Free outdoor dining tabled for hospo owners
New hospo owners could be in line for cost-of-living relief heading into the colder months, but one councillor fears the city faces “another Jack and Jill’s fiasco”. Should outdoor dining fees be scrapped? Take our poll.
New city dining venues could save hundreds of dollars to host outdoor dining in a city council move to boost foot traffic in slower areas over winter.
At Tuesday night’s Adelaide City Council meeting, councillors recommended scrapping long-debated outdoor dining fees for new businesses to boost outdoor activity in the colder months.
If supported, the council would remove a $131 Transfer of Permit fee and introduce 12-month fee-free permits for new outdoor dining venues and venues that have not had outdoor dining in place for more than 12 months, starting from July 1, 2026. This would normally attract a $49.30 per square metre outdoor dining fee.
Hospitality operators have long spoken out about the impacts of the cost of living crisis and outdoor dining costs as one of the stressors for venue owners.
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Councillor Phillip Martin says the move is a “sensible initiative” to encourage city nightlife.
“I think that proposing 12 months fee-free to new operators is a genuine attractor and will encourage people to consider the city for a location for their hospitality business,” he says.
Martin also suggested the fee waiver mooted for the council’s 2026/2027 budget, should include businesses that switch their outdoor furniture to be movable, to incentivise businesses to pack up their furniture when the business is closed, instead of clogging up city streets when there are no patrons.
Up to 78 city businesses with fixed outdoor furniture could be eligible for the fee-free outdoor dining benefit if they make the switch to movable furniture.
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But councillor Patrick Maher was not in support of the recommendation to incentivise fixed furniture transition, saying the change was “going to be a disaster”.
“I’m getting terrible flashbacks to the Jack and Jill’s fiasco here by overcomplicating something which was unrelated and linking it into something that it probably shouldn’t be,” he said.
“I don’t know how many businesses have already taken up the fixed furniture transition to moveable furniture, but they will now not have this opportunity, and they will be annoyed about it.”
Jack & Jill’s Restaurant and Bar had its Pirie Street parklet – a form of outdoor dining – removed last year after racking up over $30,000 in unpaid council fees, fanning the flames of debate over fees faced by hospo owners.
Jack & Jill’s parklet straddled three paid parking spaces, which would have generated $60,000 in paid parking revenue if it had not been for outdoor dining. The suggested council changes for the upcoming budget would apply to outdoor dining on footpaths, not parklets.
Councillor Mary Couros, who owns Ruby Red Flamingo in North Adelaide, welcomed the initiatives, saying it would encourage economic activity during the winter months.
“Our winters are very cold, and we are all creatures of habit in the City of Adelaide. Once it’s cold, nobody goes out,” Couros says.
“It’s tough out there, so any little bit that we can do to help support the vibrancy within the city, we are the enablers and we are the people that can drive that.”
The fee waiver will be decided at next Tuesday’s council meeting.
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