Yeronga restaurant owners hounded by Brisbane City Council over trading hours
Two restaurant owners in Yeronga claim that Brisbane City Council are unreasonably hounding them over trading hours regulations.
Cafe 63 owner Anthony Kekkou and Lorenzo Nobilio, who owns Osteria Epoca, claim they have been asked to dob each other in and that the council has even filmed them to ensure they don’t enter their premises outside of trading hours.
Osteria Epoca is allowed to open at 6am while Cafe 63’s can start an hour later, with the owners claiming their battle over access to their restaurants outside of operating hours has cost them tens of thousands of dollars in both trade and legal fees.
Kekkou said he used to open earlier until the council received a complaint and now he can’t access his cafe before 7am, even to set-up.
“Even though we are approved for 7am, I can’t serve until about 7.30am because I am not allowed in beforehand … otherwise I will be fined,” Kekkou told the Courier Mail.
The council “interrogated” Nobilio being about whether Kekkou had accessed cafe 63 before 7am.
“I’ve been in the restaurant business for 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Nobilio said.
“They came in here one morning and interrogated me about whether Anthony had stepped foot inside Cafe 63 before 7am.”
A council spokesman said four residents had made 22 complaints since last year.
“Council has received 22 complaints since July 2017, with claims that these two businesses have been operating outside of their permitted hours, which Council is required to investigate,” the spokesperson told the Courier Mail.
“The operating hours of these two businesses were either requested by the businesses owners or determined through a court order.”
Nobilio says the council have been unreasonable in defining the hours of operation.
“First they said I could sell a steak up until 10pm, then a few months later it was all guests have to be out by 10pm. Now it’s all lights out by 10,” he said.
“We have spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to keep the council happy.”
Sheridan Randall, 24th October 2018
