One of Brisbane’s eastern suburbs’ larger hospitality employers has more than doubled its workforce in just 18 months, with Carina Leagues Club CEO Adam Wiencke expecting another substantial increase as the club continues to expand.
The club employed about 110 people 18 months ago. Wiencke now puts the figure at around 280 and expects it could eventually reach 350 to 380, while dining capacity has risen from about 800 to 1,300 and is heading towards 1,600 to 1,700.
For young people across Brisbane’s eastern suburbs, that growth is creating the kind of entry-level employment traditionally associated with supermarkets and fast-food chains. Wiencke says university students and younger workers are already an important part of the club’s workforce, although the organisation increasingly wants those jobs to lead somewhere.
“We’ve grown so quickly that what we’ve put in place just isn’t sustainable for where we’re heading,” he said.
First Jobs That Don’t Have to Stay First Jobs
For Wiencke, the expanding workforce presents an opportunity to rethink the role a community club can play as an employer.
Hospitality has long provided casual work for students and young people, but he wants Carina to offer pathways beyond the first roster or weekend shift. As the club becomes larger and more complex, it needs more people who can build careers within the operation rather than simply pass through it.
That represents a significant change from where Carina stood a decade ago. Fair Work Commission records show the club had about 127 employees when evidence was given in 2016, including 104 casuals. Wiencke now puts the workforce at around 280, with potentially another 70 to 100 people required as the club continues to expand.
Carina has also worked with Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability Queensland’s Employment Connections Program, providing another pathway into hospitality work. Current program listings include food and beverage and Playland roles at the club.
If Wiencke’s projected workforce of 350 to 380 is eventually reached, Carina would employ more than three times as many people as it did 18 months ago.
Families and Food Changed the Numbers
The hiring surge has followed a deliberate effort to broaden the club’s audience, particularly among younger people and families.
“We’ve deliberately worked on engaging younger people and families,” Wiencke said.
The club’s Playland forms part of that strategy, alongside an increasing emphasis on dining and entertainment. Wiencke said its $25 Monday steak night can draw more than 400 diners, while a busy Sunday service can bring 500 to 600 people through.
Those crowds have changed what is required behind the scenes, from the number of people needed across kitchens and food and beverage service to the supervisors and other staff required to keep a considerably larger hospitality operation running. They have also put pressure on the physical space sooner than the club expected.
The Expansion That Wasn’t Enough
A major redevelopment completed in 2024 delivered a new restaurant, bar, gaming areas and the Wade Core Function Centre, subsequently winning the 2025 Clubs Queensland award for Best Club Redevelopment – Large Club.
Yet the additional capacity did not mark the end of Carina’s building program. Stage 2 is already under construction, with project manager KVR Project Partners valuing the latest works at $21 million.
Wiencke’s figures help explain why. Dining capacity that once stood at around 800 has already reached approximately 1,300, with plans taking it towards 1,600 to 1,700, while five kitchens have been introduced as the operation has grown.
Rather than completing one major expansion and settling into the extra space, Carina has found itself trying to add capacity while demand continues to move ahead.
Sport Still Sits Behind the Business
For all the attention now being directed towards hospitality and employment, the organisation remains closely tied to the sporting precinct around it.
The club’s terrace overlooks the Easts Carina Tigers rugby league field at the Clem Jones Sporting Precinct. Wiencke said Carina financially supports 24 sporting clubs, with more than $500,000 a year going to football, while the club says its community contributions have exceeded $35 million since it opened in 1971.
Wiencke sees that relationship as part of the reason the operation can continue growing. Sport brings families into the wider community around the club; the hospitality business generates revenue and employment; and part of that money flows back into sporting and community organisations.
Its partnership with the Brisbane Broncos dates to 2004 and was extended this year through to the end of 2029, while former Broncos and Queensland player Michael De Vere has led specialised coaching at Carina since 2006. The sporting foundation has therefore remained in place even as the scale of the business around it has changed considerably.
A Much Bigger Employer in Brisbane’s East
At around 280 employees and still expecting substantial workforce growth, Carina Leagues Club is becoming more than a large hospitality venue in one suburb. Its employment footprint belongs to a broader eastern-suburbs labour market in which younger workers can readily cross suburb boundaries for work.
That is the relevant connection for Morningside rather than an attempt to claim Carina Leagues Club as a Morningside institution. The club is a neighbouring employer whose expansion is creating a growing pool of hospitality jobs within Brisbane’s east.
Wiencke’s figures also suggest that the hiring is unlikely to be finished soon. More dining capacity is coming, another major redevelopment is under way and the organisation expects its staffing needs to rise with them.
For a club that employed about 110 people only 18 months ago, the striking part is no longer simply how quickly Carina has grown, but how much larger Wiencke believes it still needs to become.
Published 21-Sept-2026