Mount Gravatt cafe’s trade almost ‘back to normal’ with up to 40 customers now allowed at venues

From today, cafes and restaurants can seat even more customers, and some will even let you bring your dog, too. But weekend trade still won’t be like before. Here’s how some Brisbane venues expect their lives to change.

CAFE owners on Brisbane’s southside say new rules which allow them to seat up to 20 customers per dining area is a gamechanger for their businesses, but there remains a key barrier to a return to normal trade.

Since Monday, restaurants have been able to seat 20 customers at a time but from today they will be able to seat 20 customers per dining area if they have an approved COVID safe industry plan, potentially doubling their seats. They must still maintain the one person per 4 sqm rule.

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April Shen, owner of Hallowed Grounds Espresso at Mount Gravatt said that being able to seat more than 10 customers has “really made a difference for us”.

“Doing takeaway only really hurt us financially,” she said.

“With 10 people allowed in, we did a bit better, but we could not do much. With 20 people, we can do heaps more.

Hallowed Grounds cafe Mount Gravatt is open for business. Cafe Manager Chelsea Keenan poses for a photograph. Thursday June 4, 2020. Picture Renae Droop

“For us, on weekdays it’s back to normal.”

She said that the ability to seat 20 customers means that she can now move to a hybrid booking system, where half the cafe is reserved for bookings via its website and the other half for walk-ins.

“A lot of people are still booking ahead,” Ms Shen said.

Hallowed Grounds cafe Mount Gravatt is open for business. Minji Yang poses for a photograph. Thursday June 4, 2020. Picture Renae Droop

Despite the surging sales, Ms Shen said there is still a major barrier to a return to pre-COVID trade – weekend sales.

Ms Shen said she is still having to turn away walk-ins on weekends as they are Hallowed Grounds’ busiest days of trade.

Mount Gravatt’s Little Black Pug Cafe owner Louise Daly agreed that her weekday trade was back to normal, but she was also having to turn away walk-ins on the weekends.

However, today’s change means that Little Black Pug can start catering for canine friends again – tomorrow they will trial three or four “doggo friendly” tables in a separate area of the cafe.

Little Black Pug Cafe - Grand Opening at Mt Gravatt in mid- 2018 saw four-year-old pug "Edgar" get some great service from owner Louise Daly. Picture: Adam Head

The COVID shutdown meant that Little Black Pug, a cafe which specialises in “food for humans and dogs”, had to stop catering entirely to dogs, but today’s change makes this possible again.

Ms Daly said with her cafe’s two dining areas, she could sit up to 32 customers and still maintain proper social distancing

But the new influx of customers comes with its own challenges.

“You can’t leave water jugs on the table,” Ms Daly said. “So you go around pouring everyone’s glass individually like a fine dining restaurant.

“It’s so much more work for wait staff to reset tables as well.

“If you’ve got a group of 15 that all leave at once, that’s 15 tables, chairs, menus that you have to wipe down with sanitiser.”

Little Black Pug Cafe - Grand Opening at Mt Gravatt in mid-2018 saw four-year-old pug "Edgar" get some great service from owner Louise Daly (0424185150). Pics Adam Head

Badminton Brew at Mount Gravatt East owner Rachael Hinton-Smith said she is grateful to be able to have 20 dine-in customers at one time, but that the Premier’s surprise announcement on Sunday that Stage 2 restrictions were being brought forward from June 12 to the following day left her on the hop.

“Making such a huge announcement on a Sunday meant I was frantically getting new furniture and adapting the space to be safe for everyone,” Ms Hinton-Smith said.

Badminton Brew at Badminton St, Mount Gravatt East. Picture: Supplied

“I think the execution put some unnecessary stress on businesses owners to expand within 24 hours, when if we had a few days notice we could have done so more gracefully.

“I have a lot of respect for the restaurant owners who were able to stock up their kitchens and get their staff in and reopen a closed business in 24 hours.”

She said she has been spurred on throughout COVID by her customers.

“When customers come in saying things like, ‘This is the highlight of our day, it’s the only time we leave the house’, I realised that something as small as a coffee was having an impact greater than I thought possible.”

Stage 3 restrictions, where venues will be able to seat up to 100 people if they are able to still maintain the one person per 4 sqm rule, comes into place on July 10.

This will not affect many smaller cafes and restaurants much, as in many cases they have reached or are close to reaching their maximum capacity for the foreseeable future.