‘We’re feeling this as much as you.’— Local cafe owners call for understanding as mandates bite

Kelly Robson:  “I can’t thank enough, the people who have been kind and cooperative”.

The Gazette spoke to two hinterland cafe owners to understand how they were coping under the weight of Omicron and restrictions affecting the hospitality industry. 

Maleny’s Shotgun Espresso

Maleny’s Shotgun Espresso owner Kelly Robson said cafes had been put in the difficult position of balancing implementing the mandates with trying to cater to customers.

She said rostering and staff morale were difficult and trying to keep the doors open and stay afloat financially were constant considerations. 

Kelly said everyone in hospitality was trying to cope under demanding circumstances out of their control. 

“It’s been a really long couple of years,” she said. “We bend over backwards to comply with mandates and policies, and we still seem to cop the flack. We just feel damned if we do, damned if we don’t. I can’t even imagine what some people think we could do better, as we do everything we can in a difficult situation.

“I’d like to say to people: ‘We’re feeling this as much as you. We don’t want to be putting in these restrictions. We don’t want to be segregating you guys’.

“I mean I don’t want to be instructing and directing and telling grownups what to do. However, if I don’t ... our house is on the line. This cafe is my home mortgage. This cafe is my entire life. Everything is invested in it.

“If I get that opportunity to explain that, people suddenly look a little deeper and understand our position.” 

Kelly said it was unfair small businesses had been forced into a situation of policing mandates but with no support from the authorities.  

“Sometimes I feel like: Why am I having to go about explaining this to everybody? It surprises me that people don’t really get that from the get go. Under what circumstances would any business go: ‘Please, restrict me heavily, and make me have my juniors police the public?’ 

“We didn’t design this cafe with these ever-changing mandates in mind. So we’re put in a situation where we have to explain our bizarre system to people.” 

Despite the difficulties it was the kindness of customers that kept her going.

“There are so many people that are so kind and really cooperative and understand what’s going on for us.  And we also understand that people in the public have been overwhelmed and find the whole thing confronting.  

“But then some people just think people in service are a punching bag. That (notion), I would love to change.”

“But I can’t thank enough, the people who have been kind and cooperative.”

Frankies Cafe Woombye

Rebecca Galler from Frankies Cafe at Woombye says everyone is trying to cope emotionally.

Frankies Cafe Woombye owner Rebecca Galler said buffering her staff against public anxiety in the charged Covid atmosphere was challenging.  

“Everybody has emotions around Covid, and opinions, but it’s what we can do as a team, as a collective to keep Frankies going that matters,” she said.

“Because nobody wants to not have a job. Nobody who I work with wants us to close down.  I don’t want to close down my dream. I want to keep this going and work through this together and keep my team with what staff we’ve got because they’re great. 

“They’re great people and they’re great workers and it seems like people in the community all feel the same way. Keeping everybody employed and keeping our business going is the goal at the end of the day.”

Rebecca said every hospitality owner was trying to cope emotionally with running a business during a pandemic. 

“I personally, obviously, have my down days, which is inevitable,” she said. “But it’s about changing your mindset personally to go: ‘Okay, today sucked, but how am I going to be better tomorrow? What am I going to change within myself or my team or my business to bring people in?’.”

“That’s what this whole pandemic, I guess, has really taught me as a person and as a boss and as a business owner is, you can’t keep being complacent.

“You’ve got to really think outside the box. You’ve got to really stay positive within yourself to know that you have trust in yourself that you can get through this. That’s definitely what we’ve had to do as a business.”

Rebecca hoped people understood that everyone in the industry was doing their best to cater to the needs of customers while adhering to the mandates. 

“You don’t open a business to be told how to run your business,” she said. “You open a business because this is what you want to do. This is where you want to put all your time, all your energy, all of your trust, to grow for your staff, your shop, for your family, for yourself. 

“We’ve all got dreams that we want to meet.  But this is what the government has thrown at us. So, all we can do is make the most of the situation within the guidelines that we’ve been given.”

She said planning  ahead was a nightmare. 

“It’s really difficult to budget and to roster because you don’t know how it’s going to be because each week is so different. For example, last Saturday, I felt like I shouldn’t have been there because it was so quiet. When today we’re so busy. It’s so up and down. It’s very hard to predict. 

“There’s been days where we’ve had to close early, or we’ve had staff members that have been affected by (Covid) with their family, so they’ve had to leave and I’ve had to close the shop early. 

“It’s just about talking about it, I guess and coming back stronger tomorrow and asking, ‘What can we do tomorrow to make it better?’, essentially.”