Brisbane bar owner Giuseppe Petroccitto says Queensland’s closed borders is boosting confidence and helping people return to the office and spend money again.

Business was patchy in August with revenue about the same as July, but is still well down (86 per cent) on the same period last year.
“I thought it was going to be better but we had one shocker week which brought it all down,” he says.
“The corporate types are doing their lunches but I still can’t transition that into going out on Friday nights.”
But Petroccitto is confident about October and the months leading in to Christmas as active COVID-19 cases in Queensland dwindle to single figures.
He believes increased business will overcome the reduction in the federal government’s Job Keeper payments.
But Santa Monica Group has stopped short of hiring new staff until it assesses trade in the first few weeks of October.
“I feel we’re at a turning point and the next month will be quite strong,” Petroccitto says.
“General confidence has gone back up and the warmer weather has inspired a few more people to come back in and get to the office. There is definitely a push to get them back in the office.”
Once again, the overall business is relying on big Friday and Saturday nights to subsidise quieter days during the rest of the week.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says Queensland’s borders will remain closed to NSW and Victoria until there is 28 days of no community transmission of COVID-19 from an unknown source.
NSW has just recorded five days of no community transmission, but Queensland’s borders are expected to be closed until after the October 31 state election.
Petroccitto says Queensland’s tough border closures are its “secret weapon” in fighting the coronavirus.
“But if the borders are down, do we really have a defence?” he says.
“As much as people would like to be able to travel, I think there is safety about having the borders up.”
Giuseppe and Jim Petroccitto at their riverside venue, Bar Pacino. Attila Csaszar
Petroccito’s father Jim, who also helps run the businesses, agrees, saying confidence is the key for office workers coming back into the CBD.
While work-from-home advocates say the centre of Australia’s big cities will never be the same again after the coronavirus, Jim Petroccitto believes office workers will return.
“Hopefully after January, things will return to normal and people will all be back in their offices,” he says.
Santa Monica Group is still negotiating with multiple landlords over changes to lease agreements and the impact of COVID-19.
While the company was making good money before the global pandemic, it has been hit hard in the past six months. Trying to strike a rent relief deal and comparing revenue with the pre-COVID era has been a struggle.
But Jim Petroccitto, who still remembers the impact of the 1991 recession and 23 per cent interest rates, admits it will be a long haul out of the present economic downturn.
“Back then my wife and I worked seven days a week and we came home exhausted. We just have to stick this out too,” he says.
This article is from the monthly Frontline Fallout series, which tracks how 13 businesses are grappling with the effects of the pandemic. See Santa Monica fared last month.