Lockdown to cripple hospo workers again … but there’s one shining light

This week’s sudden lockdown in Victoria has yet again seen many workers in the hospitality industry without an income.

Ballarat restaurant Mr Jones Dining stepped in to help by offering free meals on Tuesday night to those who were financially affected.

With restaurant having to once again switch to take away only, many shifts for casual workers were lost.

Owner of Mr Jones Dining, Damien Jones said it was a spontaneous decision.

"Just chatting with my wife and business partner Danielle and we just decided that it was a really difficult situation for hospitality workers that have lost their shifts," he said.

"There's no JobKeeper this time going around so it's particularly hard on businesses and, of course, them as well. It's just not a nice situation to be when we didn't think we would be here again but here we are.

"It's just a simple gesture to provide some food so we thought we'd just do some chicken and rice and see how it goes."

It didn’t take long for the word to spread through social media and throughout the local industry. Initially, Mr Jones had prepared meals for 50 people as a once off gesture but was offered assistance by other businesses.

"It's such a difficult situation, no one thought we'd be here but here we are and there's lots of businesses and business owners that I'm sure we could all get together and do a bit and get some real traction, hopefully."

Irit Jackson, 2nd June 2021