SYDNEY August 2025 The Sydney-based hospitality group, House Made Hospitality, is celebrating impressive sustainability impact figures as a result of a four-year relationship with ecoSPIRITS. By working with circular packaging technology over the past four years, the group has saved more than 22,000 glass bottles and associated packaging material from landfill, alongside an impressive carbon footprint reduction. The company, which recently turned four years old, took nine spirits brands packaged in ecoTOTE format, delivered to most of the outlets in its portfolio.
Hinchcliff House, Sydney. Image credits: Jiwon Kim
House Made Hospitality is described as “a collective of hospitality experts brought together by shared values and a passion for elevated eating and drinking experiences”. It is the brainchild of five partners, Justin Newton, Scott Brown, Stephen Seckold, Roger Gregg, and Jason Williams, who, collectively, have many years of working for several big and small hospitality businesses across Asia. The original plan for the business was to open venues that do better for the community, the wider environment, and the people they employ. To align with these values, ecoSPIRITS was integrated into House Made Hospitality from the start, with several spirits delivered in ecoTOTE format to the group’s venues across Sydney. The first outlets opened in 2021 (having been delayed by Covid), and the portfolio now comprises 16 venues and a consultancy service, which advises on hospitality concepts across Asia-Pacific.
By taking spirits such as Widges Gin in ecoTOTE format the group has saved more than 22,000 glass bottles from landfill.
Several spirits have been deployed to House Made Hospitality’s outlets in ecoTOTE format, eliminating up to 95% of the packaging waste for these brands, compared with spirits packaged in traditional glass bottle format. The spirits include Widges Gin, Tried & True Vodka, Planteray Rum, Husk Pure Cane Rum, Never Never Distilling Co’s Triple Juniper Gin, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, Mackintosh Blended Malt Scotch Whisky and two Destilado De Agave brands (Los Arcos and La Travesia). In the year to March 2025, the group eliminated around 2,800 kg of the packaging waste and avoided approximately 2,600 kg CO2e in relation to the distribution of premium spirits. The group’s outlets are also part of the ecoSPIRITS Forest Program, whereby one tree is planted in an endangered rainforest for every cycle of an ecoTOTE. During some of the group’s busier periods in 2024, it planted more than 200 trees in a single month.
House Made Hospitality has an impressive collection of high-profile outlets across Sydney.
The business now has several high-profile outlets across Sydney, three of which are in the city’s popular Hinchcliff House, a central four-level destination of dining, drinking, and events, set within a heritage wool store. These three outlets comprise a cocktail bar called Apollonia; a bustling ‘Australian-Italian’ restaurant called Grana; and modern elevated ‘Asian-Italian’ restaurant, Lana. Also in the group’s portfolio is Promenade Beach Bar on Bondi Beach; rooftop bar and restaurant, Martinez, in Sydney’s CBD; the Carrington pub in Surry Hills; the neighbourhood bar, Baptiste Street Rec Club; and Island Radio, a lively Southeast Asian eating house and noodle bar. Meanwhile, within the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel, the company has a restaurant (tilda) and bar (bar tilda) on the ground floor and Wentworth Bar and Vietnamese French restaurant, Delta Rue, on the fifth. House Made Hospitality also has This Way Canteen, which serves as the production hub where cocktails, syrups, sauces, and more are crafted daily and distributed across its venues.
This venue is tucked beneath the popular Hinchcliff House in a sandstone-carved basement. Inspired by Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, this Sicilian bandit’s drinking den is famed for its signature drink, the negroni. Beyond that, the current cocktail list takes the form of a cinematic ‘playbill’ with all cocktails taking inspiration from Italian actors and directors. Consistently named among Australia’s best bars, Apollonia delivers a rich, immersive experience that celebrates storytelling through hospitality.
Inspired by community-centric pubs of the area, Baptiste Street Rec Club recreates the familiar neighbourhood feel with a blend of nostalgia and modern flourishes. It is framed as a neighbourhood bar, offering several flashbacks to 1980s Australia. During the week it offers weekly food specials and music trivia evenings, while live music is available towards the weekend.
bar tilda takes inspiration from the Australian landscape and bush poet Banjo Paterson. The beverage programme celebrates its idea of contemporary luxury Australian drinking through cocktails, table side martinis and Australian whiskies. The menu features traditional Australian drinking rituals combined with local flavours and nostalgic storytelling. The bar recently launched the ‘Australian Whisky Embassy’ to champion locally made whiskies and the community behind it.
Jason Williams, Group Beverage Director & Director, House Made Hospitality
“We don’t just cheerlead for sustainability or environmental topics, it’s something we wanted to do as part of the set of values that we have as a company. As well as using ecoSPIRITS, which cuts down on glass and cardboard waste, we also centralise our beverage production, so we make large format cocktails in five, ten and 20-litre formats, which we send out to each venue. This also saves on water usage. We are always looking at ways to minimise waste.”
Paul Gabie, CEO, ecoSPIRITS
“There is a lot of synergy between how ecoSPIRITS and House Made Hospitality have evolved over a similar timeframe, with both companies adapting carefully to market conditions, and working towards a clear vision of what they would like the future to look like. We are delighted our closed loop packaging system has made a significant impact for these cool Sydney-based properties, with an impressive reduction in packaging waste and carbon footprint over the past four years.”
For media inquiries or general information on ecoSPIRITS, you may contact Sonya Hook, Head of Communications, at [email protected].
About House Made Hospitality
A Sydney-based and globally-inspired hospitality group with people, quality and care at heart. Our ambition is to build unique concepts that create a sense of place and deliver a great experience. Our focus is on how people feel in our venues. Our culture is conscious with humility, generosity and warmth at its core.
For more information, please visit: www.housemadehospitality.com.au
About ecoSPIRITS
ecoSPIRITS is a circular economy technology company that has developed the world’s first low carbon, low waste distribution technology for premium spirits and wine. Our patent-pending closed loop system nearly eliminates all packaging waste in the supply chain. By dramatically reducing packaging and transport, ecoSPIRITS provides a transformative carbon footprint reduction. Founded in Singapore in 2018, the ecoSPIRITS technology is now available in 28 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Nearly 3,000 leading bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers have adopted the technology, including Michelin-starred restaurants, World’s 50 Best and Asia’s 50 Best bars and iconic hotels. ecoSPIRITS is now rapidly building a global network of closed loop service, with coverage to grow further in 2025. Together with our brand partners, importers, distributors, wholesalers, venues, and retailers, we are already making a difference. Each year, ecoSPIRITS and our partners are eliminating hundreds of tons of single use glass waste, planting tens of thousands of trees, and inspiring others to change.
For more information, please visit: www.ecospirits.global