Australia’s two major cities have currently been in lockdown for over ten weeks with Melbourne now being in lockdown longer than any city in the world, 246 days so far and one month remaining. The prolonged closures on food and beverage venues have ranged from hard to devastating, not just from a sales perspective, but on the lives of hospitality workers and their families.

However, creative food and hospitality operators have managed to innovate, stay agile, plan for the end in sight and have reinvented their business in order to prepare for the huge demand that his been building up and will let rip once the lockdowns end. Cafés and restaurants, along with bars and hairdressers are at the top of everyone’s to do list.

Will Guidara, one of the owners of Eleven Madison Avenue in New York, has been quoted as saying that it’s “compassion and passion [that] gives a fantastic dining experience.”

As every successful restaurateur will tell you, passion is the reason that they started their venture in the first place. It’s what continues to drive their activities. But passion alone can only take you so far.

Jay Rayner, the UK food critic, has recently written that he, “does not regard the table primarily as a place of nutrition. That’s just something which, happily, comes with the territory. It’s a place of joy.”