Coronavirus: Church Street Parramatta restaurants suffer another blow
Restaurateurs along a popular western Sydney Eat Street have been hit hard because of the devastating coronavirus, with one eatery losing 50 per cent of business.
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Restaurateurs along Parramatta’s Church St have already been hit hard by light rail works carving up the dining strip.
Now the coronavirus is plunging them into a small business crisis as diners cancel bookings and opt to eat at home.
Alex&Co owner Alex Aslan said he lost more than 50 per cent of trade over the past week when the number of coronavirus cases climbed to 210 in NSW.
“This week is the week we felt the pain more so than ever,’’ he said.
“Last week we had a lot of functions and the scare wasn’t as intense as it was this week.
“We just had a function for 150 that’s cancelled.’’
He has not had to fire any employees yet but bookings for 2000 diners were cancelled up until next week.
“Because we’re a big business I think people’s perception is it’s unsafe to come to us because we’re always busy and there’s more people and that we’re more risky,’’ Mr Aslan said.
Compounding the problem is the noise and construction on Church St for the light rail.
“Our lunch trade has died,’’ Mr Aslan said.
“We’ve lost our lunch trade because of the Parramatta Light Rail and now coronavirus’s taking our dinner trade.’’
He is also monitoring the government’s possible move to shut restaurants or set a cap on the number of diners.
“Any of this will be detrimental to our restaurants because on any day we’ve got more than that,’’ he said.
“We will have to close our doors. We’re going to have to take it day by day.’’
Some changes implemented include no cutlery on the table until the meal is served and extra hand sanitisers for staff and customers.
Restaurant 317 has experienced the same downturn in trade over the past week when owner Pierre Sande said Church St had become a ghost town.
“It’s actually become a disaster because we were looking forward to the football.
“We thought we got a break when we got the stadium back. How do we get a break? If you walk around Church St, there’s no people around.
“When Elton John was here it was so packed and it was exciting because we thought we had a bit of hope so now we’re thinking ‘what’s next’?’’
Like Mr Aslan, he estimated his restaurants profits dropped by over 50 per cent over the past week.
“Yesterday and over the weekend we felt it really badly,’’ he said.
“It hasn’t been this bad in a long time. We get a lot of bookings. Everyone’s cancelling because everyone’s in this panic mode because of the coronavirus.”
Mr Sande said the income Restaurant 317 received from home delivery services such as Uber Eats was a meagre $200, hardly enough to lift business.
He has already had to reduce his roster, including 10 casual workers.
At the southern end of Church St, at Parramatta’s Chinatown, eateries have been doing it tough since January.
Joy Lam, from JC Dragon, said business had been slow since the Lunar New Year.
Katie Lam, from Taste Gallery, said she had experienced a similar crisis when she lived in Hong Kong during SARS in 2003 and only had one table to tend to at 6.30pm last night.
She said business workers and students had not been dining there as much as usual.
While little can be done to control the coronavirus pandemic, traders affected by the light rail want more co-operation from the government.
They say workers fail to stop working during lunch and dinner periods.
A Transport for NSW spokeswoman said construction teams were working within their approved working hours.
“Our priority is to work proactively with the contractors to manage the project carefully and minimise the impacts of construction on customers and the community,’’ she said.
“Transport for NSW recognise these works will cause some disruption and are minimising the disruption with the use of noise blankets.”
Traders have also requested financial compensation but that is off the table.
“While compensation is not provided, Transport for NSW has a range of measures in place to mitigate the impacts of any disruption to residents and businesses as a result of Parramatta Light Rail construction,’’ the spokeswoman said.
“Transport for NSW’s business support services Realise Business is working with over 125 Parramatta local businesses (including on Eat St), and their advice and support has already helped some businesses achieve reduced rent.”
A construction grace period will be in place on Parramatta’s along Church St between George and Palmer streets, from November 1 to January 31 each year when construction hoardings will be removed, and outdoor tables and seating will be temporarily reintroduced.