COVID won’t stop new business

PROSPECTIVE restaurants, bars and venues have been hit especially hard by the tightening of COVID-19 regulations.

After Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the existing 20-person cap on venues would not be increasing, some businesses plans fell through.

The recently opened Piano Bar on Sturt Street was one of many venues forced to re-think their strategy.

Having planned to re-open its doors to a sold-out crowd of 65 people, Piano Bar’s managing director Aaron Skinner initially decided to cancel.

“When they announced that it was going to stay at the 20, I though it just wouldn’t be possible,” he said.

“But working with our builder, we divided the bar into two sections to fit 20 in each section and reduced the crowd.

“Although, it’s not the best circumstances, we’re trying to do everything we can within the guidelines.”

The new addition to Mair Street modern Italian restaurant Ragazzone is another of many affected by the pandemic.

Owner Drew Harry said for businesses like his that had not yet commenced trading, lockdown was an opportunity to re-think things.

“The impact for us has been felt for sure, but I sympathise more with people that were already trading and had to close,” he said.

“We obviously weren’t open yet so it gave us the ability to postpone things and avoid having too great a loss.”

On the other hand, Piano Bar had been open for three weeks prior to the pandemic so the venue’s closure was a huge hit for staff.

“None of our staff were eligible for JobKeeper because we weren’t open for long enough and everyone was working casually to begin with anyway,” Mr Skinner said.

In the hopes COVID restrictions begin to relax, both venues plan to open and stay that way.

“We’re just continuing with Fridays and Saturdays for now but we’re excited to be in Ballarat, people have been absolutely great,” Mr Skinner said.