COVID keeps people at home as restaurants continue to suffer

For many NSW restaurant owners, the current COVID situation is worse than the lockdowns. 

Even though there are only a few restrictions in place, many customers are staying away from restaurants, opting for the safety of their own homes. To add to this plight, no financial assistance is available, leaving restaurant owners in a financial struggle.

On Sunday Premier Dominic Perrottet announced new changes to the state’s isolation rules, allowing “critical workers” in the food and cleaning supply chains to skip isolation if they are close contacts with a positive case, provided they test negative and are not symptomatic.

“This change today will ensure we secure those important and crucial distribution networks,” he said.

“We are constantly assessing the evolving situations in front of us. Where we can make changes, we will. NSW Health works with all the industries right across the board… As we continue to move through, we might have to make further changes.

“For a lot of those industries, ultimately, the best thing we can do is remain open.”

Within minutes of this announcement, Restaurants and Catering Industry Association chief executive Wes Lambert contacted the state government requesting this exemption be extended to the hospitality sector.

“Ultimately, while they have acknowledged the receipt of the request, they continue to consult and monitor and hopefully they will see what we see. The hospitality industry is continuing to be hammered as consumer spending plummets.”

Restaurateur Luke Mangan will be writing to Mr Perrottet, requesting financial assistance.

“There needs to be some sort of support for small businesses with no customers but the same overheads. They are still paying rent and customers are just not going out.”

Irit Jackson, 10^th January 2022