By Parker McKenzie
Venues throughout the Dandenong Ranges are preparing for a massive weekend with density limits and a ban of dancing a thing of the past.
Double Vaccinated patrons throughout the Hills will be able to cram into venues and hit unused dance floors from Friday 19 November.
Sooki Lounge manager Steve Crombie said despite the excitement hospitality will continue to face challenges going forward.
“We’ve got a lot of backup plans with staffing, a lot mental health issues and if there is a Covid case we have to isolate for a certain amount of time,” Mr Crombie said.
“There are a lot of issues operating within the Covid environment.”
The Belgrave venue is expecting a packed weekend ahead as people return to the dance floor for the first time since August, before the most recent lockdown.
Mr Crombie said good communication with staff and suppliers is the best way to address these challenges as the venue returns to full capacity.
“We’ve got four bussies on a Saturday night, seven security, front of house and bar staff,” he said.
“We’ve got a gig tonight which will see about 180 people on the door, with around 230 throughout the night with possibly the bottom bar opening too.”
Unvaccinated people will continue to be locked out of bars, pubs and clubs for the foreseeable future.
Owner of the Watering Hole Tavern in Monbulk Renee McCarthy said the response from the community has been positive and she expects more of the same.
“We haven’t come up against much confrontation in regards to checking vaccination status, which has been good because my young staff were quite worried about that,” she said.
“The locals are happy to be back too.”
Ms Mccarthy said the venue is returning to full capacity, when previously it was restricted to 20 patrons inside.
“I think people will go back to walking up instead of booking,” she said.
“We’ve been telling people you need to book a table constantly, but I think now people will go back to just turning up.”
Sooki Lounge has been able to move their club night forward to Saturday with restrictions easing, which Mr Crombie expects will sell out.
“We’ll get 450 patrons throughout the night coming through the doors,” he said.
“Next week we’ve got all headlines acts like Phil Jamieson and Pierce Brothers, and then away we go basically.”
Hospitality employees will be required to wear face masks during service, but most other restrictions have been lifted.
