NT restaurants get ready to welcome diners back from May 15
TERRITORY restaurants are getting ready to begin their road to recovery after taking a massive financial hit during the COVID-19 crisis
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TERRITORY restaurants will soon begin their road to recovery after taking a massive financial hit during the COVID-19 crisis.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced late last week that restaurants – along with pubs and cafes – will once again be able to open their doors on May 15 under very strict new regulations.
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Darwin City restaurant Noodle House owner Nelson Jong, said they would not have survived much longer just selling takeaway.
“On the financial side, it’s been pretty tough,” he said.
“It’s about 90 per cent down. We just can’t survive on takeaway with wages and so on.”
Mr Jong was forced to stand down all his staff – including his store manager – during the initial restrictions while he and his wife ran the restaurant on their own.
He said he was thrilled to be able to welcome diners back into the restaurant, while remaining wary of keeping the Territory safe from COVID-19.
“We saw the suffering we had before, we will have to be careful. We don’t want it happening again,” Mr Jong said.
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“But … if we don’t give it a go (reopening restaurants) we won’t know.
“I think, and I hope, the public will understand.”
He said he has already begun preparations for reopening the restaurant under the new social distancing restrictions.
The restrictions include a two-hour time limit on patrons being inside the venue, a 1.5m social distancing rule and all alcohol must be served with a meal.
“They will tell us how it needs to be implemented,” Mr Jong said.
“I’ve already got feedback from the customers saying ‘it’s going to be a madhouse when you’re allowed to reopen’ but I said ‘we can’t let everyone in’.
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“The capacity of the restaurant will shrink down to 45 including staff.
“But we have to give it a try.”
The three-stage restriction rollback, announced by Mr Gunner, will also allow gyms, libraries, places of worship, galleries and museums to reopen on May 15.
Mr Gunner said Territorians must stick to the new restrictions to avoid a second outbreak of the virus.
“I’ll keep saying this until I’m blue in the face: easing restrictions actually increases the responsibility on all Territorians,” he said.