Confidence to the 9s
Cafe owner opens in Torquay
THE light at the end of the COVID tunnel is growing for Geelong cafe owner Ihab Housaiki, who has opened a fourth 9 Grams cafe despite one remaining closed since March.
Opening a cafe in Torquay with brother Yamn is not only a sign of confidence in the return of hospitality, which has been crushed by the pandemic, but also of a belief there is opportunity in adversity.
“Through this rough time, I have decided to take another risk . . . and heaps of people said, ‘you are crazy’,” Mr Housaiki said.
“But I thought I could maybe get a good deal now.”
The expected bumper summer tourist season that arguably started weeks ago with the lifting of Melbourne’s lockdown and the vibrancy he is feeling at his Newtown cafe are further cause for optimism.
But it remains a bold move given he knows better than most that the rebounding hospitality industry is dependent on staying COVID-free.
The 9 Grams cafe in the WorkSafe building in the Geelong CBD has been closed since mid-March and its reopening date remains uncertain with a tight rein being held over the return of public servants to their offices.
Mr Housaiki said the limited numbers of staff expected to return in mid-January would be a considerable number short of when he signed a lease with the expectation of servicing 1000 workers.
“They might have 200 people in the building; is that worth it to open?” he said.
“It might be worth it to open but the agreement has to be different.”
While his Malop Street experience had been a “slap in the face”, the Newtown and Mt Duneed cafes had survived, albeit with turnover down about 40 per cent, thanks to some rent relief and the loyal support of locals.
“Even through COVID, they kept coming every day,” he said.
Now, Mr Housaiki is seeing the return of the busy cafe culture, particularly in Newtown.
“If you come along on a weekend, people are lining up on the ramp, lining up outside,” he said.
He said patrons were not deterred even if told they faced a 20-minute wait for a table.
As density caps restrict patron numbers at restaurants, Mr
Housaiki has had his third weekend of opening for dinner doing Lebanese food.
”It’s impossible to get a seat anywhere in Geelong,” he said.
Finding hospitality a far greater challenge than it has been in the past, Mr Housaiki will be accessing some of his existing staff at
Newtown and Mt Duneed to get the new outlet going.
The cafes will also share the same approach, menu and pricing.
He hopes the Torquay store’s opening on Wednesday is the turning point.
“We have done it really hard, we have done it tough, but at the end of the day we have come out of it,” he said.
“There was always that light at the end of the tunnel, I believed in it, many businesses believed in it.
“Some businesses decided just to shut and not even bother.”