Potts Point Businesses Surviving the Storm

With the coronavirus crisis and new government restrictions enforcing social distancing in place, businesses in Sydney are changing the way they do things. City Hub spoke to two Potts Point business owners about how they are reinventing themselves to weather the storm.

Hamilton Kings, owner of Honkas, is teaming up with other businesses in a co-operative delivery website.

He said that he has always wanted to start a locally based delivery app, but he needed a “catalyst” as it was hard to get people to turn away from more established apps like UberEats or Deliveroo. For him the dramatic changes caused by social distancing was a good opportunity to launch.

“I decided that it was the right time to launch, as people are turning more towards the community,” he said. “The good thing with Potts Point is that it’s a very community focused area, because we’re so highly densified.”

LoveLocal is different from larger delivery service applications as they do not take any commission out of the delivery fee from the businesses, but instead charge a service fee.

“The delivery fees that UberEats and Deliveroo were charging were astronomical and not sustainable for small businesses,” he said.

Another business changing their model to suit the social distancing climate, is popular King’s Cross cocktail bar Dulcies. With non-essential gatherings banned, the bar scene has taken a big hit.

But owner, Brandon Martignago, says the changes put in place in New York to allow home delivery cocktails inspired him to push for change in NSW. He says independent member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, was quick to back the idea and other NSW members quickly jumped on board.

Now the bar is selling home delivery pre-mixed cocktails, which Brandon says he has been interested in doing for a long time. For Brandon, it is about more than just selling off unused stock, but about creating “the full bar experience at home.”

He hopes his model will be a case study to show that home delivery alcohol from bars is something that can work effectively even after the crisis is over.

“We would love this to be a sustainable model, so we’re kind of doing everything in our power to show that this is something that can work.”

Having experience running a small business himself, Kings also believes it is adaptability which helps businesses survive.

“Unfortunately any small business needs to move with the times these days, whatever that is and at this time that is Corona.”

For Martignago, the support of the community has also been key in adapting business to survive in the crisis.

“We’ve got a group of locals and regulars who really want to see us succeed and we’ve been really lucky in that way.”

Tomorrow (Mar 30) at 10am City Hub will play host to an online Potts Point community forum on Facebook.