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LAST UPDATE | 1 Jul 2021
‘TIRED’ WOULD BE the best word to describe how we in the hospitality industry are feeling today.
Perhaps ‘exhausted’ would be better, however, that would be a bit too dramatic a way to encompass the long, drawn-out, and ultimately inevitable decision made by the Government to further delay the reopening of indoor hospitality.
One thing we are not is surprised. Over the last 15 months, we have become used to being used as scapegoats and guinea pigs, seemingly responsible for enabling the spread of this virus, like no other sector of society.
And all this despite huge cost, both financial and emotional, that has been borne at every level from owners and directors to chefs and dishwashers, that we are expected to swallow in the face of ‘the greater good’.
On the face of it, our own business has blossomed during the pandemic, opening two new locations and giving a facelift to our original Bachelors Walk café. However, all the way we have had tough decisions to make, like shutting our city centre locations in the face of Level 5 restrictions, telling loyal staff members that they face an undefined period of temporary lay-off, or having to offer a reduction in salary to others.
A long road through Covid
There have been small victories, like receiving a letter from a regular customer in your local area telling you how the positivity and welcome of your remaining team is the only thing that made them smile that day.
But even that comes at a cost; in deciding to stay open and service the community that supports you, you must weigh that up against the slim profit margins and the personal responsibility you have to keep your own staff members safe and healthy in the face of this virus.
Over the past month, we have been working day and night planning for the 5 July as our date for things to go back to some semblance of normal. We have been hiring and training new team members, working with suppliers and bringing new software systems, including reservations, HR, HACCP, stock control, etc online to make the transition as seamless and safe as possible.
We have been cleaning long-unused floors, bathrooms and shelves, polishing glassware and cutlery, rearranging chairs and tables, servicing dusty equipment.
Reopening is not just about flicking the lights back on, it takes days and weeks of planning and hard work, which now seem completely wasted. There is also the huge cost around all of this work being done. Our wage bill has significantly increased over the last month to cover all this planning, and organising. Who is footing this bill?
The level of financial support extended by Government to individuals and businesses to assist us during this time has been a lifeline. However at this stage we don’t want this security anymore.
Lack of clarity
We want to run and grow our businesses as we used to, without any handouts. The personal satisfaction of doing this successfully has been completely lost.
What has been hugely lacking is clarity and communication. Like everybody else we have received the majority of our information through watching news reports and reading the papers, leaving us totally guessing.
This is not the first time that the rug has been pulled from under us at the 11th hour, but every time we must meet each new date and deadline with perfect execution, and a hope and optimism that is becoming harder and harder to muster.
Not to mention that we as hospitality professionals are now expected to be Covid experts without so much as a phone call of support or guidance from the HSE or any governing body.
I am not privy to the information provided to Government, and I am sure that this decision was not an easy one to make. However they are there to make these tough decisions, it’s what they were elected to do.
I understand that because of the nature of this virus situations change and evolve rapidly, but these repeated knee-jerk reactions and pushing out of dates shows a staggering lack of foresight and planning.
And the most recent half-baked mutterings about indoor dining exclusively for the vaccinated only serve to confuse the situation further. There is no system in place for such a proposal, and ultimately the responsibility to enforce it would fall on the businesses themselves. We have pivoted enough already without having to be judge and jury to our patrons as well.
If we are to open, let us open. If we are not, then let us know. Treat us with the same care and respect you are extending to the most vulnerable in society. We are vulnerable too, and some of us will not survive.
Rachel Keane is the owner of the Póg Café Group. For more, see Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok.
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You’re late sharing this clip – it’s been doing the rounds for a while – but it is rather wonderful!
Re the definitions of “sexism” & “misogyny,” I think she is absolutely right to keep the focus on behaviour rather than intention.
No one can know another’s intentions or subjective feelings, but words and actions are clearly visible & verifiable & therefore subject to fair judgment.
It is usually the ugly women that complain about sexism. You would not hear this sort of nonsense from Cheryl Cole or Rihanna – two stunners.
What modelling agency employs you Patrick?
He also called her a witch and a man’s bitch. Don’t get so offended on behalf of men while making another sexist side swipe at women. Sometimes it’s sexism.
I dunno, saw the pictures of rihanna a while ago, she looks bet down , must have been why crhis brown dumpe her
Ok Stephen we can ditch Rihanna as well and use Alessandra Ambrosio instead. Now I hope everybody is happy.
Plenty of overt sexists on the journal, i see
On that point Patrick why are all misogynistic men usually unattractive, bald and sexually frustrated?
sexist – Australian in the same sentence,im shocked and appalled,now tell that Sheila to put some more shrimps on the Barbie
Patrick’s a trolling misogynist, with the mental age of seventeen-year-old. Ignore him.
Correct.
Don’t feed the troll.
Oh dear where is all this going? Could ‘dear’ be termed sexist? It might not have been when I started the sentence but it might be now, or now, or now, or now.
Referring to a female colleague as ‘dear’ can be construed as sexist as well as patronising and overly familiar.
Mad, crazy idea – call the person by their name! Or just say “hello”, don’t add in the dears, birds, dahlings, loves, chicks, stags, foxes, badgers, leave the wildlife references at the door!
Patrick are you skeptical that sexism exists? i refer also to your comment below. If you are, you demonstrate either a worrying lack of ability to disseminate media output and general societal patterns, not to mention contact with articulate, self-aware women- or an equally worrying ignorance that these things exist.
Next time a female friend calls me “hon” I shall stand up to her for her blatant sexism!
I just can’t stand women who accuse us men of misogyny…
She looks a bit like and definitely sounds like an Aussie version of Clare Daly.
Ditch the witch!!
Sure she cant even put one foot in front of the other without falling over. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpUUt2QpacU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
It looks as if she was trying to walk like a man. Those guys should have linked her to prevent her falling. It is well known that men are better walkers than women. We are built to hunt and protect. Women are built to feed and tend. Nature takes care of its own.
It’s an old tradition to make fun of MS Gillard’s English. They also say she mispronounces the word Negotiate…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49zF8m7ys24
shoot the messenger if you dont agree with the misoginist..oops mysogenist…or messagenist.
have your say