18/10/2018
Peter Mitanov was 12 when he secured a holiday job in the early 1970s, helping make billiard tables at Para Hills West. It was a time when manufacturing was in its heyday and jobs were plentiful. That first job inspired him to make a career out of building billiard tables and he left school early to start earning a living. By the age of 19, and with a natural aptitude for the business, Mr. Mitanov started his own company in preference to working for others, who sometimes did not pay him.
Mr. Mitanov started making billiard tables in a shed at his parents’ Para Hills West market garden. Thirty years later, his company, Beta Billiards, is arguably the finest maker of quality billiard tables and handmade cues in Australia. While the manufacturing sector has struggled to survive, Beta Billiards keeps going because of its niche business, high quality and hard work. Mr. Mitanov and his wife, Ristana, run the business with the support of four or five people. While most other billiard table makers have succumbed to competition from cheap, imported tables, Beta Billiards is one of the few remaining Australian manufacturers.
Thousands of SA families own billiard tables made by the company – one of the last traditional manufacturers in the state and the last cuemaker in Australia. Its impeccable multi-functional tables covert from dining tables to billiard tables and can even be used for table tennis. Sought after by customers around Australia, they can be used for billiards, pool, snooker and eight or nine ball.
While the competition from overseas is intense, Beta Billiards is surviving due to its high-quality workmanship, Mr. Mitanov said. “Our competitive advantage over imported tables is they cannot make a table play as truly as ours because our quality is so high,” he said. “It’s been a good business for 36 years and helped provide a lot of employment for South Australians.” Mr. Mitanov has been building tables for the state billiard championship for the past 22 years and the highest prize money tournament in Australia, the $15,000 Berri Open, is played on its tables.
The Beta Billiards business includes table and cue repairs, sales of various accessories such as balls, gloves, cue tips, as well as tables and chairs. “The business is still expanding and it’s going as well as ever,” Mr. Mitanov said. Its billiard tables retail from $1,200 up to about $25,00 and are keenly sought by collectors around Australia.
www.betabilliards.com.au
— Nigel Austin, The Advertiser, South Australia.
