COVID-19 lockdown restrictions eats at dining venues in NSW
People rejoiced when it was announced cafes and restaurants could begin to reopen under the easing of COVID-19 restrictions but the industry has warned NSW’s hospitality will remain closed until further notice.
NSW Coronavirus News
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW Coronavirus News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
EXCLUSIVE
Restaurants and cafes across NSW will remain closed despite lockdown restrictions easing with businesses unable to justify reopening for only a handful of customers.
With just 10 people allowed to dine in under the first stage of relaxed coronavirus measures, restaurant owners have said those numbers would not provide enough revenue to allow them to restart.
National Australian Hotel Association chief Stephen Ferguson said even with wages covered by JobKeeper — about 30 per cent of a restaurant’s operating cost — other fixed expenses like power, refrigeration and rates made reopening unviable.
“We’re having a reopening without being able to reopen,” he said.
“For seven weeks we have been working towards social- distancing measures, keeping people 1.5m apart, of one person per 4 square metres, but this now appears to have been discarded and replaced by limiting venues to 10 people, no matter the size.”
Mr Ferguson said while the federal government’s JobKeeper scheme was “fantastic” as a wage subsidy for businesses still operating, those completely shuttered had become a “virtual Centrelink”, covering the cost of advancing their employees $1500 a fortnight.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday conceded reopening would only be viable for a “small proportion” of businesses under the new rules, which come into effect on Friday.
“For many restaurants, this won’t be enough for them to have people, welcome people inside,” she said.
“(But) I've also been quite inspired by seeing how a lot of businesses have reshaped the way they do things.”
Double Bay cafe owner Greg Kelly said it will be difficult to re-open his venue Cafe Perins from Friday.
“It’s a lot of extra work for virtually absolutely no return,” he said.
“In our circumstances we would be bound to do it for our local regular customers who want to sit there but there is no money in it.”
Leading Parramatta bar and restaurant ALEX & Co. is among the Western Sydney small businesses refusing to reopen amid the easing of coronavirus restrictions simply because it is still not financially viable.
“ALEX & Co. cannot and will not be reopening its doors for trade until greater restrictions are removed, it just doesn’t make commercial sense to do anything until then,” owner Alex Aslan told The Daily Telegraph.
He said the 10-person rule wouldn’t work for larger venues like his restaurant.
“It’s impossible unless you are a 10-seater restaurant,” he said. “Ten-person restriction won’t work for large venues, even small size venues considering our costs to run the venue. Financially it is not viable. Even a 100-person rule won’t work for us, we’re a 400-people restaurant and bar.”
Mr Aslan said trying to open the business from next Friday would simply add more financial stress. He added that with the Parramatta Light Rail construction under way, Church Street businesses are unlikely to reopen: “Being asked to reopen with the imposition of restrictions and at the same time having the light rail works still on your doorstep is too much to ask.”
A new budget monitoring report from Deloitte Access Economics released today highlights the importance of “timing” to ensure businesses can open and keep employees as restrictions ease and support programs like JobKeeper end. “Imagine being a proud owner of a cafe and wondering whether it was truly worth opening the shutters for a day just to make loose change on some takeaway coffees,” the report said. Deloitte expects unemployment in Australia will remain above pre-coronavirus levels until late 2024.