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Humans of Applejack: Vadawn Buhler

Meet The Applejack Team: Vadawn Buhler, Group Safety & Projects Lead.

Vadawn has been a key contributor to the growth of Applejack over the last 7 years and now leads the way on all things safety & care across our venues.

Vadawn joined Applejack as Bopp & Tone‘s Events Manager in 2019, then expanded her role to work across Applejack venues including The Butler Potts Point, before joining Head Office, now in the very important role of Group Safety & Projects lead. Safety & Care is a a focus point of Applejack – whether it be work health & safety, staff wellbeing, injury prevention or allergies, there is so much that this entails.

We spoke with Vadawn about all things Applejack, her hospitality career, and her current role in safety.

Let’s Chat…

Tell us about yourself?

Originally from Scotland, I’ve worked across a huge range of hospitality venues over the past 25 years – from large 5-star hotels to a glass event boat on Sydney Harbour, and pretty much everything in between, across both Australia and the UK.

Since joining Applejack in 2019, my role has evolved from Events into one that now spans new projects & safety. It’s a change that probably surprises people who knew me in events, but the two roles have more in common than you’d think; both are about looking after people and making sure things run the way they’re supposed to, even when things get busy. These days, instead of coordinating the big moments, I’m focused on the everyday systems that keep our teams safe while they create those moments for our guests.

What does being part of Care & Safety team entail?

Being part of the Care & Safety team is about much more than compliance or responding when something goes wrong. My role is to help create environments where our people can come to work, do what they love and go home safely at the end of every shift. Across all of our venues, that means developing practical systems, supporting our leaders, managing risks, learning from incidents and continually looking for ways to make our workplaces safer.

Ultimately, it’s about building a culture where safety and care are part of every decision we make, so our teams can focus on delivering exceptional hospitality.

Why is safety so important in hospitality?

At its core, hospitality is about trust. People choose to spend their time, their celebrations and their money with us, and our teams choose to spend their careers with us; both are a vote of confidence that we’ll look after them properly. Safety is how we honour that.

It shows up in a hundred small ways every shift: a spill wiped up before someone slips, an allergy taken seriously, a new team member shown the right way to do something before they’re left to do it alone. None of it’s glamorous, but it’s the thing that lets everything else; the atmosphere, the service, the experience, actually happen. Get safety right, and it becomes invisible. Get it wrong, even once, and it’s the only thing anyone remembers.

What is your favourite part of your job?

Honestly, it’s the moments when I see safety become second nature for a team, not because someone’s told them to, but because they’ve made it their own. Whether that’s a leader spotting a risk before it becomes a problem, or a new team member feeling confident enough to speak up when something doesn’t feel right. Coming from events, I’m used to seeing the payoff of hard work happen in real time, and safety isn’t always like that… the wins are quieter, more gradual. But when you walk into a venue and can feel that people genuinely look out for each other, that’s the moment it all clicks.

Why Applejack?

Applejack has given me the chance to grow in ways I didn’t expect when I started back in 2019. From events into a completely different part of the business, without ever feeling like I was starting over. Along the way, I also became a mum, and the support I received through that season of my life meant so much. Applejack made it possible for me to keep growing my career while navigating that huge change, and that kind of backing isn’t something you find everywhere.

It says a lot about the culture here; a group that genuinely invests in its people, backs them to take on new challenges, and looks after their teams just as much as they look after our guests. That’s a big part of why I’ve stayed, and why I care so much about the work I do now.

Looking for a job with career progression, training, and where every day is different? Interested in working with Vadawn? A job at Applejack is for you!