Milk and Wine Co, Melbourne owners issue urgent plea for help

The owners of a cafe have made a desperate plea to customers for donations in a last-ditch bid to keep the doors open after being denied government support.

Samantha Hitt and Beth Hancock opened Milk and Wine Co, at Heathmont in Melbourne's east, as the Covid pandemic was ramping up in March 2020.

The family-run business quickly became an important part of the local community by offering discounts to essential services workers and 'pay it forward' menu items. 

However, Ms Hitt told Daily Mail Australia she and Ms Hancock have now had to make the difficult decision to ask the public to donate $100,000 to keep the cafe's doors open.

She said Milk and Wine Co opened on the first day of lockdowns in Melbourne, where residents endured a total of 262 days under stay-at-home orders. 

The cafe was considered a 'new business' and therefore did not qualify for any Covid-19 government assistance programs. 

However, the pair accumulated a $100,000 debt as they continued to pay staff and kept the business running during the 24 months of the pandemic. 

'This is a huge black cloud that has hung over us for four years and we just can't shake it off,' Ms Hitt said. 

'If we're able to get rid of that, the difference we feel we can make would be so much greater. We don't want to be another hospitality statistic.'

Ms Hitt said she and Ms Hancock had done everything they can to tighten their belts, including selling cars and working more hours away from their family. 

She said they reluctantly cut casual staff hours on weekends, with Ms Hitt now working seven days and Ms Hancock working six days to cover the shortfall. 

However, they have reached breaking point and on Sunday shared a heartbreaking video detailing a 'plea for help' and a GoFundMe page asking for support.    

'This open letter to the community is to, with incredibly heavy hearts, ask for help,' the pair wrote. 

'This is to ask for help to survive. To keep our doors open. We never wanted to be in this position, but unfortunately, we find ourselves here asking for your financial assistance. 

'We understand that times are hard for everyone, but this place has become more than just a business it's become a huge part of this community and huge part of our lives.

'This is the hardest thing we have had to do. We have delayed this plea as long as we can - perhaps, at this point, even too long. If this business means as much to you as it does to us, then please help us fight'. 

The GoFundMe page has so far received 239 donations totalling $21,987 towards the goal of raising $100,000. 

While most were supportive of the measure, some were unimpressed.

'I personally think it's a bit rich a lot of business and households are in the same position, yet not asking for hand outs,' one Aussie said.

However, many others flooded the business' Facebook post with messages of support, explaining Milk and Wine Co helped them when they were in need. 

'You both are truly amazing young women who bring such warmth to our community. Myself personally have benefited from the immense kindness and generosity you both exude, never shying away from helping our cause.,' one wrote.

'I came to have breakfast while my husband was having open heart surgery and you wouldn’t let me pay. Your kindness deserves to be reciprocated. It will definitely never be forgotten,' another person commented.

Ms Hitt told Daily Mail Australia she and Ms Hancock felt humiliated and were reluctant to ask for help but after receiving such an overwhelming response realised Milk and Wine Co was just as important to the community as it was to the owners.

'We've been quite shocked by the response thus far, we weren't even sure whether it was going to work,' Ms Hitt said. 

'I think what we created during the last four years is why we're getting the response that we've gotten. 

'[Milk and Wine Co] is too important to us. And, as I guess it turns out, important to the people around us as well.'

'Staff have offered to work extra hours to help and we've had regular customers offering to share the word and do their own videos to help us out.'  

Ms Hitt said local police officers, nurses and ambulance paramedics were regulars at Milk and Wine Co and enjoy a 50 per cent discount provided for essential services workers. 

She said giving back to the community and helping those in need had become the business' 'ethos' and they would rather close than stop than stop offering the discounts and 'pay it forward' meals. 

The cafe's 'pay it forward' program allows customers to buy a meal for a family in need and have it delivered to them.

'It's our ethos now, yes, like we wouldn't be ourselves if we weren't doing those things,' Ms Hitt said. 

'Beth and I don't want to compromise on who we are, which is why we're doing this. 

'We could compromise, and we could start charging through the roof of things and not doing these programs, not give discounts and we could get rid of our loyalty cards, but we'd rather not do the business than be something we are not.'

It comes as a popular burger and brunch cafe in Adelaide closed its doors for good after 'feeling the pinch' from the hospitality industry cost crunch. 

Gang Gang Cafe, located on Unley Road in Parkside, an inner southern suburb of Adelaide, closed on Sunday. 

The team behind the popular cafe, which started as a pop-up truck before opening its bricks and mortar store in 2019, announced the closure on Facebook last month. 

Owners Morgen and Nina Wynn-Hadinata explained it was a 'hard decision' but needed to make the right move for the business after being hit with a large rent increase. 

Many other prominent breweries, cafes and restaurants across shut their doors after succumbing to hospitality industry's cost crunch. 

In the past three months, venues in Melbourne and Sydney collapsed into administration. 

In Melbourne the closures included Carringbush Hotel in Abbotsford, Deeds Brewery, Hawkers Brewery, Rosetta, La Luna, Gingerboy and Izakaya Den, Gauge Bistro, Que Club and Italian restaurant The Olive Jar, which closed after 40 years of business.

Other prominent Sydney venue closures include Raja, Izakaya Tempura Kuon, Tetsuya's, Tequila Daisy, Redbird Chinese, Khanaa, Cornersmith, Sushi Bay, Elements Bar and Grill and three stores from the Bondi Pizza franchise. 

In May, hospitality group BCN Events Group's seven businesses including its cooking school Lumiere Culinary Studio went bust, ceasing trade immediately and affecting its 90 staff. 

The Botswana Butchery chain, which had high-end steak restaurants across three cities, went into liquidation with more than $23million in debt and sacked its 200 staff. 

Financial services and software company CreditorWatch predicted in a report published on May 21 that one in 13 hospitality businesses would fail in the next 12 months.

The report claimed businesses were at the discretion of spending customers - a demographic that had 'dried up as cost-of-living pressures mount'. 

It outlined the food and beverage industry ranked first for external administrations and tax office debts of over $100,000, and also came in third for invoice payments more than 60 days overdue.