I’ve travelled a fair bit around the state over the past few weeks and the frustration of small business owners is eerily the same, particularly in the hospitality sector: “We can’t get staff and we can’t get customers.” 

The simple fact is that, facing those conditions, businesses can’t make money. Most are bleeding money. They are living through a shadow lockdown without support, but the bills don’t stop. 

Many hospitality businesses had to close for prolonged periods during their peak season. Some in hospitality have told me they make 30 per cent of their annual revenue in the month from late December to late January. 

In some tourist towns over the break, you couldn’t get a meal at a restaurant, pub or cafe because they were forced to close due to Covid-19 isolation requirements. 

Those that could open, even for brief stints, were whacked with last-minute cancellations because their customers had to isolate, density quotients and customer hesitancy surrounding the Omicron outbreak. 

In some cases they could welcome customers but can’t get staff, in other cases they could get staff but not enough customers. 

In many cases, tourists hoping and trying to support local businesses threw up their arms in frustration and went home, where at least they had a decent kitchen to cook their own food and spend time with family and friends. 

It’s fair to say it was a perfect storm (or some other kind of storm) that created a kind of shadow lockdown or lockdown light. 

The CBD was not immune either. I walked back to the CBD from the tennis on Monday night. On a gloriously balmy Melbourne evening, you could have shot a cannon down Collins St or a bazooka down Bourke St. I thought to myself “what’s going on?”. 

Our culinary scene is a major contributor to our global reputation as a cultured and refined place. We are an “experience” state, and a big part of that experience is food and wine. It’s about what you taste, smell and feel here, not just about what you see. 

Our wonderful pubs, cafes and restaurants are truly world class and truly unique. Especially when considered as a collective. Other world cities have a few must-go places, but our appeal lies in our depth and diversity. 

Sadly, many of those eateries were not able to serve us when we would usually rely on them to be open and ready to greet us. If we don’t do something now, then many might not be there at all for us. 

Where would we go for those special occasions? Where would we meet our friends for a drink? Where would we have that informal “catch up over a brew”? Where would we meet our future partners and new friends? 

Maybe we are through the worst of the current wave, I hope so, but it’s like a drought with no one knowing exactly when the rain will come. 

Mum-and-dad hospitality businesses need customers and they need them soon. Everyone must play a part. We can help by either paying a visit for a meal or order a takeaway from those places offering the service. 

Governments can help by providing financial assistance to supplement cashflow. Already we have seen the state government extend the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme which was welcome, but these operators need more. 

Maybe a cash injection, maybe payroll tax relief, maybe BAS/GST relief for a quarter? Maybe it’s time to think about another voucher system to stimulate our appetite for going out again?

And at the same time, maybe it’s time to start planning a return to offices to give these businesses a boost too. Pick a date, and that can start to signal the end of the drought. Let’s own that ambition and own it together. 

As Joni Mitchell sang “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”. If we want our favourite pubs, restaurants and cafes to be there, we need to help. It’s too late when the door is bolted closed for good. 

The good times we have experienced at these places will come back – and we want to ensure as many as possible can make it through. 

This piece was published in the Herald Sun on 28 January 2022.