Coronavirus: Luke Mangan’s recipe for restaurant recovery

Hospitality bosses are calling for an end to the mass-casualisation of the workforce in wake of crisis.

Chef Luke Mangan at his restaurant Luke's Kitchen in Waterloo, Sydney. Picture: Britta Campion

Hospitality bosses are calling for an end to the mass-casualisation of the workforce after their industry was hit hard by the coronavirus, with concerns up to 30 per cent of restaurants may never ­reopen.

Chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan, who owns Sydney-based eateries Luke’s Kitchen and Glass Brasserie, is calling on the government to review workplace legislation to simplify it and perhaps give greater incentives for employers to hire people on more secure contracts.

“The Fair Work Act is quite complicated for anyone to understand,” Mangan said. “It is ultimately up to the employer on how you want to employ people, but with this virus it’s a new world and a new beginning and the legislation needs to be simplified.”

He said simplification could lead to greater job security and avoid wage scandals. He is working with Restaurant & Catering Australia to lobby the government to enact the changes.

“We need an overhaul of the ­industry, this is the time we can fix the industry for the better,” Mangan said. “The simplification of the workplace agreement could benefit everyone. All the people we’ve had to stand down — from waiters and waitresses to young chefs and apprentices — live week-to-week on casual wages and there are so many people who aren’t getting paid now because they don’t fit into some category of how long you’ve worked in one place or what visa you’re on.”

Mangan is also advocating for the fringe benefits tax to be abolished so companies can entertain again without being severely penalised. “If that tax could be dropped it’s going to give restaurateurs a real chance to get through this,” he said. “I’ve got this gut feeling that we may lose up to 30 per cent of restaurants who will simply not be able to reopen or recover from this. So, as an industry, we need all the help we can get.”

He said the JobKeeper scheme was a good start and would enable him to continue employing some of his team.

He is also working with Restaurant & Catering Australia and other groups on initiatives that could ease hardship.

“Both hospitality and tourism have been really hard hit, so if we can get Tourism Australia involved somehow we could get a campaign going about the importance of going to restaurants and dining in cafes again,” he said.