Omicron infections may have peaked in Victoria, but ongoing cases and mandatory isolation continue to batter Melbourne’s restaurants, cafes and bars – which are already severely short-staffed. Many venues are still closing unexpectedly, for days at a time, due to infections among staff.

Three weeks ago Iain Ling and Kiet Diep were having a few pints and discussing how difficult January has been. Ling runs Carlton boozer Hotel Lincoln; Diep is behind CBD karaoke palace Yum Sing House. How, they wondered, could potential customers quickly and easily find somewhere to eat or drink, and be sure it would actually be open when they arrived?
The answer is Open in Melb, a super-simple website that shows venues currently open in your area.

“The timing of it’s quite acute,” Ling told Broadsheet this morning. “Gerald’s Bar is closed next week I think, and Embla’s closed this week.”

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Built by a friend at digital agency Visual Moda, the site allows any cafe, restaurant or bar in Melbourne to create a profile and add opening hours. If the venue has to close at short notice, it can instantly set its status to closed.

Right now there are less than 40 venues on the platform – including Little Andorra, Whisky & Alement, Epocha, Sunda, Tipo 00 and Osteria Ilaria – which Ling has only promoted by texting round to mates in the industry. More venues will join as the word gets out and further improvements are made to the site, which Ling says is a work in progress.

“The functionality of the website is important, but so is telling the story about the venues doing it hard,” he says.

openinmelb.com.au