Parking, prized seafood and pizza: Restaurants get creative during lockdown

Sydney's sandwich queen Marcella Nelson-Aebi has always had her finger on the pulse of the city's high-rollers. The schnitzel sambos at Nelson-Aebi's Calabria Panineria are the quick lunch of choice for the powerbrokers and politicians at the northern end of the CBD.

She says her numbers dropped by 90 per cent in the first few days of a lockdown, part of an estimated $228 million a week in lost revenue for hospitality across Greater Sydney. In this environment, operators are doing anything they can to survive.

While numbers have climbed slightly, now hovering around 70 per cent down, Nelson-Aebi thought laterally to keep any business.

She secured five-minute VIP parking near her Abercrombie Lane business to keep the till ringing with SMS orders.

"I'm cooking schnitzel fresh for each person rather than 10kg at once," she says.

Last week, across the city, upmarket restaurants went into stealth mode to move stock during lockdown.

One Japanese restaurant sold more than $4000 worth of freshly landed uni (sea urchin roe) to customers via Instagram.

Prized seafood earmarked for the opening nights of Neil Perry's Margaret restaurant was diverted to lucky retail customers. Other operators weren't so fortunate, having to dispose of quality produce.

Unfortunately, it was Groundhog Day for pivoting food businesses.

"We had to close Icebergs but moved quickly to takeaway pizza at CicciaBella," veteran restaurateur Maurice Terzini says.