Shark Fin House, Melbourne`s most popular Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, has been forced to close its doors due to a drop in passenger traffic caused by the new Crown virus, which has brought people to panic.
Shareholder Gabriel Chan says people have been afraid to come here, a beloved lunch place for more than 30 years for politicians, businessmen and celebrities.
Picture: The Age by Eddie JIM
Mr. Chen`s eyes were wet as he described how he was forced to close the restaurant, which had been co-founded since Year Nineteen Eighty-nine on Sunday.
He said the store`s customers had plummeted by 80 percent, with more than 40 employees and 10 temps disbanded.
Mr. Chen said there was a 95 percent chance that the restaurant at 131 Little Bourke Street would not reopen.
He implored public support for his sister restaurant, Shark Fin Inn, which also faces closure after 38 years.
Picture: The Age by Eddie JIM
"We have estimated that if we run two restaurants at the same time, we will not be able to survive," he said. "
"So we were forced to shut one down and let another live. "
If incomes don`t increase in the next month or two, Mr. Chen said, Shark Fin Inn, at 50 Little Bourke Street, could also close.
He said the Shark Fin Inn business had fallen 65 to 70 per cent and that shopkeepers could only apply to landlords for help.
"We`ll do everything we can to keep the restaurant," he said. "It`s a very, very bad time. "
The average midday passenger flow dropped from 120 to 150 to 50-60, with 10 employees shrinking to four and 10 temporary workers at risk.
"It`s too hard," he said." As fears of the new virus remain high," we can see a decline in the number of guests. "
But he vowed to keep the store open.
"We are very sad, very depressed, but we still have to work, so I will tell you not to be afraid, come to our restaurant for dinner, please support us. "
"Hopefully in two months, we`ll get better results. "
The food-first group`s woes are only part of an overall decline in chinatown business since the first death case in china in january.
Johnson Li,29, was a manager at the Minh Xuong restaurant on Russell Street for 10 years. He said many businesses were forced out for weeks, and some left early.
"During lunchtime, because we serve fast food to the neighborhood residents and white-collar workers, we`re usually full, but now we`ve lost 70%," he said.
"I`ve never seen a year so quiet. "
A special business and community lunch was held at Shark Fin Inn on Wednesday. Virginia Health minister Jenny Mikakos calls on people to "stay calm and move on with our lives."
Ms Mikakos said many delicious Chinese restaurants in Chinatown and across Melbourne would be "open."
Picture: The Age by Eddie JIM
Health minister revealed her co-workers would come to Shark Fin Inn for dinner every week and called on Victorians to come out and spend.
Brett Sutton, chief health officer in Virginia, said Victorians "can live as usual."
"In fact, what we are trying to say is just the opposite, we can go to the Chinese people`s business at random, go to the Chinese people`s restaurant, go to the Chinese people`s activities, just like I did during the Chinese Spring Festival. "
Dr Sutton said three of the four new cases of coronavirus that have been diagnosed in Victoria have fully recovered and the other is in stable condition and is expected to be released this week.
"This actually means that there is no human transmission in the state. "
"That`s why we know that people can live as they always do. "
