Phillip Fikkers,owner of Potts Point restaurant Macleay Street Bistro which has seen more than 70 per cent of bookings cancelled since the state eased some COVID-19 restrictions on December 17,describes it as “the ghost of Christmas past”.
“At the moment we lose close to 80 per cent of bookings every day,thankfully 50 per cent are re-booked because we’re the only place open,but the loss is still at least 30 per cent,” Mr Fikkers said,crediting the bounce back to a loyal customer base and the fact many other nearby restaurants have been forced to close.
“With the rules constantly changing people are terrified and honestly can you blame them?” he said.
“As soon as[the NSW Government] got rid of masks and QR codes people stopped coming. Now those rules are back,but it’s too late and consumer confidence is gone.”
With capacity for 38 guests,Mr Fikkers says Macleay Street Bistro usually makes more than $14,000 from December 31. In 2020,it was just $2,500 and he expects a similar outcome on Friday.
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Mr Fikkers spent $128,000 of his personal savings to retain his staff across the four months Sydney was locked down in 2021. “The business had lost 80 per cent of revenue and could not afford to pay them. But alas,the ghost of the Christmas past has returned again,we can only hope and pray for better times ahead in 2022,” he said.
Solotel is the group behind some of Sydney’s most iconic New Year’s Eve spots including Aria,Opera Bar,Chiswick and North Bondi Fish but this year some venues have been forced to close.
“Across the group we’ve had to cancel lots of different events ... It’s the first year Chiswick won’t be open for New Year’s Eve in its history,” marketing director Robert Squillacioti said.
While Aria’s $1,450 dining experience and Opera Bar’s $495 outdoor event remain close to fully booked on New Years Eve,Mr Squillacioti said many other Solotel venues were struggling to open their doors with testing delays rendering close to half of the group’s 1200 staff unable to work.
“It’s now a day by day gamble whether we can open a venue depending on whether there’s enough negative staff,and they need to feel that it’s safe for them to come to work,” he said.
“This is crippling the industry,and we’re calling out to the government for help so that it’s sorted for businesses,but the biggest worry is that there are thousands of people unable to work during an expensive period because of testing delays,” he said.
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