Call for ‘common sense’ rule for larger cafes, restaurants as restrictions ease
Restrictions will be eased on Friday for restaurants and cafes, allowing 10 people to be seated at any one time. However, calls have been made to allow larger venues to seat more patrons using a percentage rule.
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A restaurant in southeast Sydney has asked for a “common sense” rule to be introduced for larger venues based on their seating capacity, as restrictions for cafes and restaurants are eased on Friday.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced early this week that some COVID-19 restrictions would be relaxed from Friday including cafes and restaurants being permitted to seat 10 patrons at any one time.
The announcement has attracted a mixed response from eateries in southeast Sydney.
The Green Olive cafe and restaurant in Little Bay can seat more than 150 people inside and outside its venue.
Staff member Pipi said that larger restaurants and cafes should be allowed to cater for more people when the restriction changes on Friday.
She said the rule should relate to a percentage of your seating capacity – such as 25 per cent – rather than a strict number of 10 patrons.
“It is common sense,” she said.
“I will only be able to have 10 people in total inside and out. So I will have to say to the customers they will only have one hour on a table. I will have to bring in extra staff also ... it will cost the business more.”
She said the business, which was owned by her brother, had plenty of room for more people to safely socially distance while enjoying a meal or drink.
She said they would open again for table service on Friday for up to 10 people at a time because they had a loyal following of customers, but she expected it would cost the business rather than help them.
Co-owner of Randwick’s Bat Country, Aidan Morrison said they were not planning on reopening table service at this stage and would remain doing takeaway only.
“We are not really planning on changing our operation on Friday. Ten is too small a number to justify upsetting the apple cart, with everything we have in place for takeaway.”
He said they had changed the menu and business to suit takeaway orders during the pandemic.
He said they would give it a bit more time before changing back to table service, and he expected it would only be financially worthwhile if they could seat 20 people inside.
He said the pandemic had been tough on business and revenue had been cut roughly in half, although some aspects of the business had still been going down well with customers.
“Our day trade and coffee trade has been good but we do not get as much night trade as we would like.”
Mascot’s Woodland Cafe owner Kristy Ferreira said they would only be changing slightly when the restrictions ease on Friday.
“We are going to put a couple of tables out and will remain doing takeaway but if customers want to sit there and enjoy their takeaway they are more than welcome to do that.”
She said it was not viable to do table service with only 10 patrons at a time, when you consider staffing costs and the hassle of moving all the tables and equipment. She said when the number rises to 20 patrons she would go back to table service orders.
She added because her business was relatively new and many of the staff were new they were not eligible for JobSeeker payments either, which was another factor in making the decision to remain takeaway-only for now.