Staffing crisis decimates hospo industry: Cali Beach, Pavilion Cafe and Cafe Catalina close

More high profile Glitter Strip hospitality businesses have been forced to close amid crippling Covid-induced staff shortages. HAVE YOUR SAY

More high profile Glitter Strip hospitality businesses have been forced to close amid crippling Covid-induced staff shortages.

A major Gold Coast hospitality operator and veteran said the daily situation with staffing and being able to operate was always uncertain: “It’s like tightrope at our venue right now – just never know what each day will bring.”

Cali Beach Club Surfers Paradise. Picture: Mike Batterham

Another major operator with multiple venues said: “Every day is an absolute fresh fiery hell. May we all get some relief very soon.”

A lavish new Surfers Paradise rooftop venue which only opened in September was the latest to announce it would close temporarily.

In a statement on social media, operators of Cali Beach said the club would be closed on Thursday, January 6 to allow staff a day off to rest.

“As with most of our industry, we are dealing with staffing shortages and issues surrounding Covid-19,” the statement read.

“Although we have tried our best to remain open, with the current shortages we have made the difficult decision to close tomorrow (Thursday).”

The club’s sister venue, Surfers Pavilion, remains open.

A Cali Beach spokeswoman said the venue was expected to reopen on Friday, January 7 and remain open at the weekend.

Another two popular Southport cafes also announced they would close temporarily.

Southport Surf Club’s Pavilion Cafe will be closed from January 6 until further notice due to staff shortages, but its restaurant will trade as normal.

Cafe Catalina located at the Broadwater Parklands was forced to shut until further notice due to Covid-19 and “unforeseen circumstances”.

Operators have not given a reopening date.

“(The) last few days have been tough for us and thank you sincerely for your support in these times,” they said in a statement on social media.

‘Save our summer’ as 120 staff call in sick – January 5

The Gold Coast’s tourism boss has called for a “whole of government” approach to saving the city’s summer – as it’s revealed a major tourism operator had 120 staff call in sick at once.

The tourism sector, the city’s biggest industry has seen its summer of recovery derailed by the rapid spread of the Omicron Covid variant which has sparked unworkable ‘close contact’ definitions and test result delays decimating staff ranks.

A spike in infection has forced many of the Coast’s most prominent venues to temporarily close, with one of Broadbeach’s top restaurants yesterday lamenting a four-day wait for negative PCR tests for staff had cost it “fortunes”.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said poor communication of changes to the definition of close contacts and the lack of available rapid antigen tests was crippling the industry.

Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O'Callaghan during the Reimagine Forum at The Island in Surfers Paradise. Picture Glenn Hampson

“The Gold Coast was banking on $280m summer but this pathway to recovery is quickly turning into a pathway to business closures,” she said.

“There are significant concerns from the industry about confusion and issues around testing, the access to rapid antigen tests.

“To put it in perspective, we had one of our major tourism operators yesterday tell us they recorded 120 members of their team called in sick and are awaiting test results.

“As a result of this they are operating at 40 per cent capacity today.

“Another major accommodation provider report that even though the demand is there, they are only selling rooms at up to 70 per cent capacity because they do not have the staff to service them.”

Ms O’Callaghan called for better communication around the changes to the definition of close contacts but was against further changes to it.

She said getting rapid tests into the community quickly was the key to solving the critical staffing shortages.

“We need a whole of government approach, working with industry to quickly fix these issues so we can save what is left of our summer and ensure that we make the most of what that $280m could mean for the economy.”

Meanwhile, Palm Beach’s Balboa restaurant owner Cherie Uzan said they made the decision to close to give staff a break after many had to work with no days off due to staff shortages.

“We need to give our staff that are working a break otherwise they will end up burnt out,” she said.

“It was not the amount of hours in a day the staff were working it was the lack of days off and working straight through.

“We pride ourselves on a quality experiences and could not sustain this with staff shortages.”

Ms Uzan said the four-and-a-half star venue was losing around $20,000 a day, if not more.

Balboa Italian at Palm Beach. Picture: Richard Gosling

“We are fortunate that we are a very busy restaurant and we are heavily booked for months in advance,” she said.

“In saying that we have to call so many people who had booked months ago to cancel their bookings.

“It’s disappointing.”

Ms Uzan said customers had been understanding and the venue was going to try their best to accommodate them when they reopen.

She said the government should have planned for a mass testing and calculated how hospitality venues would survive.

“The time that is dragging out to get people back to work is unacceptable,” Ms Uzan said.

“I don't think anyone who is sick should be lining up for five hours and then turned away.

“I do a Covid sanitary clean every day, all my staff are double masked and we make sure we are checking everyone is vaccinated.

“We have been lucky enough to not have any staff members test positive to Covid.

“We are really trying to protect the customers and our staff.”