Prestigious Gold Coast restaurant’s midnight dinner celebrates the end of lockdown for Queensland
One minute before the clock struck 12, this prestigious Gold Coast restaurant was back in business. Check out the video.
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ONE minute before the clock struck 12, Nineteen at The Star was back in business.
The prestigious rooftop restaurant hosted a decadent dinner for an exclusive guest list at 11.59pm last night, coinciding to the second with the Queensland Government’s relaxation of restrictions on hospitality.
The Queensland Government gave the green light for restaurants and cafes to operate indoor seated dining for up to 10 customers from 11.59pm, ending a lengthy period of shutdown.
Nineteen at The Star, which had been closed since March 23, marked the event with an invitation only dinner for 10 VIPs including the Mayor Tom Tate and Mayoress Ruth Tate, Tourism Australia chairman Bob East, plus leading Gold Coast business figures in Bec and Brett Frizelle, Billy and Jackie Cross and The Star Gold Coast COO Jessica Mellor.
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Mr Tate encouraged Australians to “forget about going overseas” and come to the Gold Coast to “let us entertain you”.
Mr East said this is “an absolutely symbolic start” to the road to recovery and encouraged Australians to engage with others in a socially responsible way.
“It’s really important on so many fronts,” he said. “Incredibly important for the economy … and for your own wellbeing.”
Ms Mellor said the shutdown period had been incredibly difficult for The Star Gold Coast with more than 95 per cent of its 2500 workforce temporarily stood down.
“We can’t wait to bring them back into our business,” she said.
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The Star Gold Coast CEO Matt Bekier said the event heralded the symbolic start of a long road back for tourism, hospitality and the Australian economy.
“Stage one of the relaxation in restrictions is a small but significant step forward for the tourism and hospitality sector,” he said.
“The industry has been decimated over the past couple of months and the pain will remain for some time to come.
“International tourism will be off the radar for an indefinite period and tourism bodies will need to pivot with a concentration on the domestic market.
“But we need to start rebooting the economy.”
Mr Bekier said reopening Nineteen with a maximum of 10 guests was not a revenue-making decision.
“It’s a decision based on giving our customers the dining experiences they’ve been waiting so patiently to enjoy again,” Mr Bekier said.
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“It’s also about standing people back up, getting some of them back to work, and preparing as a business for a full-scale reopening of all our properties when that opportunity arises.
“We had to stand down around 95 per cent of our workforce and we’ve worked hard to continue communicating with them and finding ways to help them through this crisis.
“The reopening of Nineteen is just the first step to resuming our broader operations.”
Nineteen will open to the public for general lunch and dinner bookings from 12pm Saturday.
It’s one of dozens of restaurants planning to open for dine-in customers this weekend.
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