Iconic Sydney CBD restaurant shuts its doors due to cost pressures
Long Chim restaurant is the latest Sydney restaurant forced to close its doors due to cost pressures.
The iconic Thai restaurant has faced huge rent hikes, power outages and a drop in customers as more people turn to work-from-home practices.
The restaurant is now one of 26,000 businesses including 4012 hospitality businesses that have become insolvent since 2022.
While Long Chim general manager Jill Vasuvanich and Michelin-starred chef and owner David Thompson looked into every cost-cutting measure possible, keeping the CBD venue open was unsustainable.
“Every cost is going up,” Vasuvanich said. “Last year we tried to put the prices up, but we feel like it’s not fair for the customers, so we put the price back to normal … The labour we tried to cut, but if we cut the labour it means our service goes down. We tried to make it work, but it’s very, very hard.”
The venue wasn’t helped when it lost $30,000 in lost revenue due to the latest round of power outages in NSW.
According to executive chef Andreas Grandville, the kitchen went from 12 chefs to around five, with only two full timers.
“A lot of people in this Long Chim team have been here since the opening, so we’re talking about six-eight years. We’ve become close friends over the years,” Grandville said. “It has been a great pleasure for me to run the kitchen here and it’s a great shame to lose this. (All the staff) are looking for jobs, and it will be very hard to bring them back. Fingers crossed, I’m positive.”
Jonathan Jackson, 18th December 2024
