24/12/2024
24 December 2024
Open Letter from The Carrington Inn – FLOCK Team
Dear Friends and Patrons,
We hope this message finds you well. It’s been several months since Flock temporarily closed for maintenance. Many of you have been asking when it will reopen. We’re writing to bring you up to date and to share the challenges we face, and our hopes for the future.
What We’ve Accomplished
Since pausing the operations in June, we’ve worked hard to maintain and improve the space you’ve come to know and love:
• Beer Garden:
o Expanded the lawn area with synthetic turf for a year-round mud-free green surface.
o Planted a new garden bed to add more colour and fragrance to the outdoor space.
o Replaced leaky gutters and upgraded the stormwater system to capture rainwater for irrigation.
o Installed decorative solar lighting to enhance the garden ambiance.
• Indoors:
o Retouched paint and wallpaper, cleaned the chimneys, and rehanging the heritage draperies and artwork.
o Serviced bar and kitchen equipment to ensure readiness for reopening.
From a maintenance-readiness perspective, all systems are Go. However, we’re holding back, and you deserve to know why. You deserve to know the challenges we face.
Today’s Hospitality Challenges
No doubt you’ve heard through media that small hospitality businesses around the nation are struggling for economic viability. This is generally related to three things:
1. Patrons are eating out less.
2. Hospitality labour costs are high, especially during weekends and evenings when most people go out.
3. The cost of Ingredients, energy, rents, and utilities are rising way beyond CPI.
We have greatly enjoyed bringing the Carrington Inn restaurant to you, and look forward to doing it again, but you may be surprised to learn that never in its 8 years of operation has it earned a profit. Since the Covid crisis and its aftermath the situation has escalated. We’re not alone, and this is not uncommon across the country or here in the village. Our desire to be an essential part of the community had us subsidise the restaurant’s losses with income from other sources.
So, while we started this temporary closure to do some maintenance during winter, the Carrington team extended the time-out to deeply consider how can a hospitality venue serve its community equitably. That’s not the easiest question to answer today, given most of the economic levers (labour rates, ingredient costs, rents, energy costs, government rates and taxes…) are controlled by others, essentially leaving only Productivity measures and Patronage within our reach.
The Path to Reopening
Our focus has been on these two key levers: productivity and patronage.
• Productivity: Our Team has investigated new restaurant technologies that we believe can improve our labour productivity throughout the venue. They look promising and we are going to test run them at Café Woodworks in the coming weeks.
• Patronage: We’re working to create a new menu that is more affordable for patrons and more efficient for our kitchen to prepare. We’re also expanding our seating area to welcome more guests outdoors during the good weather days, and more guests in doors during the moody days of autumn and winter. Flock needs about 25% more community support to reach viability – and to do so without introducing pokies or similar revenue supplements.
Your Support Matters
Our story is not unique. Since Covid, about 40% of Bungendore’s food venues have permanently closed. Despite those regrettable losses, many of the remaining venues are not doing that well, with some holding it together by using family and volunteer labour. Every cuppa, sandwich, drink, and pie you purchase counts to keeping these community-businesses in the community.
At the same time, local venues face increasing competition from mobile food vendors. While some people liked the novelty of buying from a truck, I’m sure they don’t realise how much such operations extract from the local economy taking it back to Canberra or elsewhere. Unlike bricks & mortar community-based hospitality businesses, these trailers don’t pay rates, don’t have environmental protection equipment like grease traps to service, don’t have tough public health inspections, don’t provide off-street parking, often don’t provide receipts, and often pay their help in cash without benefits. No community-based hospitality business could or would do any of this. Why should you care?
Mobile vendors can pull up stakes at any time for greener pastures leaving dust and a gravel lot behind. While they may offer novelty, they don’t contribute to the local economy in the same way community-based businesses do. If community-based businesses disappear, so do the shared spaces and connections that make our village special. As the song goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”
A Collaborative Future
This brings us to Us. Flock’s future this year depends on an expanding partnership with the community. Here’s how we hope We can work together to have a village with vibrant hospitality for your relaxation and celebrations:
1. Your patronage matters. When we reopen, we ask you to consider dining with us more often and introducing friends and colleagues to Flock.
2. Your feedback matters. Tell us what you’d like to see on the menu, what experiences you value, and how we can better serve you.
3. Your voice matters. Advocate for community-based businesses by encouraging friends and neighbours to support local bricks-and-mortar hospitality and retail venues. Choose to forego shopping out of town or online until you’ve given a community-based business a chance to meet your needs.
We’re committed to doing our part by creating a welcoming space, offering tasty food and beverage, and working tirelessly to adapt to today’s challenges. With your support, we can ensure The Carrington Inn restaurant not only reopens but thrives as one of the cornerstones of this community, as it has since William Winter first opened the inn in 1885.
Thank you for being on this journey with us. We’ll keep you updated on the progress and look forward to welcoming you back to Flock soon.
With warmth and regards for Christmas and the new year ahead,
Richard Graham, Proprietor
[email protected]
Sean Dodd, General Manager
[email protected]
