Creative juices flow as cafe moves to stay afloat during COVID-19

“It wasn’t something I would have done before coronavirus, but in the face of the unknown it gives me confidence to continue running this model,” Paraskevopoulos says.

The cafe owner also operates a number of city-based coffee shops, which he says have taken a much harder hit during the pandemic than those in the suburbs.

“I’ve worked for 20 years in the CBD and there’s been nothing like coronavirus for those businesses,” he says.

“The fact Roasting Warehouse is in the suburbs was an accidental decision, but now I prefer to be out here.”

CBRE retail services director Zelman Ainsworth says hospitality tenants have “refocused their energy on recovery”, and wouldn’t go “back to an inefficient way of working” after the pandemic.

He says that while many businesses needed rent reductions during the pandemic, they were emerging with better company practices and new ideas.

“There’s also a real push from tenants to lease spaces that already have existing fit-outs, so there’s less cost involved,” Ainsworth says.

This article from The Herald Sun originally appeared as “Airport West cafe gets creative to stay afloat amid coronavirus”.