HSA May 2021

on the road
THE GOLDEN GRAIN HOTEL
The Mallee town of Pinnaroo is in a buzz at the moment
after winning the Agricultural town of the year, and down
the main street you will find, the Golden Grain Hotel !
Owned by Jessie and Leigh Simon and helped run
by Jessie’s mum Karen, the Golden Grain Hotel is
Pinnaroo’s oldest hotel. Built in 1906 and re-established
in 1913 it has had name changes and all. Originally the
Land of Promise Hotel, it burnt down and was rebuilt in
1913 as the two-storey building we have today, it was
then named the Commercial Hotel. It was renamed
again in 1958 as the Golden Grain Hotel for reasons
unknown.
History has it that the Golden Grain was a large railway
hotel, quite often entertaining the likes of train goers and
stockmen on horses on their way through the Mallee.
Jessie and Leigh are the hotel’s 37th publicans. Jessie
has been involved in the hotel for over 10 years! With a
hotel background from an early age, she grew up in the
pub scene with her father managing hotels throughout
the Adelaide Hills including the Crafers and Uraidla.
Knee high to a grasshopper and eager to learn, you
could always find Jessie in the kitchen helping cook
or cleaning. In 2005 Jessie undertook part of a Chef’s
apprenticeship and thrived in her new venture.
In 2010 Jessie started working at the Golden Grain
Hotel in the kitchen and when needed in the bar. After
a few years of part time work and having her children,
Jessie was offered to purchase the lease at the “Grain”
in 2017 and Leigh jumped in for the ride!
Leigh and Jessie are parents to two boys aged 10 and
7. They have managed to juggle hospitality and family
life with Leigh taking more responsibility at home and
Jessie diving straight into hotel management life.
Karen, who also has a hospitality background, moved
to Pinnaroo to help Jessie out and they began their next
chapter in hospitality. A true family affair in 2017 and
2018 Jessie, Karen, Jessie’s brother Jimmy and her
Sister Ella all worked together at the hotel along with
their team of staff and lots of help from Leigh’s family
as well.
“It hasn’t all been smooth sailing but we take each day
as it comes.”
The Golden Grain Hotel is a large pub with country
hospitality and is very family friendly. There is a front
bar, sports bar, pokie room, small dining room and large
dining room including a kids room, with a grassed beer
garden area adjacent to the hotel. They have a great
team of local staff and are open with meals available
seven days a week.
“Food is a huge thing for us at The Grain. We pride
ourselves on our broad range of meals and have
theme nights four nights a week including steak night,
schnitzel night, burger night and pizza night. We aim to
make a lot of our menu items ourselves including our
pizzas and burger patties. We even came top 12 in the
AHA|SA burger challenge in 2019 with our “give me the
lot” burger!” said Jessie.
2020 brought their biggest challenge yet along with the
rest of the country with COVID-19. Being a cross border
community and on the main highway from VIC/NSW
and SA, they were devastated to have to close down
and be separated from cross border friends, family and
co-workers.
With so much unknown, staff were sent home and as
a family adapted to a new way of daily life introducing
a pre-ordering system for takeaway meals. The Hotel
averaged approximately 300+ meals a week through
the lockdowns and by week three needed most of their
staff back to keep up with the demands!
“The support from our local community was
unbelievable and we thank our little country town so
much for all they did to support us through the hard
times.”
“We were very lucky to come out of lockdowns with
support from the border control army members and
police. We continued our massive meal trade and
enjoyed having customers back in the hotel for meals
and drinks.”
The 10 motel rooms have also been busy since coming
out of lockdowns. As well as working the bar most days
of the week Karen started updating the accommodation
rooms and making them a little more comfortable and
modern while in lockdown and has been continuing
since.
Jessie and Leigh look forward to the future and are now
making plans to bring back raffles along with the social
club that has been on hiatus since March 2020. A new
menu is in the works and they are really look forward to
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