An outback roadhouse is flying takeaway pizza and beer to remote cattle stations during COVID-19 to keep spirits up during lockdown.
The Dunmarra Wayside Inn, located 315 kilometres south of Katherine in the Northern Territory, is owned by pilot Gary Frost.
Travel restrictions have limited the locals’ ability to get supplies, so Frost decided to help out.
“We make pizzas at Dunmarra roadhouse anyway, so we thought we would get all the pizzas together and see if they were interested, if we can fly them out, so they don’t have to leave the properties,” he said.
He’s been delivering food and alcohol to stations within a 100km radius and hopes to extend the once-a-week service to properties up to 400km away.
And the locals are loving it, especially since Frost is charging the same price as in-house orders.
“I suppose the cost of it is prohibitive as a commercial venture, but we’re not doing it as a commercial venture,” Frost said.
“We’re just doing it as a friendly gesture to try and help people out and create the right atmosphere.”
The move comes as pubs and bars around the country pivot during shutdown restrictions to maintain community spirit and keep staff employed.
Momento Hospitality, for example, has turned the warehouse behind the Bella Vista Hotel in Sydney’s north-west into a contactless, drive-through shop – called Essentials Express at Bella (above) – stocking alcohol (including a range of signature cocktails), fresh produce, prepared meals and groceries.
The initiative has kept more than a dozen staff employed, plus helped move through stock for suppliers.
