Why we feel relief and why we need to be given a clear runway

I listened to the premier’s announcement that we could reopen in my car. I was primarily worried that I would cry with the hopeful anticipation of a positive message for our industry. I was right on both assumptions.

I had just finished a second meeting involving 4 of the best venues in Melbourne in an effort to close the surrounding streets for the summertime and bringing a fantastic execution that Melbourne will love for summers to come, not just this summer. That comes off the back of an ongoing conversation we have been having with a collective group of over 30 unique venues in another sector of Melbourne. I am so proud and excited about what we have built in the early stages of this development. If we get the go-ahead by the Melbourne City Council, it will be a summer event that would of likely never been allowed in Melbourne. The event is to save independent restaurants in our great city, to give them belief again, and let customers experience what they have been missing for seven months - genuine hospitality.

I didn’t realise it when I joined the industry as a bakers assistant in 1997 that I was joining a group of people who simply want to serve. Yes, it may be a transient part of people’s employment history, but even when I speak to people in other industries. They recall about a part-time job they might have had in their late teens or early 20’s in the industry, they smile, remember fondly and are appreciative of the time they had serving people, making food, and creating experiences.  

Melbourne, Australia, the world has a moment now in hospitality. We have a moment to change what was broken. We have a moment to look at what has not served us and be strategic for hospitality moving forward. We know what we need to do; we were just too busy before. We may have been caught up in expanding too quickly, not thinking about our hiring methods, confused about too much technology and not assessing the value that each one places in our businesses. We now have a moment to change this.

As we reopen this week, we will look to circumstances that we would have never thought of happening before: some good and some challenging. None which we can not overcome, we are the hospitality industry, we can rise to any challenge. It will be small steps at the start; some very frustrating like indoor dining or the fact staff have to wear masks. However, as time goes on we will gain more and more trust, we will be able to open to more indoor dining, have guests stay for longer, take masks off and smile at guests, gesture with a slight touch on the shoulder where our guests are to be seated. We are hospitality; we have an opportunity to redefine service.

I looked back on a lot of negative commentaries during the last few months from some in our industry. I don’t always understand it, as everyone has their own story and narrative, but I surely respect it. Now is the time to come together, push for more capacity, openly prove the value of our industry and move together as one. I have not known the sector to be as close as it is now. We are talking to each other in a way we never have. It is only positive if we construct the right conversations.

As we open again, we can improve issues that we know we can do better at:

-Recruiting with even better systems in place

-Thinking about our supply chain and menu planning to improve profitability and efficacy.  

-Demanding better training of both ourselves and TAFE’s to make sure we have talented people stay and know that hospitality can be an honourable profession.  

-Making sure that the technology we bring into our venues is centred around benefiting us, as well as the guest experience.

We have a moment. We need to open up now, we need to be trusted, and above all, we need to keep communicating with each other so we build on what we started in this pandemic, a more connected industry for better or worse. For now I'm excited to go back to some of my favourite venues like Fancy Hanks, Hazel and Abacus Bar and Kitchen!

Good luck,

Shaun