Seta’s Cafe owner says business now is worse than during lockdown

“Back to normal” was the mantra for many Campbelltown businesses as restrictions eased, but one owner soon found herself in a position “worse than lockdown”.

A Campbelltown business has revealed the last month has been more quiet than the Covid-enforced lockdowns while calling on the government to push more messaging around supporting local.

Seta Berbari has owned Seta’s Cafe on Dumaresq St for more than six years, and was forced to shut from Christmas to mid-January as her shop was “dead quiet”.

Ms Berbari’s call for a campaign to push supporting local business is in the wake of the NSW government announcing a $700m support program, which will provide payroll support to businesses with turnover of between $75,000 and $50m.

The package will provide a payment of 20 per cent of weekly payroll costs to companies that can prove a decline in turnover of at least 40 per cent across January.

Payments would range from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $5000 a week.

However, businesses which meet the threshold for the payment would not receive relief for losses incurred during January as the payment would cover February and be paid as a lump sum.

Seta Berbari has owned Seta’s Cafe on Dumaresq Street for more than six years, and was forced to shut from Christmas to mid-January as her shop was “dead quiet”. Picture: Annie Lewis

Ms Berbari said she welcomed the support package as “anything can help even a little”, but said more needed to be done around messaging.

“During lockdown there was a big push to support local but that has gone away now,” she said.

“We need it now more than ever.

“The government also needs to make it easier for businesses to understand what supports they can access and how they can do it, because I needed to pay an accountant last time to figure it out for me because it was so complex.”

Ms Berbari said she, like most people, thought by January, everything would be back to normal.

“But actually it went the opposite way. In lockdown I was busier,” she said.

“People are so scared to even leave their houses, they are not even getting takeaway and now even with our products, the suppliers have put all their prices up.

“It has been so dead that I was forced to shut for three weeks from Christmas to mid-January and that is the first time I have ever had to do that.”

Campbelltown MP Greg Warren. Picture: Supplied

Campbelltown MP Greg Warren said while he supported the package, it was too late and urged the government to make sure “they get it right”.

“In reality, it’s largely been way too late because many businesses have already been forced to shut their doors and there are people who lost their jobs,” he said.

Mr Warren said a problem with previous support packages has been the red tape businesses have to sort through before being able to access the funds.

“I hope the government has learnt from its mistakes,” he said.

“The support needs to be accessible to businesses.”

Mr Warren echoed Ms Berbari’s calls for better messaging around supporting small businesses, but said it needed to be taken a step further.

“There needs to be direct messaging to small businesses to let them know how they can access support,” he said.

“But yes, we need to get out there and buy local.”