A BUSINESS model created over decades had to be redesigned twice in the space of a week by Ash Lyons in the face of the changing coronavirus crisis.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And he fears a mass loss of Bathurst businesses unless they can be put to sleep - not have to pay expenses - while the restrictions to combat the virus are in force.
Mr Lyons' Lion Majestic Hospitality Group operates businesses including the Venue cafes in Bathurst and Orange, the Oxford Hotel and its upstairs restaurant B-Town BBQ.
"It's been absolutely brutal," Mr Lyons said of the local job losses as hospitality venues were, at first, allowed to trade with patron restrictions and then told to shut.
The Federal Government has since announced a JobKeeper payment that businesses can use to pay stood-down employees, but the finer details are still being worked out.
Mr Lyons said this time of year would normally be one of the busiest for Lion Majestic Hospitality as it prepared for corporate and public catering work at the Bathurst Six Hour.
"We start to build up our staffing levels leading into April. We start recruiting, training," he said.
What will kill them is the everyday running expenses: rates, rent, electricity, insurances.
"We have multiple cafes up at the Mount, we have the Bathurst and Orange cafes, the Oxford.
"We were transitioning to maximum capacity staffing and then this happened.
"We had a lot more staff on the books than what we do over the year."
There was nothing worse than having to tell a staff member there was no longer a job for them, but it was part of the merciless maths of the situation, he said.
Mr Lyons said there was one way to give businesses the best chance of surviving the long period of the virus restrictions: putting them to sleep.
"They have done this in other countries," he said. "It's the only chance of survival for businesses; they will not survive four to six months of shutdown.
"What will kill them is the everyday running expenses: rates, rent, electricity, insurances.
"You can shut down your business, but unless they are put to sleep, you've always got money leaking out."
While Prime Minister Scott Morrison has encouraged businesses to talk to their landlords and come up with arrangements between them, there has also been speculation of a Federal Government policy on rent relief.
Mr Lyons said no business can afford to come out the other end of the shutdown period with no money left because restarting will be costly.
"Our job [as business owners] is to keep people safe, but also to have something here at the end of it."
Takeaway service helps keep doors open
LION Majestic is running a takeaway service in some of its operations as restrictions allow, but Ash Lyons says there is no money being made.
The Venue cafes in Bathurst and Orange are still running seven days a week and offering the full menu as takeaway.
"We wanted to have a service for people," Mr Lyons said.
"Everyone's life has been thrown up and down and we wanted everyone to still be able to grab a cup of coffee.
"We're not making any money [through the limited services at the cafes], we're not even breaking even, but at least we're keeping a couple of people in work."
B-Town BBQ upstairs at the Oxford, meanwhile, is opening seven days a week from 5pm for takeaway and home delivery.
"That's running at a loss as well, but at least it's keeping people in work," Mr Lyons said.
Something is better than nothing for Lion Majestic before tougher restrictions on trade and movement possibly kick in, he said.
"I want my staff to be working and busy and feeling like they are still part of something."
The virus crisis has also touched Mr Lyons personally as he has renovated part of his house so his elderly father, who has come to Bathurst from Sydney, can be isolated from the risk of picking up the highly contagious COVID-19.
"We all have to protect the ones we love," he said.
