Hospitality adapts to keep safe

AFTER the State Government’s announcement to relax some of the restrictions on regional Victorian businesses, many hospitality venues are once again finding their feet.

Along Armstrong Street, one of Ballarat’s busiest dining thoroughfares, cafes, restaurants and bars are spluttering back to life after months of being totally or partially closed.

Manager of Latino restaurant Pancho Simone Baur-Schmid said they were ecstatic to be able to re-open.

“People are missing that social interaction and cultural experience from being able to dine in at places,” she said.

To commemorate the re-opening of restaurants around the city, Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison and Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle joined CEO of Committee for Ballarat Michael Poulton at Pancho.

“Many Ballarat hospitality businesses have been significantly impacted due to closures required by the COVID restrictions, moving to step three means that the community can now get out and about,” Ms Addison said.

“We’re calling on Ballarat locals to come out, dine out, have a beer or a beverage, shop in Ballarat … our business needs you now more than ever.”

Although it may look and feel different, Mr Poulton said he urges residents to be adaptive in the way they support local venues.

“It’s important to continue to be safe but energise the city with energy and activity,” he said.

“I call on both businesses and our community to be innovative.

“Be prepared to walk or park a little further out, … to really support businesses making new initiatives around space.”

What are the rules for hospitality?

The basic rules for hospitality venues are currently a maximum of 10 seated patrons per indoor space, with a density of one per four- square meters, with a maximum of 20 people over two spaces and a cap of 50 seated patrons per outdoor venue space, with a density of one per two square meters.

While Pancho have commenced trading, Ms Baur-Schmid said they will continue to adapt to the needs of their customers with their safety in mind.

“We will be rearranging to restaurant to be a little more spacious to increase safety,” she said.

“If we were able to increase forward into the single car park, we could accommodate more people outside than inside and add another atmosphere to the street.”

To enable restaurants and cafes to make the most of these regulations, The City of Ballarat moved to loosen restrictions and waive fees where applicable.

The City created a new online application form for a more streamlined process towards approval of trading arrangements.

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Ben Taylor said they are doing everything in their power to enable businesses to reopen again.

“If they don’t have an outside dining permit, we’re working with them to determine how we can fast track that,” he said.

“For those businesses who are already permitted to provide outdoor dining and footpath trading, we can help them expand their footprint.”

Is there additional funding for businesses?

The Victorian Government announced a package of grants of up to $5000 to help hospitality businesses buy umbrellas, outdoor furniture and other equipment for outdoor servicing.

“We’re encouraging people who are in the industry to look at the $5000 grants that are available to help set up their business to provide fantastic outdoor environments,” Ms Settle said.

In addition, the State Government’s Outdoor Eating and Entertainment Package aims to provide $87.5 million to regional councils and businesses to enable safe and widespread outdoor dining.

Regional municipalities including the City of Ballarat will be eligible for up to $500,000 in assistance to reduce or waive permit fees or to invest in infrastructure to work with the current restrictions.

Ms Settle said she hopes Ballarat will make good use of this funding.

“It’s up to the council to apply for those grants to provide infrastructure so that we can do some innovative things like think about closing down streets and turning car parks into restaurants.”