Restaurants hungry for assistance as Covid-19 outbreaks threaten recovery

The pending end of the government support has many in the hospitality industry clamouring for rent relief and further assistance.

Greg Rips at his Third Wave cafe in Melbourne: ‘JobKeeper is what kept us alive.’ Picture: Aaron Francis

The pending end of the government support has many in the hospitality industry clamouring for rent relief and further assistance as future outbreaks loom large, a survey of business owners reveals.

The findings come as the COVID-19 outbreak on Sydney’s northern beaches threatens to hit the industry in Australia’s biggest city at Christmas, a critical time for trading.

The survey of 300 restaurants by Deliveroo revealed 43 per cent of restaurateurs wanted the JobKeeper program extended.

About 1 in 10 per cent said their future prospects appeared “negative”.

Mandated rent reductions were called for by 59 per cent of respondents.

The hospitality sector has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, with recent ABS data revealing jobs have been slashed by 12.8 per cent since March.

At the time of the survey, in late November, 52 per cent of respondents said they had no bookings for Christmas.

Almost 40 per cent of restaurants on the Deliveroo platform were open on Christmas Day in 2019. The owner of Melbourne restaurant Third Wave, Greg Rips, said without JobKeeper over the long months of the second wave he would have been forced to shut his doors.

“JobKeeper for us is what kept us alive,” he said.

“All the changes we’ve made, moving locations, changing the menu — if JobKeeper wasn’t here it wouldn’t have been enough.”

“If JobKeeper wasn’t around 90 per cent of our employees wouldn’t be working with us.”

Mr Rips said he planned to keep the restaurant open over Christmas in a bid to make up for lost time.

But he was wary of what 2021 held in store, noting that the recent outburst of activity may not last.

“Business has been good since the lockdown finished, but that could be pent-up demand — people couldn’t celebrate,” he said.

“I don’t think the last one-and-a-half months will be representative of next year.”

Deliveroo Australia chief executive Ed McManus said the failure of many businesses demonstrated the need for landlords to rethink rents.

“We can’t expect businesses including restaurants will simply bounce back for various reasons,” he said.

The delivery platform has had a booming year while many across the hospitality space have suffered, prevented from seating patrons for months by health restrictions.

But Mr McManus said it was likely the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic would reshape the hospitality sector for decades to come.

“We are seeing more delivery-only kitchens open up,” Mr McManus said.

“Deliveroo operates some. We have what we call the additions kitchen.

“Today it’s still a small part of the industry but it’s growing and responding to consumer demand.”