When Pete Raine and his wife Zoe opened Barbarian Brewing Co. in Kingsville, they weren’t just launching a business. They were building a community. Over 100 local volunteers helped them bring the venue to life. But as the brewpub grew, Pete realised that passion and community alone wouldn’t be enough to build something that lasted. He needed to run it like a business — and that’s where Melbourne Innovation Centre stepped in.
When Pete Raine and his wife Zoe opened Barbarian Brewing Co. in Kingsville, they weren’t just launching a business. They were building a community. Over 100 local volunteers helped them bring the venue to life. But as the brewpub grew, Pete realised that passion and community alone wouldn’t be enough to build something that lasted. He needed to run it like a business — and that’s where Melbourne Innovation Centre stepped in.
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Barbarian Brewing Co. is an independent, family-run microbrewery and brewpub based in Kingsville, Melbourne. We brew our beer on-site and operate a family friendly venue focused on quality beer, nostalgic comfort food and community-driven events.
We officially began brewing on-site in 2025 after a long build journey supported by over 100 local volunteers. We currently employ a growing team across brewing, kitchen and venue operations.
We’re proudly independent and focused on becoming a long-term local institution in Melbourne’s west.
Pete’s path to founding Barbarian Brewing Co. was shaped by a career in leadership and community sport. For him, a brewery was never just about the beer. It was about creating a space where people genuinely wanted to be — somewhere that celebrated local culture, family and a shared love of quality.
Founded with his wife Zoe, Barbarian Brewing Co. is an independent, family-run microbrewery and brewpub based in Melbourne’s inner west. They brew on-site, operate a family-friendly venue focused on nostalgic comfort food and community-driven events, and have been steadily building a loyal local following since officially beginning on-site brewing in 2025.
The community response was remarkable from the start. More than 100 local volunteers gave their time to help build the venue — a founding story that speaks to the kind of business Pete and Zoe set out to create.
Like many founder-led businesses, Barbarian Brewing Co. had plenty of ideas and energy. What it lacked was the digital structure to turn that energy into consistent, measurable growth.
Pete was candid about the challenges. Marketing happened reactively rather than strategically. Campaign planning was inconsistent. There was no clear way to measure return on marketing investment, and systems across the business weren’t fully connected. On top of that, Pete — like most founders — was wearing every hat: strategy, marketing, operations, content, finance.
As the business grew, the gap between where Barbarian Brewing was and where it needed to be became harder to ignore.
“Learning how to move from ‘doing everything’ to building scalable systems has been a major growth phase for us,” Pete reflects.
Pete joined Melbourne Innovation Centre’s Digital Solutions Program looking for structure — particularly around marketing, campaign planning and operational workflows. What he found was a program that went further than he’d expected.
Through a combination of mentoring and workshops, MIC helped Pete validate his overall strategic direction while building new confidence in how to prioritise digital channels and make deliberate decisions about where to invest.
Key outcomes from the program included developing a 12-month campaign calendar, defining revenue-linked KPIs, and clarifying content pillars that align marketing activity to real business events — steak nights, Sunday roasts, major sporting moments.
One of the most significant shifts was around paid advertising. Through the program, Pete gained the analytical framework and confidence to make a strategic pivot away from Google Ads, choosing instead to partner with a local digital media team to build a more community-led, content-first approach to growth.
“It’s helped us move from reactive marketing to more deliberate digital strategy. We’ve been able to test, measure and refine decisions strategically rather than just following default marketing tactics.”
— Pete Raine
While Pete acknowledges that the journey is still in its early stages, the indicators are already meaningful.
After completing the program, Barbarian Brewing Co. recorded their strongest month to date — while paid advertising was fully paused. The result reinforced what the program had helped Pete see: that storytelling, events and community engagement were the right levers to pull for a business like theirs.
Operationally, the program also created more visibility across the team, reducing bottlenecks around content planning and helping the business stay ahead of campaigns rather than scrambling to react.
A new partnership with a local digital agency is now underway, building on the foundation the program helped establish. Pete is clear about what the program’s biggest impact has been so far.
“Knowing we’re making deliberate, strategic decisions about how we grow the business digitally — that confidence is the biggest thing,” he says.
“Even small changes in structure — like mapping out a 12-month campaign calendar or defining clear revenue-linked KPIs — can have a meaningful impact.”
— Pete Raine
Pete’s message to other founder-led businesses considering the Digital Solutions Program is direct: take it seriously, and apply what you learn immediately.
“Don’t treat it as just another workshop series. The value comes from applying what you learn immediately. For founder-led businesses especially, having an external perspective on your digital systems is incredibly powerful.”
For Pete, the program has helped Barbarian Brewing Co. bridge the gap between the passion-led entrepreneurship that started the business, and the disciplined, scalable growth that will sustain it.
“Programs like this are incredibly valuable for independent businesses. It’s helped bridge the gap between passion-led entrepreneurship and disciplined, scalable growth.”
— Pete Raine, Founder & MD, Barbarian Brewing Co.
