Summer loving
Embrace warmer days with festive favourites, sugary delights and lashings of berries and cream.
And it’s often forgotten, but we’re the first industry you go to for your fundraiser. Hospitality is key to the community in lots of ways. Restricting it has a multiplier effect.” Additionally, a recent international Yougov survey found that 66 percent of adults agreed the social and mental wellbeing of the general population had been negatively impacted by hospitality venue closures. “People are more aware than ever of the positive role hospitality plays in their lives. This lockdown has hit us all really hard,” says Julie.
Marisa suggests the most recent lockdown has been the hardest yet, coming on the back of an already difficult 12 months for hospitality businesses. “For many restaurants, it’s been a cumulative impact. Many took out loans in 2020 to get through, are still paying off their debts from last year and are now finding they have to take on more. It’s an anxious time.” For Krishna, this lockdown has been harder in new ways. “This time round, we were concerned about our staff, especially those with dependants. We had six families who were close contacts at the start. Caring for them was our first concern.”
Her businesses have also faced difficult decisions around cashflow. “We’ve had to think about who we’re paying and who’s going to have to miss out. We know we still need money to reopen, to order stock. Ultimately, we decided not to pay the government its GST because we figured they were making the calls that mean we can’t trade properly. We had to put our staff first.”
If there’s a silver lining to emerge from earlier lockdowns, it’s businesses’ increased agility. After 2020’s first lockdown, Krishna’s businesses changed to paying suppliers on a weekly basis. “We had learned that it makes things much harder if you don’t actually know how much is outstanding at any one time. Now, we have a very clear picture: these are the invoices we currently have and everything else has been paid. We know how much money we actually have at every point.”
Meanwhile, Marisa has seen lockdowns encourage innovation. “Lockdown showed that we need to mobilise our sector and ensure that we’re completely digital-savvy. Lots of restaurants have adapted very well to that. Several have