Business stays upbeat

Pilbara business owners are striving to stay positive despite being pushed to economic breaking point due to COVID-19.

Award-winning Froth Brewery in Exmouth had their doors forced closed for the past month and sales restricted to takeaway only.

While director Pete Firth said their sales were not ideal, he was glad to provide safe food options to the community.

“It’s a really scaled-down operation and it’s mainly in order to keep our employees employed as well as provide a service to the community,” he said.

“I think it’s a great service to keep offering and we really want to keep doing that but understandably it’s not a money maker.”

Mr Firth said the Exmouth community was being supportive during the crisis.

“Exmouth has reacted in a really strong, tightly supportive way,” he said.

“There is a whole host of different supporting groups for buy local, think local. It’s been really encouraging and something the town can take pride in is how it responded.

“We are stoked that people are still wanting to drink a lot of good quality Froth beer and food, and we are stoked to be able to keep providing that.”

Meanwhile, Hello World Travel Karratha owner Cassie Perry said travel bans meant she had nothing to sell customers; however, her team was still working hard without the revenue.

“We are undoing 12 months worth of work to be honest, so our work load has pretty much been doubled but there is no remuneration at the end of it,” she said.

“If it wasn’t for JobKeeper, I don’t know what half of the girls would do. I think it’s a fantastic scheme and I’m really proud of the Government for coming up with it because without that, we would have no income whatsoever.”

Ms Perry said the Karratha community was continuing to show their support.

“It’s very trying at times, but we will get through. We’ve got to maintain the positive attitude and keep surging forward,” she said.