Hospitality industry welcomes back patrons

ON MONDAY this week, cafes, restaurants and pubs across the Surf Coast opened their doors to customers for the first time since March.

The venues are presently limited to 20 patrons per enclosed space. This is set to increase to 50 on June 22, and 100 in mid-July.

There are also rigorous protocols re-opening venues have to follow, such as steps to maintain social distancing and taking down the details of all incoming patrons to help with contact tracing if anyone tests positive for the virus.

Bomboras Torquay co-owner Tom McGrath said the venue was well equipped to meet social distancing demands.

“It’s very spacious inside. We can have 17 people inside the restaurant, 10 people on our enclosed deck area, and we’ve put a marquee up out the front; we can fit another 18 people in that.”

The restaurant has also been doing extra cleaning and putting up signage to advise patrons of social distancing protocol.

Mr McGrath said the restaurant was embracing the extra work as it could now able to welcome back more staff members.

“It’s a lot more opening hours for us, so we can use a lot of staff that weren’t working many hours and then get a few more of our casuals back on.

“We haven’t been able to do everything we can. So, having people come into the restaurant and eat means we can offer a lot more.

“I think this weekend will be pretty busy because everyone will be excited to get out, it’s a long weekend as well so there may be some visitors coming to town.”

Bomboras’ coffee window will continue from 6am each morning. They will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from Thursday to Sunday, and breakfast and lunch on Monday.

Bomboras has been among the many venues that have been forced to focus more on takeaway.

Beach Hotel owner Jamie Collins said while lockdown had been difficult, the community had been great supporters of his business.

“We’ve been doing takeaway meals from Wednesday to Sunday night, and that has been fantastic.

“The local community really got behind it and it’s beaten my expectations. Some nights we crack 100 meals.

“If the patrons want it, we’ll still run with it as well. If people just want to grab a meal we’re still going to be offering that.”

Mr Collins said the hotel had gone to great lengths to ensure the safety of returning patrons.

“We’ve had the carpets professionally cleaned, every chair and table has been cleaned, we’ve got electronic sanitiser dispensers in the toilets and all the doors on the way in so people don’t have to touch anything.”

The Beach Hotel will be open for dinner from Wednesday to Sunday as well as lunch from Friday to Sunday.