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Speaker 1: Auckland restaurant to Mandy Lusk has written an open letter

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Speaker 1: today calling on people and businesses to help the hospitality

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Speaker 1: industry to survive. Last week, the iconic restaurant SPQR closed,

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Speaker 1: and Vivaci owner Mandy Lusk says she's heard of three

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Speaker 1: other restaurants closing in the next week, and her own

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Speaker 1: restaurant may well be heading in the same direction. She's

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Speaker 1: with us this afternoon. High Mandy, Hi, Jack, So what

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Speaker 1: do you want.

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Speaker 2: What we're asking is just we're not asking for handouts.

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Speaker 2: We're just asking for a little bit of a hand up.

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Speaker 2: And I saw so many comments on social media following

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Speaker 2: spqr's demise last week, and so many people saying they

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Speaker 2: wish they'd known how hard it was, and they wish

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Speaker 2: they'd been able to help. And I thought, we've actually

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Speaker 2: got nothing to lose. So so much of the debt

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Speaker 2: of STQR is probably related to lockdown periods, and we're

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Speaker 2: all trying to pay back things like small business loans

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Speaker 2: that we had to take out because wage subsidence didn't

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Speaker 2: cover sick pay and holiday pay and things for our team,

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Speaker 2: and we were banned from anything, and it's really hard

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Speaker 2: you know, particularly with Auckland, all those is a nationwide problem.

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Speaker 2: You know, we went from COVID to floods to a

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Speaker 2: recession and none of us had anything left in the tank.

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Speaker 2: And it's quite difficult when people are expecting us to

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Speaker 2: pay back money and debts from periods when we literally

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Speaker 2: couldn't earn a thing, that were locked out of our

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Speaker 2: own businesses. If you're not busy enough now, it's really

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Speaker 2: hard to pay those things back, and people get a

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Speaker 2: bit impatient and people are hunkering down. We understand that

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Speaker 2: people don't have money, but there are a few big

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Speaker 2: businesses out there that did do okay, and we're just

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Speaker 2: asking maybe if they could share the love a little

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Speaker 2: bit and stop getting a supermarket delivery to their boardroom

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Speaker 2: and having drinks after work there and maybe pop downstairs

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Speaker 2: wherever they are in New Zealand or pop next door. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and just to help us, most of us are working

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Speaker 2: eighty hour weeks and we don't have time to We

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Speaker 2: don't have time to network and meet people and try

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Speaker 2: and find some new customers. So we're just asking if

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Speaker 2: maybe some of those nearests could help introduce them to

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Speaker 2: other people.

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Speaker 1: So Mandy just give us some context here. We've obviously

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Speaker 1: seen SPQRS numbers, but just how tough is it for

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Speaker 1: the hospital industry right now?

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Speaker 2: It's horrendous, And I think, you know, people have changed

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Speaker 2: and the way people live their lives have changed. So

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Speaker 2: we're finding that people have no hesitation and just if

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Speaker 2: it rains, they cancel. They and they think they're the

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Speaker 2: only person canceling. But I've spoke to someone who lost

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Speaker 2: forty one people on Sunday night and it's not a

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Speaker 2: particularly big business all weather related, and so we're just

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Speaker 2: we have to work out a way of being a

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Speaker 2: little bit more resilient. But we've got nothing, nothing left.

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Speaker 2: And some of those debts with this picure, some of

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Speaker 2: the comments that people have made, you know, how on

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Speaker 2: earth do they get that rack up that much debt?

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Speaker 2: Most of their text there, I would say probably seventy

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Speaker 2: to eighty percent of it would be penalties. And so

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Speaker 2: what we're just saying to people is if they could

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Speaker 2: just adopt a little local business, doesn't matter if they

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Speaker 2: do it for a week or a month, particularly the

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Speaker 2: business the businesses, they have that ability to really help

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Speaker 2: our industry. You know, if someone sends you an email

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Speaker 2: and concerns. A meeting at your office, can you just

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Speaker 2: maybe put on the bottom hey, instead of meeting in

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Speaker 2: your office, can we meet downstairs at this little cafe

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Speaker 2: there are adoptee for the months.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so look on you, you know, for getting the

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Speaker 1: message out there of because I just think it's really

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Speaker 1: important to be clear. You're not asking for a government

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Speaker 1: handout here, You're not asking for government assistance. You're looking

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Speaker 1: for bigger businesses who are a little bit more comfortable

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Speaker 1: than a lot of hospitality businesses are right now to

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Speaker 1: essentially adopt a hospow business for a month or two.

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Speaker 2: Yep, just adopt a spot, shares, a love, love your

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Speaker 2: local just something just to make them aware because I

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Speaker 2: think so many of them don't realize. I know that

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Speaker 2: it's difficult because some of them don't want to be

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Speaker 2: seen to be spending money either and these tough times

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Speaker 2: and so that's something we are coming up against them

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Speaker 2: conscious of. You know, the Reserve Bank's request put hid in,

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Speaker 2: but the repels go far and wide. When these small

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Speaker 2: businesses will fail. It's not just it's not just their

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Speaker 2: hospital business at Owls. It's the tomato grower and the wine,

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Speaker 2: the small winery, and a lot of those places don't

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Speaker 2: they don't have outlets through supermarkets, you know. Restaurants and

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Speaker 2: cafes and bars are their only way of selling their

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Speaker 2: small artis and all produce. So we're just kind of

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Speaker 2: hoping that maybe people can just think about it and

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Speaker 2: just yeah, adopt someone for a little while, yeah, and

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Speaker 2: help us all.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, well said Mandy, thanks for your time, We

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Speaker 1: really appreciate it. That is restratur and co owner of

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Speaker 1: the Vachi Restaurant, Mandy Lusk. For more from Hither Duplessy

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