By Annette Shailer
The City of Melbourne is set to roll out an initiative to help equip new hospitality businesses with the right tools to start up and survive in the competitive CBD market.
Launching the new Hospitality Toolkit today (Nov 29), Future Melbourne (Economic Development and Knowledge City) Committee Chair, Councillor Carl Jetter said it was important that support was available to small businesses starting out in the city.
“Starting a new business – in particular in the hospitality industry – can be daunting. It’s critical the right support is available to new businesses and our Hospitality Toolkit will help them do the appropriate thinking and groundwork before they get started,” Jetter said.
“The Hospitality Toolkit encourages new businesses to assess the viability of their business model and provides information on how to comply with Council regulations when getting started.”
The toolkit was developed following research commissioned by the City of Melbourne in partnership with Tourism Victoria and Restaurants and Catering Victoria, that revealed a poor success rate for new hospitality businesses.
Only 35 per cent of businesses generating less than $50,000 survived after three years and only 45 per cent of businesses generating between $50,000 and $200,000 survived after three years.
The toolkit is available to café, bar, catering service and restaurant owners within the City of Melbourne municipality. Topics include food and health, planning, liquor licensing, tax and superannuation and leasing.
Councillor Jetter said the Hospitality Toolkit was one of the results of Council’s Melbourne Hospitality Strategy 2008-2010.
“This toolkit is an excellent initiative as it makes available all the information anyone starting a hospitality business could need in the one spot, making the process much smoother.”
The toolkit has been produced in a hard copy format and can be made available upon request. For more information, contact the City of Melbourne on 9658 9658.