Restaurant heartbreak
THE latest break-in at Kalidonis Taverna could not have come at a worse time for manager Foula Karambetis.
“It’s happening over and over again. We need help – business is suffering,” she said.
The Greek restaurant in Woods St was targeted by youths about 5.30am yesterday, with three people wearing masks captured by CCTV.
They were filmed throwing rocks to smash the glass to gain entry and ripping the handle off the front door.
It isn’t the first time this year that the venue has been broken into, with mainly alcohol stolen.
“I’ve lost count of how many (times). It’s every two or three months,” Mrs Karambetis said.
They left a trail of blood out of the venue, as well as empty bottles on a table where it is alleged they sat and drank.
She said this latest attack was compounded by the impact of multiple lockdowns and vaccine mandates on their staff, as well as the mask mandate on customers.
“Covid-19 affected us in more ways than one.
“I lost a lot of employees with the mandate and this is just the cherry on top,” she said.
While she was taking bookings for last night, Mrs Karambetis was busy organising both police and a glass repair man to assess and fix the damage.
She estimated the costs of fixing the damage would end up being more than that of the stock stolen, as they had to get an after-hours repair man in. She also was getting in cleaners to do a deep clean of the restaurant.
“I don’t know where these people have come from – I’ve got to disinfect everything,” she said.
“With the pandemic that’s happening I’m not going to put our people at risk.”
Mrs Karambetis is now calling on the government to provide more help for hers and other businesses affected by petty crimes like this.
“I wish for all the small business that they don’t go through what I’m going through,” she said. “I know it’s not (Gunner’s) fault but we need help. We can’t keep doing this.
“We did everything right, we’ve done our vaccinations but he’s not helping us with the break-ins,” she said.
NT Police were contacted for comment on the incident.