Chefs steamed up over Dan Andrews’ hospitality backflip

Restaurant owners blast ‘pathetic double standards’ after moves to allow up to 50 patrons in hospitality venues postponed.

Star chef Shane Delia is furious that the Andrews government has backpedalled on moves to allow up to 50 people in hospitality venues after a new coronavirus outbreak. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Small business owners in Victoria are irate after the Andrews government gave them less than 48 hours notice that a relaxation of restrictions which would have allowed up to 50 patrons in hospitality venues from Monday would not go ahead.

Instead, they will be allowed no more than 20 patrons until at least July 12.

TV chef Shane Delia, the owner and founder of the Maha group of restaurants, hit out at what he termed a “pathetic double standard” which saw the state government endorse a Victoria Police decision not to fine any of the 10,000 people who attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne‘s CBD almost a fortnight ago, while threatening restaurants who let 21 patrons through their doors with on-the-spot fines of $9,913.

“People have a right to protest and express themselves and the (BLM) cause is absolutely justified, but we’ve also got a broader responsibility to the Australian public based on the sacrifices that everybody has made,” Mr Delia said.

“My grandmother passed away three weeks ago and I couldn’t even attend her funeral, and then to see tens of thousands of people putting it all at risk, and now we’re bearing the brunt, it just makes me so angry.”

Mr Delia’s restaurants have been closed for the duration of the pandemic, but he had planned to open them to up to 50 patrons from Monday.

Many of his staff do not qualify for JobKeeper, but Mr Delia has kept as many as possible employed during the pandemic through new finish-at-home restaurant meal delivery business Providoor.

“We‘d just lifted our staff’s hopes that they were going to be back working on full wages from Monday,” Mr Delia said.

“We’ve got bookings we’re going to have to cancel, we’ve got fridges full of food, we’ve put in orders with suppliers,” he said.

“We made an educated decision to reopen our venues based on the instruction given by the government, and we don’t take those decisions lightly. We’ve got limited resources.

“I’ve got hundreds of thousands of dollars of deferred payments to make. This doesn‘t help.”

“I mean give us a break. We’re the first ones in the firing squad when there’s been an allegation of wrongful pay, we’re the providers of employment to the underskilled and needy, and we’re the first people to get kicked in the balls every time something goes wrong.”

Franz Madlener, who runs the Arcobar restaurant in Moorabbin, in Melbourne’s southeast, said he had hired five extra staff members who are not eligible for JobKeeper to open for 50 patrons from Monday and now had no work for them.

“Under the Fair Work Act, because we’ve rostered these people on, we still have to pay them,” Mr Madlener said.

Franz Madlener, with wife and owner Brook Pollock at Arcobar, asks Dan Andrews to ‘give us a break’. Picture: Hamish Blair

“This is an industry on its knees, and there‘s been no thought from government about the impact of this.

“Why is 20 patrons still safe but 50 isn‘t, when the Bunnings across the road from us is chock-a-block, when (shopping centre) Southland is chock-a-block?”

“The government trusts us with food safety, it trusts us with the responsible service of alcohol, but they won‘t trust us to manage our own seating.”

Chef Scott Pickett, who owns South Yarra restaurant Matilda and Northcote restaurant Estelle, said the last-minute decision not to ease restrictions was “not ideal”.

“You’ve started to re-employ staff, you’ve started to load the fridge up, you’ve taken on bookings,” he said.

“Now we’ve got to work out who we call to tell them they can’t come.

“It’s ironic that it’s two weeks after the mass protest.

“We all agree with the (BLM) cause, but everybody’s had to make sacrifices.

“Imagine if my personal protest was I’m just not going to worry about the 20 people rule. I’d be fined straight away.

“This isn’t just going to affect us and our staff and customers either. I’ve got farmers and suppliers who now won’t have orders to fill.”

Mr Pickett said the majority of his staff had not qualified for JobKeeper, because they were either not Australian citizens or had not been employed for long enough.

“I’ve got three young French guys at Estelle who are applying for permanent residency after working for us for five years, and they don’t qualify,” he said.

“They’ve been here all that time, worked hard, paid tax, paid their visa fees, and they don’t qualify.”

“At Matilda I’ve got 16 chefs on my roster and only four qualified for JobKeeper. At Estelle I’ve got nine chefs and one qualified.

“Despite that, I’ve managed not to lay off one full timer, but we have had to work as a team and reduce people’s hours to 20, 40, 60, 80 per cent.

“It’s been a real testament to the team and their loyalty to each other that they’ve been able to make that work, but not being able open on Monday is going to make it things even tougher.”

Manager of Melbourne‘s flagship Flower Drum restaurant, Jason Lui, said the largest space in his restaurant, which would usually seat 80 patrons and was set to seat 50 from Monday, was now restricted to 20.

“From our perspective as operators, it’s really frustrating to be sprung with this last minute,” Mr Lui said.

“To get told late on a Saturday afternoon that you can‘t open for 50 as planned on Monday, it makes things pretty difficult.”