EDITORIAL

Chance to dine in gives food for thought

STUDENTS are back in school, playgrounds are open and bit by bit we are tentatively venturing out into the world.

On Monday, the next step in our gradual recovery comes when our cafes and restaurants are again able to open for dine-in customers.

However, for some businesses the strict restrictions of only being able to house 20 customers at a time presents some harsh economic realities.

While many of our dining businesses have nimbly transformed into takeaway enterprises over the past few months of lockdown, the restricted return of in-house dining might not provide the cause for celebration customers might expect.

Takeaway businesses do not carry the same overheads or staffing requirements as the full dining experience. For many of our small businesses already struggling through one of the most economically devastating periods of their careers, having to invest in service staff for only 20 customers at a time does not make economic sense.

Some have already declared they will not be opening their tables on Monday and instead have elected to continue to offer a takeaway service until restrictions are lifted further.

It is a time of contradictions.

Our local small cafes and restaurants need the customers and serving staff desperately need the work. And while many of us have missed the opportunity to go out for a meal at our favourite establishment, we have been so filled with fear about the dangers of the virus while locked in our homes, that it may take a leap of faith to sit in a communal space again.

For many reasons it will be difficult. The virus is still out there and the flow-on effects of our mental conditioning over the past few months will not be easy to overcome quickly.

Similarly, the economic effects businesses have endured do not put many of them in a position to be able to take risks on prescribed small customer numbers.

Whether your favourite local eatery is offering dine-in or takeaway, or whether you feel comfortable sitting down to a meal in a restaurant or in your home, it is imperative that we make the conscious effort to support our local cafes and restaurants through this difficult transition.

Our community has come through survival mode and now has to take its first steps to recovery. We all have an important role to play if we want to endure the survival of our local food community.