Hobart fine dining feeling the heat

Susan Oong looks at the challenges and opportunities in the post-COVID food scene

FIRST it was Franklin, then Etties. As the social toll of coronavirus climbed so too did the list of high-end dining institutions that would forever leave the Tasmanian food scene.

With the loss of Franklin and its large national following the blow has been fierce.

“Losing it is devastating,” says former Franklin head chef Peter Cooksley. “It would have taken a lot of hard work to keep it going but that venue was a massive thread in the fabric of what the Hobart food scene is.”

For the past decade Tasmania has underpinned its cultural identity on its art and culinary experiences, so when iconic places disappear from the terrain it’s concerning.

Food curator and chef Jo Cook believes the industry is in dire need of help. She says in an environment with slim margins and where the true cost of food is not understood by the consumer, weighed with the impact of coronavirus, it’s a really tough time for business.

“Many places are not making a profit, they’re simply surviving,” she says. She says many in the industry are without work and to get through the next six months ongoing support from the government and community is critical. But while the top end of the scene is hurting there are plenty of local establishments that are not only surviving, but thriving. So why the disparity?

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Leading economist Saul Eslake says the state’s border closures in March, triggered by the pandemic, have laid bare Tasmania’s over-reliance on tourism and left the state exposed.

“It’s a heretical thing to say, but Tasmanians need to think about whether we may have become too reliant on tourism as the driver of our economy,” Mr Eslake says.

“Tasmania is suffering more than other states with loss of tourism and that’s due to the fact that tourism directly or indirectly accounts for 17 per cent of the jobs here. The national average is 10 per cent and the only other jurisdiction that is higher than 10 is the NT, with about 12, so that’s a lot.

He says the eateries that will survive the restrictions are less likely to be those at the high end as Tasmanians have less spending power than their mainland counterparts.

“Those restaurants whose market has been less dependent on tourists and some of those who are better able to cope with the COVID-Safe restrictions are better placed,” he says.

“The way out of the hole we are now in is that we need to ask ourselves whether we want to be more dependant on tourism than we currently are.”

At the Agrarian Kitchen in New Norfolk, records kept since the eatery and cooking school opened show that 70 per cent of its customers reside outside Tasmania. At Aloft at Brooke St Pier, a similar finding with 50 per cent of clients from the interstate and overseas market.

“We need to ask ourselves does it really make much sense to be as dependent on tourism as we now are, given that it doesn’t create many good jobs or generate much revenue for the government to pay for services,” says Mr Eslake. “Given that tourism will never go back to what it was pre-COVID because of the way people’s behaviour will have changed, it’s a broader issue Tasmanians need to think about.”

THE WAY FORWARD

Adaptation seems to be the key to survival. At Hobart pub Tom McHugos a renewed focus on local clients, a changing menu and a creative response to existing offerings has helped buoy the business. Co-owner Whitney Hall says she and partner Tom West

cott have made a focused decision to create a space where locals could afford to come weekly.

“We want to be able to harness the local community in terms of food, but also not rely on reopened borders in order to sustain our business,” she says.

Ms Hall says in the past quarter takings were down by 75 per cent attributable to the tourism influx of other years, but despite the struggle she remains optimistic.

“There were many days where it was very stressful. Waking up and not knowing what would happen. I think it’s important that we try to stay positive. It’s a daily battle. I do worry that the same type of slip-ups that have happened interstate could happen here and it may make us close again or go back to takeaway, but we’d know what to do this time,” she says.

HAS ANY GOOD COME OUT OF COVID?

At Aloft, the downturn has afforded co-owner and head chef Christian Ryan the time to restructure his menu and wine offerings and to build stronger relationships with the restaurant’s producers.

He says the reduced trading hours from five days to three along with fewer customers due to COVID-Safe restrictions has allowed him to be more creative with his food offerings by choosing smaller-batch produce that he couldn’t commit to with a higher turnover and which has reinvigorated the morale in the kitchen.

“As difficult as it was there’s almost a silver lining in an Aloft Take 2. We’ve been able to change some of the things that was too hard to do on a day-to-day basis,” Mr Ryan says.

“Everyone is limping through this period at the moment but I’m quite optimistic and feel confident we’ll get through this.”

Back at Agrarian Kitchen, co-owner and head chef Rodney Dunn has also found the windback a chance to hit reset. While it’s undoubtably hard to operate normally within the new confines, the business has adapted by splitting their offerings into two: takeaway and dining. The old a la carte menu has been replaced with a more involved eating experience, where staff have the time to explain the provenance of every item on a plate, as most of the produce was raised or harvested at their nearby farm. With restrictions limiting their daily bookings from the usual 120 lunch customers to 60, Mr Dunn says it’s meant the team can offer a better dining experience.

“I feel a lot better with the offerings that we have. We’re not beholden to what we’ve been in the past and as scary as this time of uncertainty is there’s positives to take from it as well,” he says.

While Franklin has indelibly left a gaping hole in the top end of town, one positive is the space that’s now opened up for newer restaurants to fill, ones that are producing incredible food but may not have been receiving the accolades for – offerings such as Sonnys or Lucindas.

WHAT DOES A POSTCOVID RESTAURANT LOOK LIKE?

The affront of another three months of border closures and the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus may devastate an industry already on its knees.

But one thing is certain, the price of food needs to increase to better reflect the true cost, and the hope is that locals will continue to eat out to support an emboldened food community.

“I think the consumer thinks that if food is cheap and you get a lot of it then it must be good, but actually the opposite is true. You really need to look at what effort is going into that food on your plate,” says Mr Dunn. He says to fix the model it is important that food doesn’t return to its pre-COVID prices. “There are enough locals to keep us alive, so long as the people of Hobart get out to support us we can make it through.”