Hospitality traders have embraced the City of Melbourne’s extended outdoor dining program with the majority indicating their outdoor dining ‘parklets’ have helped them reopen and maintain seating capacity.

The City of Melbourne surveyed 150 of more than 186 businesses with outdoor dining ‘parklets’ to gather feedback and inform decision making on the future of extended outdoor dining in the municipality.

The survey of 150 businesses conducted in December 2020 and January 2021 indicates that:

• 81 percent of businesses say outdoor dining ‘parklets’ have helped them reopen
• Outdoor dining ‘parklets’ have enabled 76 percent of businesses to maintain seating capacity
• 72 percent were either satisfied or very satisfied with their outdoor dining ‘parklets’

The City of Melbourne mobilised quickly to respond to the needs of businesses and facilitate extended outdoor dining in record time as a response to COVID-19.

The program is part of the joint $100 million Melbourne City Recovery Fund in partnership with the Victorian Government to deliver projects that encourage people back into the city and boost the bottom line of businesses.

The City of Melbourne will on Tuesday 23 February consider options for a short-term extension of the program until the end of May 2021. Further recommendations for the future of the program will follow in late March 2021.

Image by Drew Beamer via Unsplash.