Council set to reject Bondi pop-up restaurant

Waverley Council is likely to reject a proposal for a pop-up restaurant serving alcohol on Bondi Beach.

The council believes there would be too much work required to pull off the International Beach Festival event in February 2024 which the opo up would be part off.

It also anticipates community opposition to commercial events and dangerous beach conditions.

The man behind the proposal Janek Gazecki is the same man who was behnd the controversial Amalfi Beach Club proposal.

Gazecki proposed the International Beach Festival as a 17-day event on the beach to “revitalise and diversify Bondi Beach by promoting it as a culinary destination”.

Food prep would be done in conjunction with local restaurants and off site caterers and would be brought to the beach. A licensed bar would operate from 12pm to 9.30pm and cater for up to 112 patrons at a time. 

“This IBF proposal refines and builds upon the previous Amalfi Beach Club concept, which did not proceed,” a report by staff to the council said. 

The council will vote on Tuesday but is recommending against approval “as, on balance, the benefit or return to the local community does not justify such a significant event imposition on the community and requirement of officer input”.

“Bondi Beach needs to be understood and approached not primarily as a ‘place’, a ‘brand’ or an ‘opportunity’, but first and foremost as a complex and high-risk geographical reality,” the council report stated. 

Gazecki believes he can get the concept off the ground despite the opposition.

“We strongly feel that young families and foodies, the target market for our modest activation, should also benefit from the types of commercial initiatives regularly approved for Bondi Beach,” he said.

 “We are inspired” by recent commercial events, larger than this proposed event that have been approved by the council and successfully navigated Bondi’s conditions.

“We understand new events can take time,” he said. “Having worked co-operatively with councils across Australia for close to 20 years, we are very confident of finding a way forward with Waverley Council, once their concerns are addressed.”

The report states infrastructure such electrical distribution equipment, skip bins and demountable toilet block will be required. It also states that previous events were held for one day only.

Community concern will also be a major factor in the decision.

“Any proposed event that falls into this category must have clearly identifiable benefits for the community at large that outweigh reasonable community concern with respect to the service of alcohol on Bondi Beach among other considerations,” the report stated.

Bondi Beach Precinct convenor Lenore Kulakauskas called the proposal “total madness”.

“Alcohol and water and surf do not mix,” she said. “I mean it’s asking for trouble. You can’t have people drinking on the beach.”

Jonathan Jackson, 17^th April 2023