Howard Smith Wharves battles to stay afloat amid COVID restrictions

COVID-19 dining restrictions are crippling one of Brisbane’s most popular dining spots, with the riverfront Howard Smith Wharves precinct forced to turn customers away despite having the space and facing massive financial losses.

It was Brisbane’s busiest and most glamorous dining precinct, but now Howard Smith Wharves is battling to stay afloat – operating with just 30 per cent of its usual customers and calling the current COVID-19 trading restrictions unviable.

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Founder and director of the CBD riverfront lifestyle space Adam Flaskas says he has spent the past six months working 14 to 16-hour days seven days a week with his team trying to find ways to cut costs and increase customer spend so the precinct can continue.

“We’re operating with 30 per cent of our customers that we would normally operate with and it is almost impossible to have a business that doesn’t lose money under those restrictions,” he says.

“One week you lose money and the next week you’re lucky to break square.”

The usual thriving dining spot is operating with just 30 per cent of its usual customers because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Flaskas says the limits on the number of diners allowed at venues following the one person per 4sq m rule was crippling his and many other businesses across the state.

He wants to see those restrictions eased to 1 person per 2sq m for outdoor spaces, which he believes will go a long way to helping many Queensland eateries survive.

“We absolutely are having to turn people away and that breaks your heart,” he says.

“You’re trying to not lose money each day and each week, it’s a very difficult situation to be in. I feel for everybody because everyone in this industry is feeling the same pain.”

Last month HSW applied to Brisbane City Council to have its event spaces repurposed to allow them to serve food and drink like a restaurant after losing up to four years of corporate function bookings almost overnight.

Founder and director at HSW Adam Flaskas says it’s almost impossible not to lose money under the current COVID restrictions. Picture: Annette Dew

Approval has not yet been granted for the Howard’s Hall and the Rivershed venues to be turned into food and drink outlets, but Flaskas says he is in talks with council over the decision.

Flaskas says COVID-19 has been “catastrophic” for the hospitality sector and wants the federal government to offer more initiatives and tax incentives to help businesses get back on their feet.