods. eInvoicing uses electronic data exchange (Peppol network).

Jug – Large beer pitcher, ~1140 mL.

Keg – 50L beer container (industry standard). Smaller kegs (20–30L) used in craft beer.

Keg change / Line clean – Replacing empty kegs and sanitising beer lines to maintain quality.

Kitchen hand – Entry-level kitchen role: cleaning, dishwashing, basic prep.

Kitchen printer – Impact printer producing duplicate or triplicate order slips for chefs.

Late-night licence – Regulatory approval to trade alcohol past standard hours.

Liability / Gift certificate – Prepaid voucher recorded as liability on balance sheet until redeemed.

Liquor purchasing group – Group of venues combining buying power to negotiate supplier discounts.

Lockout laws – Entry/service restrictions after set hours to reduce late-night violence.

Mains / Entrees / Sides – Meal structure categories. Entrees (starters), mains (principal dish), sides (smaller accompaniments).

No-show – Customer failing to arrive for a booking.

On-premise – Alcohol consumed at the venue (pub, bar, restaurant).

Off-premise – Alcohol purchased packaged for takeaway (bottle shops).

Parma / Parmi – Chicken schnitzel with Napoli sauce, ham, and cheese. Pub classic.

Penalty rates – Higher pay rates on weekends, public holidays, or late shifts.

Pinpad – EFTPOS payment terminal for cards and contactless payments.

Pokies – Poker machines (slot machines). Major revenue source.

POS (Point of Sale) – The till system for sales and transactions.

Proxy reader / RFID scanner – Contactless login device, often used for staff wristbands at tills.

Publican / Licensee – Person legally responsible for venue’s liquor licence and compliance.

Receipt printer – Thermal roll printer issuing customer receipts.

Recognised / Unrecognised revenue – Revenue recorded in accounts (recognised) vs pending or deferred (unrecognised).

Regular – Repeat customer, valuable for loyalty and spend.

RSG (Responsible Service of Gaming) – Mandatory certification for gaming staff.

RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) – Mandatory training for staff serving alcohol.

Schooner / Pot / Middy / Pint – Standard Beer glass sizes (state-dependent):

• VIC: Pot = 285 mL, Pint = 570 mL.

• NSW: Middy = 285 mL, Schooner = 425 mL, Pint = 570 mL.

• QLD: Pot = 285 mL, Schooner = 425 mL, Pint = 570 mL.

Scanner – Barcode/QR code scanner for POS, or 2D scanner for product/loyalty systems.

Settlement – End-of-day process of closing tills, batching EFTPOS transactions, and reconciling sales.

Shout – Custom of buying drinks for a group. Members take turns.

Stocktake – Formal count of stock. Done monthly or quarterly for GP tracking.

Supplier price book – Reference of supplier item costs used for purchasing and GP calculation.

Tab – Running bill settled at end of visit.

TAB – Betting service for racing and sports, often inside pubs.

Terminal – Can refer to POS workstation (till) or EFTPOS pinpad.

Till – Digital cash register or POS workstation.

Top-shelf – Premium spirits kept in prime display area behind bar.

Walk-in – Guest without booking.

Walk-out – Customer leaving without paying their bill.