As COVID-19 restrictions ease and Melbourne starts to reactivate and recover, the City of Melbourne is encouraging businesses to welcome Melburnians back to the restaurants and cafes they love.

The Council is offering free outdoor permits and grants of up to $10,000 available for businesses needing to convert their outdoor spaces into COVID-safe gathering places.

The push for outdoor dining in the CBD, suburbs and regional Victoria was modelled on New York’s Open Restaurants initiative, which is credited with helping 9500 restaurants and cafes stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local businesses like Set Square Productions are already helping Melbourne cafes, restaurants reactivate outdoor dining precincts.

Set Square Productions has developed a range of premium outdoor dining pods, retail pods and outdoor dining settings that are COVID-safe and ready to use.

The dining and retail pods are a cost-effective pop-up solution that can be customised to suit the needs of each venue or brand.

City of Melbourne’s CEO Justin Hanney says it’s important that outdoor dining spaces are high quality and inviting to patrons.

Justin says the council expects “outdoor dining to be so popular with patrons this summer, that it will become a permanent feature of our city for generations to come.”

The changes are expected to transform Melbourne’s outdoor dining culture to rival other great cities around the world.

There are 2390 cafes and restaurants in the City of Melbourne, however only 800 venues currently hold outdoor dining permits.

Set Square Productions Set Square Productions has a strong track record of fabricating and delivering for the Melbourne Arts Centre, Porsche, Cup Carnival and The Australian Open amongst others.

Sarah Buckley

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