IVAN MILLICH
It
was a pleasure to welcome Ivan to last week's meeting. Ivan runs Buccatini, the restaurant at which our club meets. Ivan has hosted us and served up beautiful meals for over 13 years.
was a pleasure to welcome Ivan to last week's meeting. Ivan runs Buccatini, the restaurant at which our club meets. Ivan has hosted us and served up beautiful meals for over 13 years.We had asked him to speak to us about how the Covid-19 lockdown was affecting the hospitality industry in general and his own restaurant in particular.
Ivan told us that with Federal and State Government grants, he had coped reasonably well at first. His take away business did OK, and with Job Keeper, his staff were able to continue to work for him. They had kept sane and busy by spending much of their time in painting, cleaning and renovating the premises.
However, the announcement of prolonged restrictions has left him despondent for the future of his own business as well as the hospitality industry in general.
He relies on profits made at Christmastime to offset slow periods during the year. However, with stringent restrictions being placed on numbers for indoor dining, he has serious doubts about the long term viability of hospitality businesses.
In the mean time, he battles on , trying to keep his family business afloat, and supporting his employees, three of whom , despite having worked at the restaurant and paying taxes for several years (a total of about 25 years between them), are not eligible for any government subsidies due to the nature of their visas .