Luke Dallow, at his Ponsonby restaurant Midnight Gardener. Dallow is exiting the hospo industry. Photo / Suppied
Luke Dallow, at his Ponsonby restaurant Midnight Gardener. Dallow is exiting the hospo industry. Photo / Suppied
EDITORIAL:
Luke Dallow's decision to quit the hospitality game will be a big shock to an industry ravaged by Covid disruption over the past two years and now in the grip of chronic inflation and worker shortages.
Not only is Dallow regarded as one of the best in the businessin developing and operating popular establishments but his comments on leaving would have been soul-destroying for many.
Dallow revealed on Wednesday he was hanging up his hospitality boots, saying it was now "too hard" to run a profitable business and the industry is still at least 18 months away from any recovery.
"I've done 32 years; I've seen the GFC, [electrical] blackouts in Auckland City and we bounced through them - and did well in those negative times, but this negative time, she's a different one. It's real negative," he told the Herald.
That's a tough message for those that are soldiering on, without any clue from the Government on when the country will move away from its current red light Covid setting, despite indications Omicron may have peaked and tourists are on the way back soon.
The industry says lockdowns and the current rules are decimating their industry with many businesses closing permanently every day.
But it's not just Covid and worker shortages hitting the industry right now. Extra costs, including minimum wage increases, sick leave entitlement and inflation right across the supply chain, are crippling.
As one commentator said this week, "the Government's ideological approach to banning immigration and raising minimum wages at a time when covid has already ravaged these small businesses beggar's belief. No wonder we have high inflation".
Add in the seemingly endless disruption from municipal works, in Auckland City especially, which have invariably been poorly consulted with local businesses and poorly executed, and it's little wonder people like Dallow are getting out.
The sad irony is that on the same day as Dallow's announcement, his former Auckland bar and restaurant – Malt in Grey Lynn – was once again effectively barricaded from the street as work restarted on footpaths and cycleways that were botched five years ago.
Malt bar is once again cut off from the street
Yet more disruption that could have been avoidable had city planners got it right in the first place. It's the same at central Government when you consider the unfathomable delays to crucial steps, from vaccine ordering to rapid antigen tests, to the MIQ dissolution. All those delays have basically strangled the hospo sector.
Little wonder small business confidence is so low, despite signs of light at the end of the Covid tunnel.
The most recent ASB quarterly Small Business research report found 53 per cent of customers surveyed believed business conditions will worsen over the next 12 months.
Among the key findings were trading restrictions and supply chain concerns.
The good news is that the international border is slowly reopening. But for many Queenstown businesses it can't come soon enough. Last month Queenstown mayor Jim Boult described the situation as desperate.
The problem is what sort of experience will overseas tourists have? Downtown Auckland is hardly an exciting place to be right now. Queenstown needs a workforce that can't just be plucked out of thin air.
Luke Dallow's message is a sombre reminder that the Government needs to do more than react to low polling numbers by making announcements that should have been done well before now.
