The North Spoon: Staying Open When The Doors Are Closed

“If we get through 2021, nothing will stop us. Who would’ve thought 2022 could actually be harder?”

Located in McMahons Point in Sydney’s north, The North Spoon is a favourite spot for many in the local area as well as those from further afield. A cafe by day and event function space at night, The North Spoon is committed to using seasonal and locally grown produce from New South Wales artisans, farmers, and producers.

Like all venues in the industry, The North Spoon has faced challenges recently and has had to adapt and evolve quickly to keep the business strong and sustainable.

We sat down with Managing Director Gareth Naar in our new podcast series, RAW, to understand how he managed to keep the venue afloat, despite having to close the doors.

This is the story of The North Spoon.

In the beginning

Like many in the industry, Gareth started out in hospitality at a young age before trying his hand at a few other jobs and eventually settling back into the hospitality industry.

 “I started out like many my age, as a 19-year-old looking for a career. Being brought up around food and always having a passion for it, I decided to start as a chef’s apprenticeship in 1996 at the Wentworth Hotel.” 

“I worked my way through a chef’s apprenticeship and got a little bit disheartened by things I saw, so I found other industries and went on a bit of a career journey and fell back into hospitality probably about ten years ago.”

Gareth was tempted back into the industry by an opportunity to work for a growing brand (at the time) called Ribs and Burgers – which is now a nationally recognised restaurant chain.

“Working for Ribs and Burgers, I gained confidence, and I saw myself really understanding what I had and what I was really about personally.”

“Being amongst some very good peers and getting some more understanding of the industry and how business works and being around that and knowing I have the same mentality as what I’m seeing from some very successful hospitality [venues].”

“I left Ribs and Burgers on good terms, but with the real want to do my own thing, I was really ready at that stage. So that was probably five years ago, and it took me a good year to kind of find my feet and look at it with various different concepts.” 

Gareth’s time at Ribs and Burgers solidified his passion for the industry and his drive to open a place of his own one day.

“And this is how The North Spoon came about because I knew the old owners, and I spent a lot of time here. I did a little bit of consulting for them, and then my business partner, who was the manager of The North Spoon at the time, actually approached the previous owners to use their venue at night.”

“We saw such potential in the venue. So we wanted to say, look, you’re not using it at night. Can we put on a concept and use your venue at night and do something?” 

“They weren’t really that keen. But then the opportunity came to buy. They wanted to get out. They weren’t really passionate about it, and it wasn’t making the money that they wanted it to. So we saw the potential then grabbed it.” 

Closing the doors

After taking on the business in 2019 and keeping the doors open every day through Covid, Gareth received a phone call that would send most venue owners spiralling. The council ordered the closure of the venue the very next morning and couldn’t advise how long it needed to remain closed.

“So, April 13th, 2022, I had a baby at 9:00 AM… and I think about three o’clock that afternoon, I got a phone call from a real estate agent to say that we have to cease trade as of tomorrow morning, April the 14th, due to a structural issue with a wall on the terrace house next door to the cafe.”

“So an emergency cease order was sent to us. Shut your business down tomorrow morning, 9:00 AM.”

“The hardest thing about that was – for how long? We [the council] can’t tell you until it’s fixed.”

With the prospect of no revenue coming into the business, Gareth had to jump into damage limitation mode to keep the business afloat.

“We didn’t know how long it was going to be… And obviously, you don’t have things like Jobkeep or Jobseeker during COVID. You’ve just got your bank account, and what can you do? And how long is that going to sustain you, and what insurance can we get? All these things take time.”

For the team at The North Spoon, the closure timing couldn’t have come at a worse time, as they had several bumper events planned in the space of the next three weeks. The Easter long weekend, followed by Anzac Day and Mother’s Day.

“We had a full inventory and events planned for Saturday and Sunday. A big Cookoff on Monday, lamb on the spit and charcoal barbecues outside, we were stocking the fridge, ready to go.”

“Two weeks later, we had a big Anzac day planned, and then Mother’s Day. We had, I think, four functions in that space of three weeks with 60 people each.”

“From a business coming out of lockdowns and coming out of COVID, we were gearing up… Just to get shut down. It was tough. It was really tough.”

“What do you do? You grit your teeth, and you put a smile on your face, and you do what you can to survive.”

Staying afloat

At first, the council estimated that The North Spoon would be closed for at least six weeks.

“I’m like, are you guys crazy? I can’t close for six weeks. Six weeks in our business is death.”

In a dire situation, The North Spoon had a small slice of luck on their side. North Sydney Council were their landlord, so after ordering the temporary closure of the venue, the council also offered a rent reduction and pushed through a permit for a food truck outside the venue to sell coffee and food.

“That took nearly a week and a half to get up, which was okay. It was a bit of support. So it was just to make sure our customers saw that we were still around. So that was really what that was about.”

The next issue Gareth faced was what to do with his team while the venue was closed. 

“We spent quite a bit of money keeping key staff. We found other staff jobs with friends restaurants, and other people we knew in the industry, called them, and they supported us and gave our staff work.”

“I think over the period, out of 11 staff, we lost three in those three weeks. So we kept eight, which is really good. And yeah, that’s how we kind of survived that, but those two or three we lost were big. We put a real dent in our operation.”

Losing three employees in a small team can put a real strain on a hospitality business, which was felt by The North Spoon when they eventually reopened. 

“[We lost] 25% of our team… and we were really sitting in a good place with staff, and our team was right. And they were working hard, and everything was in alignment at that stage until that fun afternoon [when we were told to close].”

“We’re definitely still recovering, still trying to recover some funds, still trying to get what we can get, but you know, it’s going to be a long process.”

Listen to Raw Podcast

Listen to the full interview with Gareth on moving forwards as the wall is literally crashing down next to you.

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