South Burnett businesses welcome long weekend customer boom

Businesses across the region welcomed an influx of new customers over the long weekend.

Blackbutt Bakery owner Roberta Anson and her pie chef Franka Mills. (Picture: File)

BUSINESSES across the region have experienced one of the busiest weekends of trading since the pandemic started back in March.

Car parks in Blackbutt were full, people from across south east Queensland were filling up the regions pubs and some of the cafes were at capacity.

Blackbutt Bakery owner Roberta Anson said it was tremendous to see so many people flocking to the region.

“The amount of people in town was crazy, everyone was saying it was the most amount of cars on the road in forever,” Miss Anson said.

“For us it was without a doubt the busiest few days we have had in a long time.

“Sunday was ridiculous, we had people lined up all day and it was great to see so many people supporting the smaller towns.”

Over in Yarraman the Royal Hotel was packed to the brink with people from all over south east Queensland.

Royal Hotel owner Margaret Harrison said they were full of travellers.

“It was good to see so many people from out of town deciding to travel west and support businesses in the South Burnett,” Miss Harrison said.

“I make an effort to talk to as many people as I can at the pub and a lot of people were new faces, day trippers from Brisbane and a lot of people from the Sunshine Coast.

“We still had our regular locals coming in, however it was really good to have so many people back in the pub.”

Van Nguyen at the Wondai Bakery said things are finally getting back to normal.

“Our business relies on people coming and using the rail trail and it’s starting to get really busy again,” Mr Nguyen said.

“Since the virus hit it has been so quiet and it’s slowly beginning to pick up again.

“Hopefully Queensland can keep clear of more virus cases otherwise it will be devastating for local business”

The Palace Hotel Nanango owner Beau Smith said tourists from all over south east Queensland were stopping in at the pub.

“We had tourists from all over south east Queensland coming in, which we haven't had before,” Mr Smith said.

“I think for a lot of those people who did come were surprised to see the new renovations at the pub.

“We have had an overwhelmingly positive response about the new renovations and about being open again.”

Murgon was also experiencing an influx of new faces.

Coffee Bar Murgon owner Helen Walker said they definitely noticed lots more strangers coming through the doors.

“It was fantastic to have so many people back in the cafe and a lot of them were visitors from other places,” Mrs Walker said.

“There is definitely a lot more people moved around and we got lots of visitors so it was a good long weekend for business.”

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