Hospitality legend Guy Grossi calls out potential injecting room location

Guy Grossi has spoken out against having a safe injecting room directly opposite his popular restaurant.

The Aussie hospitality legend, and man behind Melbourne institution Florentino, fears for the venue’s future if the Victorian government goes ahead with putting the injecting room at the suggested location of the Salvation Army building on Bourke Street. 

Grossi said the move “will impact my business in many different ways”. He told Sunrise presenter “Firstly, I'm deeply concerned for the safety of my team.

“I have pastry chefs and bakers come into the city very early in the morning, so they are still dealing with leftovers from the night before.

“We have people locking up very late at night. I am concerned for their safety and I'm concerned for the reputation of the area and our business.

“I'm also very, very deeply concerned for the guests that come along that have to commute to the restaurant to dine here and what they will see outside. 

“It is certainly not going to be conducive to sitting outside on a beautiful day in Melbourne and having a café latte or some lovely pasta, is it?”

Grossi feared that the room would have a similar impact to the one felt by the North Richmond community where the first injecting room was set up.

That injecting room is just 100 metres from a primary school.

“This is a theatre district,” Grossi said.

“There are restaurants, cafés, shops, young children get off the trams to go to the shops and theatres, and we believe that another injecting room across the road from here is just going to increase the problem with crime and bringing an unsavoury element and inappropriate behaviour to the area.” 

The respected restaurateur wants the government to respect the integrity of the area.

“We feel that having something like this virtually on the steps of [Victoria's] Parliament House is really not the right spot for it,” he said.

Grossi and other local business people have written an open letter to Premier Daniel Andrews, asking him to consider areas where there is little community impact. 

“We need to look after all of the community, not just part of it,” he told Shirvington.

A decision on location will be made in the coming week.

Jonathan Jackson, 27^th July 2023