David Malaspina among top restaurateurs warning Melbourne has been ‘killed’ by shutdown
Melbourne’s hospitality giants say the city is on the brink of a ‘calamitous wipe-out’ under the current road map to reopening, saying more must be done to bring patrons back to the CBD.
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Pellegrini’s owner David Malaspina says the city has been “killed” by shutdowns, and he blames it on poor advice given to Premier Daniel Andrews.
Mr Malaspina said he had to close down the iconic Bourke St cafe during stage four restrictions because the city was like a ghost town.
“Some traders are trying to do coffees and takeaway food, others have just closed, there’s no one to serve,” he said.
“We are actually killing our city.”
Mr Malaspina said that Mr Andrews had done a good job handling the pandemic up to a point, but the hotel quarantine fiasco had changed all that.
“I don’t think his advisers live in the real world or understand how the workforce operates,” he said.
Mr Malaspina said there had to be a plan to get workers and visitors back into the city safely because businesses could not survive for months without patrons.
He said that government ideas to focus on outdoor dining first did not take into account Melbourne’s changeable weather, so a return to indoor service was crucial.
Mr Malaspina said his famous father Sisto, who was murdered in a terrorist attack in 2018, wouldn’t have coped well with lockdowns.
“I believe dad would have still gone into the shop and stood there behind the coffee machine just to talk to people,” he said.
“But you’re not supposed to stand there chatting when you have to take your coffee away.”
Mr Malaspina said he was looking forward to reopening Pellegrini’s when restrictions eased.
More of Melbourne’s top restaurateurs and publicans say an urgent rework of the Victorian Government’s road map to reopening is needed to avoid a “calamitous wipe out” of the hospitality industry.
A lack of meaningful engagement with the industry they say has resulted in a plan to reopen that is “extreme and unworkable” and are calling for a review to enable restaurants, cafes and pubs to reopen safely and sensibly.
Almost 40 industry professionals have signed an open letter to Premier Daniel Andrews asking for government to collaborate on a plan to safely open earlier than the current road map specifies.
Andrew McConnell from Trader House Restaurants, which includes Cumulus Inc, Supernormal and Gimlet in the CBD, said if restaurants were unable to open until November it would cause closures and mass unemployment across the industry.
“We’re on our knees. Everyone’s goal is about survival, it’s not about making money at all, it’s about survival.
“It’s not just about saving businesses, it’s about saving jobs, lives, mental health and wellbeing.
“We need a more concise, more considered plan, a strategy specifically for hospitality,” he said.
Karen Martini of Mr Wolf in St Kilda said the plan was a “death wish” for hospitality.
“The brand of Melbourne is to have vibrant drinking and eating in every facet, from restaurants to cafes to bars. Melbourne is known worldwide to visit for those reasons and I cannot for the life of me understand why you wouldn’t cherish that vibrancy that has taken 20 years to get to.
“What was announced was a death wish for something that should be cherished in this city.”
Under the current road map, hospitality venues will remain takeaway only until October 26 and allowed limited outdoor dining after that if cases fall below 5 per day across 14 days.
Indoor dining will resume no earlier than November 23 and only then once there has been zero cases for 14 days.
“The thresholds are wishful thinking. We want to plan, and the plan that was put forward is not feasible. It’s not going to activate, ever,” Ms Martini said.
Chris Lucas of Lucas Group, which includes Chin Chin, Baby, Kong and Kisume restaurants, said the industry needed a plan to reopen that was not “so abstract and absolute”.
“The plan prosecuted by the government is extreme and unworkable. Right now we are pegged to a plan that says we cannot open our venues indoors until there’s 14 days of zero transmissions. That has not happened globally,” he said.
Mr Lucas said if the current reopening plan was not revised to allow the industry to reopen by early November, up to one in two hospitality businesses would fail, causing up to 200,000 job losses.
“It’s a calamitous wipe out of the very heart and soul of what makes Melbourne so special,” he said.
“It’s a societal issue and (hospitality is) the canary in the coalmine. This is a small-medium business crisis and it’s turning into a humanitarian crisis.”
Liz Grossi Rodriguez from the Grossi Group said hospitality businesses wanted to reopen safely, but that the proposed plan “won’t see us open before Christmas”.
“A lot of businesses I’ve spoken to, people calling me in tears. Some people saying, I want to leave Victoria, some people saying we’re not going to make it.
“It’s a real mess.
“Our business (Grossi Florentino) is Australia’s longest-running restaurant. It started in 1900, it’s been through wars, it’s been through recessions, been through god knows what, and I’m thinking to myself, how do we get through COVID? It’s not the pandemic, it’s everything else that’s gone on because of the pandemic.
“We will be rebuilding the city for at least a generation. A lot of the damage is already done.”
Shane Delia said he didn’t know when he would be able to reopen his acclaimed subterranean CBD restaurant Maha again.
“There are going to be casualties, but the biggest casualty is going to be the cultural one.
“Melbourne’s culture will be shaken by this, food culture, sport culture, the arts. It’s intrinsic to Melbourne. It breaks my heart,” he said.
It’s not only restaurateurs railing at the road map. Victoria’s leading publicans have also voiced concerns about the viability of the current reopening plans.
Andy Mullins from Sand Hill Road, which owns nine venues across Melbourne including Hotel Esplanade and Garden State Hotel in the CBD, said workers were leaving the industry and the city was on its knees.
“We are begging and pleading for help. We can’t be shut down for any longer. The city will be changed, forever.”
Paul Waterson from the Australian Venue Co, which runs 32 venues throughout Victoria, said the Government needed to consult with industry to navigate our of lockdown.
“Not just industry bodies and groups, but the people at the coalface. We need more financial support from the Government and the road map must take larger venues, such as pubs, into account when capacity limits are set. It is the only way we can save Melbourne’s pubs.”
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