Wodonga pub living up to family name with crowd of close connections

And you don't have to look far to realise why.

Edwards Tavern employs three sets of sisters and three mothers and daughters in its front of house team.

Dubbed "one big family", they make up more than 50 per cent of the workforce at the pub.

Incredibly, there's only four other staff on the front of house roster that don't have a relative working with them.

Publican Katrina Donelan said there had been close connections between her family and many of her staff across a number of years.

"Edwards Tavern is family-owned and operated and has been that way for quite a few years. I've been here on my own without my parents for nearly two years and before that my brother had it," she said.

"I've got some children of lifelong friends working here and adopted daughters.

"If someone can't do a shift, they pick it up and they help each other when they're on shift together.

"We've got mothers and daughters and sisters working, but the whole team is very much a family, including the boys in the kitchen.

"Once you have a really good staff member, you trust them because you know they have a good work ethic.

"The business is built on the staff, without them I couldn't run it. I love them all."

Mrs Donelan has seen the eldest sisters of families move on and welcomed younger siblings to the team to continue on the tradition.

"The younger ones start off on dishes, but we try to create a mini career pathway for them. We bring them out and teach them basic bistro work and when they turn 18 they can hit the bar," she said.

"Hospitality is a very good skill set for all of the kids to have. I don't expect them to be with us forever, but if they want to travel later on in life they've got a pretty well-rounded skill set.

"My eldest daughter Taylor is going to be a patisserie chef and my youngest Elley is doing a certificate III in business administration.

"A couple of the boys in the kitchen started on dishes and one is now an apprentice chef and they're both very experienced kitchen hands."

However, given many of the team are friends outside of work, Mrs Donelan says the rostering can get tricky if there's an occasion to celebrate.

"I try to be as flexible as possible to make sure they can still play their sport and go out," she said.

"For Elley's birthday, we had to make sure people were rostered on and came to the party afterwards.

"They're honest and the level of trust in this team is absolutely unbelievable. I can step back to a certain extent.

"When you've got a team you can trust and they work together really well, it's not only enjoyable for the team, it's enjoyable for the client experience. The clients get a kick out of it when they are all bantering and having fun."

Tracy Boon has worked at Edwards Tavern for four years and enjoys being alongside her daughter, Hope, and all the other mothers, daughters and sisters.

"I love it. It makes coming to work a fun place," she said.

"Hope and I have a really tight bond. We have Tuesdays off together and we have 'wine time' and send off pictures to all of our family in New Zealand.

"The younger ones keep us on our toes, that's for sure."

Ralene McKenzie joined the Edwards Tavern team at the end of 2023 and started on the same day as her daughter, Abbey.

"I approached Katrina to see if she had any jobs available and my daughter was behind and said 'me too', so it all happened out of the blue," she said.

"We'd never worked together before.

"I think the thing I've noticed with the girls is they have a really good work ethic. They get in when they have to and work hard, but we still have fun and enjoy it.

"Having the family ties makes it even stronger. I think it's pretty unique and it's pretty special."