Northbeach Pavilion Pizza Restaurant, Bar and Kiosk at North Wollongong took the health and safety of its team and customers into account quickly when the first cases of coronavirus were detected in Australia.
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Owners of the family run Italian eatery Lorraine Mercuri and Max Borsato wasted no time changing the business to adapt to the new world of COVID-19.
Mrs Mercuri also works in the hotel industry in Sydney and could see what was happening there when the coronavirus started to spread and what was likely to occur in Wollongong.
She and Mr Borsato also have family in Italy which was impacted significantly by COVID-19 before Australia.
So they knew they would need to change the way the North Beach restaurant did things.
They closed the kiosk at Northbeach Pavilion for two days when the Government restrictions were first introduced.
Then wasted no time implementing new procedures to provide many of the popular restaurant meals from the kiosk as takeaway or delivery.
That included one innovation of preparing and vacuum sealing restaurant meals that can be delivered or picked up as takeaway from the kiosk.
They can be stored for two to three weeks before being heated in the oven to eat.
Other measures the kiosk at Northbeach Pavilion implemented included installing perspex screens, placing 1.5 metre markers on the floor, and providing posters as a reminder of social distancing and good hygiene practices.
They also removed all the tables and chairs outside to deter groups of people congregating.
"We have been serving the people of Wollongong for eight years now and employing locals. It was important that we had the right structure in place to cope with the rapidly changing landscape," Mrs Mercuri said.
"JobKeeper has assisted us with that but we also continue to give work to team members that are not eligible as we do have work that is meaningful and productive albeit with restricted hours.
"We wanted to help as many of our team members as possible with meaningful and productive work.
"When sanctions were being implemented we immediately communicated to our team members all the relevant resources and subsidies they could access as well as tips on how to budget.
"It was really important that we kept the health and wellbeing of our team members, our customers and the public safe and front of mind".
Mrs Mercuri said the kiosk remains open daily from 6am.
"We have also added fresh bread, vacuum packed gnocchi with various sauces and our famous pizza," she said.
"This way our customers can have their morning walk in pairs, have their morning coffee and buy their take away home meals for the day.
"It's proving to be a viable concept and we are getting fantastic feedback from our customers".
"Our restaurant remains closed but we are offering a paired down menu of our favourites for takeaway or home delivery from Friday to Sunday evenings.
"It's great to see that our locals are supporting us and all local businesses in the Illawarra by buying local. We greatly appreciate the support".
Mrs Mercuri said the business will continue to pay close attention to the updates from the World Health Organisation and the requirements of State and Federal Government authorities but in the meantime continue to provide the safest food service they can for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
