Capacity restrictions that will be in place after regional Victoria's lockdown ends on Friday mean some hospitality venues must decide how viable it is to fully re-open.
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Some business that run a small restaurant may stay closed to dine-in customers while larger venues will only be able to host a small percentage of their capacity.
Eased restrictions will allow hospitality businesses to have 10 diners inside and 20 outside within density limits. Premier Daniel Andrews announced the changes - along with the end of regional Victoria's lockdown - on Wednesday morning.
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Harpoon Social Club co-owner Zoe Waddington said she and her husband, Chris, had yet to decide if their restaurant would fully re-open. Harpoon can only host eight diners using the one person per four square-metre rule.
"We are very very very confused," Ms Waddington said. "It sounds like such a good thing but the restrictions still placed on hospitality make it tricky to open. I don't know if we are going to.
"I have the utmost respect for our premier and understand (ending a lockdown) helps a lot of people but it is really tricky for us."
Hustler co-owner Justin McPhail will only be able to operate his burger restaurant at 10 per cent capacity under the hospitality restriction.
Mr McPhail can seat 300 people but, like other restaurants, is limited to 10 diners inside and 20 outside.
"When you have a 300-seat venue and can only have one percent of the capacity, that's a little frustrating," he said. "But we can't be too angry - people will still be able to go out, go shopping, see and talk to people."
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"That's what tricky. We operated as a takeaway for the majority of last year," Ms Waddington said. "Even in the first period of re-opening between July and September, we just stayed as a takeaway.
"We're tiny and density restrictions mean we are capped. But operating as a takeaway, we don't make the same profit. If we open to indoor diners, we restrict the amount of takeaway we can do, so it's a tough call.
"It's in our name, we like having customers in. What makes our restaurant is that we are normally, loud, bustling, fun and have a wait list. When you can only have eight people, it's hard to replicate that vibe."
"It's been a tough 18 months for everyone, we have all had the same punch in the guts. All we want to do is get open again but it's hard to see if it is viable to open to (dine-in) customers."
Hustler have been able to operate through their takeaway store, which ensure no staff member lost their job during lockdown.
"We are lucky we built a business that always has takeaway and that it is a strong presence," Mr McPhail said. "It's good none of our staff lost jobs. They have lost hours but not their jobs."
Mr McPhail said he will host music acts at the weekends regardless of how many people are allowed to dine-in.
"On Father's Day we had five artists play over four hours," he said. "To support the artists playing, we decided to honour that gig.
"It's good to keep that music industry going as well, it is integral for our business."
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