Big uptake in winter outdoor dining

By David Schout

Hundreds of restaurants and cafes will continue outdoor dining operations until June 30 after a huge uptake in offers from the City of Melbourne.

The council recently offered 332 businesses the opportunity to extend their outdoor dining permit for a further three months, and to date just 10 have declined.

A total of 275 businesses accepted the extension, while 39 were yet to respond.

The uptake is another indication of the program’s success throughout the municipality.

The council’s City Activation portfolio lead Roshena Campbell said the program provided a “critical lifeline” for the hospitality industry.

“It’s been wonderful seeing people out there visiting our restaurants that have been so hard hit after the last year,” she said at a March 30 council meeting.

“But more importantly, improving conditions for our hospitality businesses that are still suffering from reduced density limits and still not able to open at full capacity inside. The leg-up we can give them by expanding the area in which they can have patrons we know is critical — it’s a critical lifeline.”

Cr Campbell said the council was “continuing to consider” whether to make outdoor dining a permanent addition to the city.

In a recent survey of 150 cafe, restaurant and bar owners, 81 per cent gave outdoor dining “parklets” the thumbs-up since reopening in late October.

Temporary extended outdoor dining permits have allowed hospitality venues to expand operations onto footpaths, on-street parking, laneways and street space to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.

Of those surveyed, 72 per cent were either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their outdoor dining arrangements.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp has said the extension of outdoor dining program, which “helped bring back the buzz” of the city, would give hospitality owners the assurance they needed.

“The extended outdoor dining program has helped to provide hospitality businesses with extra capacity to seat more customers and get more revenue,” she said.

“Businesses can have confidence that outdoor dining will continue in the City of Melbourne until winter. We’re looking into additional features to support outdoor dining during the cooler months such as weather protection.”

The outdoor dining program is being delivered by both the council and Victorian Government through the $100 million Melbourne City Recovery Fund.

The council has issued nearly 1500 permits for outdoor dining across the municipality and has installed more than 200 parklets.

To date, it has cost $5.5 million (for outdoor dining infrastructure, maintenance and laneway closures), and the extension is set to cost another $2.2 million.

The extension would also see council forgo around $444,000 in revenue from car parking in the occupied spaces •