Moving out event

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
ONE full-time staff member and 10 casual staff are to be made redundant tomorrow, Wednesday, after event organiser the Grange Group decided not to renew its lease in Warburton.
One full-time staff member will be moved to the Grange Portsea.
The company runs five event venues around Melbourne, using three properties it owns, and two that are leased out. The Grange Group has leased and run the Yarra Valley Wedding and Conference Venue at 3185 Warburton Highway for 12 years.
Grange Group CEO James Farmer said the decision to close the business was not made lightly but rental increases and a change in business left no choice.
“We haven’t been able to come to a fair rental figure with the landlord,” he said. “The rent has been increasing over our journey yet due to the skew of business from corporate – a more competitive sector – towards weddings, functions, and B and Bs, we are getting a different return.”
Mr Farmer said corporate clients are the core of the Grange Group business and that the leisure market made up only 35 per cent of its clients.
“The reason it’s waned on the corporate front is the location – business people still have to travel from town.”
Mr Farmer said Grange Yarra Valley had contributed a lot to the region over the past 12 years because of the tens of thousands of people who visited the property and brought business into the town.
The final event was held at the venue last weekend.