Brisbane City Council waives fees to help food industry during Covid
About 7000 Brisbane businesses across 186 suburbs have benefited from a $6 million lifeline to keep their doors open during Covid. TOP 10 SUBURBS REVEALED
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The Brisbane food industry has been dining out on more than $6 million of waived fees which has helped keep their doors open during Covid.
About 7000 businesses across 186 suburbs had food business and footpath dining application fees waived between March 1 and December 31 last year as part of Brisbane City Council’s Economic Recovery Taskforce’s Business Relief Package.
Lady Marmalade Cafe in Stones Corner owner Sonja Searle said she initially thought her $0 fee bill was a mistake when she received it in the mail, and was overwhelmed to receive the support.
“It was fantastic to get the waiver, I was initially confused and asked Howard (her husband) if he had already paid the bills but he hadn’t” Mrs Searle said.
“I then called the hotline that Council provides for small business and they said it was correct, the fee had been waived. After everything that happened, it was just the most amazing thing, any little break that we could get financially at that time was a godsend. Being a food business, we have so much perishable goods and overheads, and our staff couldn’t just work from home so we really needed support.”
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said council had made it a priority to support hardworking owners and their staff through targeted financial relief measures.
“For food businesses, many of which are small, family-owned and the only source of people’s livelihoods, waiving these fees helped them keep their doors open and the lights on” Cr Schrinner said.
“Easing financial pressure meant they were able to focus on the important things like keeping their business running, retaining staff and pivoting their operations.
“We didn’t want this pandemic to result in empty strips of shops.”
The program was announced last March and assisted food businesses across Brisbane with waived fees from April through to the end of December.
Lady Marmalade Cafe saved over $5000 during that period which allowed them to keep staff on and focus on adjusting their service in-line with restrictions.
Top 10 suburbs for food waivers
Brisbane City: 546 businesses, $610,654 fee relief.
Fortitude Valley: 283 businesses, $284,213 fee relief.
West End: 163 businesses, $284,213 fee relief.
South Brisbane: 232 businesses, $198,343 fee relief.
Mansfield: 168 businesses, $124,333 fee relief.
Woolloongabba 131 businesses, $122,644 fee relief.
Upper Mt Gravatt: 159 businesses, $122,531 fee relief.
Sunnybank: 144 businesses, $188,088 fee relief.
St Lucia: 119 businesses, $86, 453 fee relief.
Sandgate: 55 businesses, $85,830 fee relief.
Originally published as Brisbane City Council waives fees to help food industry during Covid
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