The extra public holiday - announced last week - will go ahead this Thursday and stand alongside the AFL Grand Final Eve public holiday on Friday.

Public holiday rates mean it will cost businesses more to open but Foundry Hotel owner Sonya Kuchel felt she had no choice but to throw open the doors and run business as usual. "From our perspective we're opening per a normal day," she said.

"It is complicated. It's very costly to open but we just have to because we didn't have enough notice, and with existing bookings we had no choice.

We will have to operate with a surcharge and have let customers know. Everyone has been quite understanding.

"Our general rule is we close public holidays now but with a public holiday on Friday, we feel we have to open. It is what it is."

Ms Kuchel hopes the AFL grand final on Saturday will provide an extra boost for the business.

"As one of the bigger hotels in town with all our screens, we like to have a big atmosphere," she said.

"We anticipate we will be booked out by Wednesday.

"The last couple of weeks there have been a lot of close games that have generated a lot of atmosphere.

"People love it and it feels like it is back to normal.

"People are enjoying footy season and we are expecting a big weekend."

Since coronavirus restrictions have eased, hospitality businesses have been working to recover.

Ms Kuchel said business has been good but finding enough staff had been a challenge.

"It has built back up quickly. People want to go out and celebrate missed milestones," she said.

"The struggle is to keep up with staffing and manage that growth.

"We are still in a period where it is difficult to find staff.

"That will continue for the next three months as we go into summer.

"Like a lot of people in Bendigo, we are advertising for staff but not everyone is looking for work.

"We have to rely on existing staff to fill any gaps.

"Hopefully uni students coming back summer will be looking for work over that summer break."

Elsewhere in town, Scott Macumber of the Brougham Arms Hotel said his venue would be closed on both Thursday and Friday.

"It's absolutely a waste of time opening when we've got to pay double-time-and-a-half," Mr Macumber said.

"On the flip side of that, it's actually given our staff a bit of a break which is probably the main reason we decided to close because it gives them two days in a row.

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"We've been looking for a chef for nearly four months now and we're just that understaffed that it gives us an opportunity to have a break.

"So while it's not good for business, it is good for peace of mind for our staff and staff wellbeing."

Mr Macumber said if the venue did decide to open they would likely be "swamped", given other businesses were likely to be closed. He said he didn't have the staff numbers at the moment to deal with that influx so the venue would simply close for public holidays.

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