Ben Maher is a founding partner of the successful Western Australian hospitality group, Varsity. In 2013, together with mates Fabian Butcher and Matt Pound, Ben launched Varsity at the former Broadway Tavern site adjacent to UWA in Nedlands. Varsity was founded on an intent to cater for the local uni students - to create an approachable and lively place where they could hang-out, enjoy quality, yet affordable American-style food and drinks while connecting and catching up on life, sport, music. Today, while Varsity remains true to its founding vision, it has evolved to be much more than a uni bar. It is one of Perth’s most popular hospitality destinations – a burger and sports bar institution – with six unique suburban venues across the metropolitan area.While Ben has been a key driver of the Group’s significant growth, he remains steadfastly local to its founding vision and a belief that it must remain “boutique at scale”, ensuring every Varsity that opens retains a local flavour that reflects and appeals to the community it ‘lives’ in.Having grown up in a family that has owned and operated more than 30 hospitality venues across WA, hospitality is in Ben’s DNA. Today, as managing director of Varsity, he oversees all aspects of the business, particularly financial, legal, property and liquor licensing matters.Prior to establishing Varsity, Ben’s personal portfolio has seen him hold interest in 14 WA venues including Zanzibar in Fremantle and a number of high-performing Northbridge venues including The Post Office Nightclub, The Eurobar, The Aberdeen Hotel and Flyrite. Ben has since divested from all other interests to focus on Varsity.