Melbourne operators call for earlier reopening

Ask any operator in Melbourne how much revenue is down compared to last year and it’s likely you’ll get the same answer — at least 90 per cent. For some, it’s 100 per cent. Others have successfully made the switch to takeaway, however profits have still taken a hit. 

The staggering figures are why many are calling for industry to reopen sooner than planned under the Victorian Government’s roadmap to reopening. Currently, metropolitan operators will open for predominantly outdoor dining with a patron cap. 

“For everyone, I think 2020 has been, well, it has been horrific,” says Ben Logan, manager at Di Stasio Citta in Melbourne’s CBD. “But the second lockdown [in Melbourne] has exacerbated that. The difficulty in Victoria is not knowing and, to some degree, not understanding. The hospitality industry as a whole is supportive [of the fact] Victoria needs to fight COVID-19. Nobody is suggesting we should open everything tomorrow, but with the further decreases in case numbers, we don’t understand why we can’t start having a real conversation about indoor and outdoor dining.” 

Di Stasio Restaurant’s owners Mallory Wall and Rinaldo Di Stasio are just two of the industry stalwarts that have signed a new campaign calling on the Victorian Government to reconsider the timeline of its roadmap. 

The It’s Time campaign — which has also been signed by Alla Wolf-Tasker AM, Andrew McConnell, Karen Martini, Chris Lucas, Scott Pickett and Frank Van Haandel — calls for a fast-tracked recovery that includes indoor trading with a maximum of 50 patrons per enclosed space; observing social distancing; density requirements; contact recording and appropriate sanitation. Outdoor trading with a maximum of 50 patrons per outdoor area; observing social distancing; density requirements; contact recording and appropriate sanitation are also part of the petition.

With the Victorian Government is currently working on plans to ease the transition to outdoor dining, operators such as Logan are concerned the model alone won’t suit many businesses.

“Caterina’s down the road from us, for example, is an underground restaurant,” says Logan. “What are they going to do? They’re talking about closing roads off and putting [events & pop-ups] in parks — you need people who know what they’re doing for that. Who’s giving the ideas about how outdoor dining will work in a park? Everyone knows how cool Melbourne’s laneways are, but you can’t have a whole business model based on the weather here.”

The It’s Time cohort wants indoor trading to resume before the flagged date of 23 November, arguing transmission hasn’t been prevalent in cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars, which already operate with stringent hygiene procedures in place and strict contact tracing protocols. 

Logan says financial support in the form of grants and payroll tax refunds are welcome, but aren’t a long-term solution for businesses, their employees and suppliers. “We’re some of the lucky ones because we got our staff on JobKeeper,” he says. “But the rest of the industry has people on JobSeeker and some of the visa holders are lost — a lot of them returned to their country of origin.” 

The sooner the industry can reopen, the sooner everyone gets back to work. “If you get restaurants open, a farmer that hasn’t been able to sell produce for x number of months can start selling product again and the delivery driver that picks it up starts working again,” says Logan. 

Industry leaders are, of course, concerned about the safety of their employees and patrons. However, operators are frustrated with the lack of consultation from the state government. “We want to work together,” says Logan. “Initially, the feeling was, ‘what on earth is going on?’ With It’s Time, high-profile restaurateurs and people that are concerned about their future and their businesses in general have come together and said, ‘let’s work together with the government on a realistic outcome for the hospitality industry’, which has been utterly decimated since March.

“‘It’s Time’ doesn’t mean tomorrow. It means it’s time to start communicating, it’s time to start working in a collective way to be able to facilitate economic rebuilding within the state of Victoria.

November is still a long time away. We’ve lost everything this year. We have to keep fighting because Melbourne will lose its character if it loses all these iconic restaurants.” 

As part of the It’s Time campaign, 37 hospitality professionals have penned an open letter to Premier Daniel Andrews and created an e-petition to Victorian Legislative Council.