Round two lockdown a multi-million hit to hospitality

Hospitality businesses are reeling in the wake of an aborted lockdown, with one saying it’s even considering moving east to survive.

Leigh Street Wine Room owner Sali Sasi. Picture: Tom Huntley

The three-day lockdown cost the hospitality and tourism sectors at least $100m, but venues are hoping to make up for lost time when they throw their doors open Sunday.

The Australian Hotels Association says in the absence of compensation for affected businesses, there needed to be a return to pre-lockdown restrictions by Monday, including allowing stand-up drinking.

“It has been a debilitating, financial catastrophe and the last straw for some businesses,” AHA SA general manager Ian Horne said.

“Well in excess of $50m is expected in losses at the very least.”

He said 5000 hospitality venues had been affected by the lockdown and their workers left without the financial safety of JobKeeper. “Waiting until December 1 (to ease restrictions further) would be cruel bureaucracy,” he said.

The state’s peak tourism industry body said losses of up to $16m in revenue for each day of the lockdown had hit hard.

Tourism Industry Council of SA chairman Eoin Loftus said the State Government needed to throw additional money at a marketing campaign before border openings, and a targeted voucher system for key markets could also help.

“We need to move on from the lockdown that was not necessary and move forward maintaining our status as one of the safest states,” he said.

Suburban hotels were poised to open as early as 7am Sunday, as South Australians reacted positively to the end of the lockdown by booking out a number of pubs and restaurants.

“The phone started ringing immediately,” said Martin Palmer, managing director of Palmer Hospitality, which owns six venues including 2KW, Fish Bank and The Highway.

All are operating Sunday, with doors at The Highway opening at 11am.

“We are really pleased that the lockdown has ended and we can open early and we are really excited about being able to reopen,” Mr Palmer said.

The Moseley Bar and Kitchen at Glenelg opened at midnight for two hours of trade after a flurry of bookings.

Luke Donaldson, operations director of RDJones Group, owners of 12 pubs across Adelaide, including the Moseley, said: “People need something to look forward to in these challenging times.”

He said the new 100-patron limit for larger venues, the one person per 4sq m rule, and no stand-up drinking until December 1, meant 85 per cent of his 600 staff would not have work. “The mental health of our staff is our biggest concern in the lead-up to Christmas,” he said.

The Marion Hotel and Fullarton’s Arkaba Hotel will be serving breakfast from 7am, while the Woodville Hotel starts serving beer at 3pm and meals at 5.30pm.

Others including the Palais Hotel at Semaphore and the Hotel Metropolitan in the CBD will open Monday.

Hotel Metropolitan owner Damian Peterson said a lack of access to fresh produce at such short notice made it difficult yesterday to restock empty fridges and pantries cleared of disposable goods days earlier in preparation for an expected six-day lockdown.

He said the lost trade from lockdown, cancellations for events in the lead-up to Christmas and lockdown restrictions, just as things looked to be easing, had been a low blow to the industry.

Premier Steven Marshall said he understood the hardship and inconvenience caused to all South Australians but that the government would continue to follow expert health advice.

“The consequences for not acting quickly on the unequivocal health advice would be unequivocally devastating for businesses,” he said.

Leigh St Wine Room owners Jake Kellie, Nathan and Sali Sasi. Picture: Matt Turner.

LOCKDOWN FORCES BUSINESS TO LOOK EAST

By Patrick McDonald

The award-winning owners of Leigh Street Wine Room are strongly considering moving back to NSW after the South Australian government’s handling of this week’s COVID lockdown.

Sali and Nathan Sasi said the state government needed to improve its contact tracing and its support for small businesses.

Venue capacities also needed to go back to the pre-lockdown ratio of one person per two square metres, instead of the 1-in-4 limit set to remain in place until December 1.

“We are having to work 100 hours a week, each, in order to sustain the doors being open … when we are held at these restrictive capacities,” Sali Sasi said.

“That definitely gives us something to consider and look at, whether we do pick up and relocate back to Sydney in an environment that would be less stressful from a business operator point of view.”

In the past two weeks, Leigh Street Wine Room won Best New Haunt in the national Wineslinger Awards, voted by 100 industry professionals, and Best Bar Design for Australia and New Zealand in the Eat Drink Design Awards.

Mrs Sasi said being in a pandemic was only “one part of the problem” of running a venue in Adelaide.

“The second part of the problem is having a government that clearly does not support small businesses and, in particular, hospitality,” she said.

“It literally makes running a business near impossible.

“Now that we are coming out of it, we aren’t even allowed to go back to the original 1-in-2 (person per square metres). We have to be restricted to 1-in-4 until December 1, which means that we are still at the 14 (person) capacity.”

The lockdown also meant the Sasis had to throw out and give away fresh produce, let casual staff go and change full-time employees to part-time.

“This week alone we have lost $20,000 in revenue,” Mrs Sasi said.

“You try to alter your business model to be able to last that one week lockdown, or whatever it might be.

“I think the government thinks it’s easy to say ‘Yes, you’re open’ or ‘No, you’re shut’ and that’s all the impact is. But it goes far further than that.”

Mrs Sasi said NSW was doing many things better than SA.

“The number one thing is that Gladys (Berejiklian) is not a knee-jerk reaction premier. She has said very clearly that they cannot continue to disrupt people’s lives and businesses every time there is a spike in cases.

“Therefore, we need to learn to live with it. That means we take measures with our contact tracing. When I went to Sydney, just last week, it’s impeccable. You cannot walk into any venue without using your QR app to sign in.

“The fact that our government still has not got that installed is mind-blowing … which is why they are now having these prolonged issues with trying to find people from memory or bulletin call-outs to come forward.”

There was also no support for the hospitality industry in the State Budget, Mrs Sasi said.

“Gladys, in her latest (NSW) State Budget, announced that she is giving all households a $100 voucher that goes towards hospitality and another voucher split into portions – a portion can be used within hospitality venues, another portion can be used within entertainment.

“NSW is definitely leading the way … that other states should be operating.”

The fact that the lockdown was based on a lie by a Woodville Pizza Bar worker was “absolutely infuriating”.

“This was completely avoidable,” Mrs Sasi said.

“They now need to look at a way that they can compensate or assist business further financially, because businesses have lost thousands of dollars in these last three or four days.”