Pursue consistency over passing trends“A lot of the restaurants that are on trend are also the first ones that end up going out of business,” said Schitaro. Restaurants such as Catalina and Golden Century focus on delivering consistent quality of food and service, building a customer base of regulars which have returned with their children and grandchildren. Don’t put off the pursuit of excellence“You can’t just react and say, ‘shoot, it’s getting really hard now, I better be good’,” said Perry. “You have to be the best you possibly can be every day, so when the hardships come, people will come and spend their money with you because they know they’re going to get great value and create a memory and have an experience... You can’t manufacture that good will during hard times - you have to manufacture that during the good times.” A dry venue is a safer venueThe group reflect on a time when the most expensive steak in Australia cost $40, and they worked hard and played harder. “That’s just not acceptable in restaurants anymore because bad things happen, and you can’t afford to have bad things happening,” said Perry, who does not permit staff to drink at his restaurants. “[As business owners], we are totally responsible for our staff now.” Take advantage of tourismForty thousand tourists are expected to visit Australia when the British & Irish Lions rugby team tours in June, said Brahimi, who has already started to see a boost in reservations. “For six weeks, the whole hospitality industry will be booming.” The comparatively low Australian dollar makes it an attractive international destination: “I was talking to them about our prices, and they couldn’t believe it. It’s almost half price.” Love it or leave it“The work is really, really hard,” said Eric Wong, who co-founded Golden Century with wife Linda Wong 36 years ago. Day after day, the pair woke up and put in long hours to make their restaurant a success — Wong recalls the shifts when he’d break in the afternoon to sleep in his car before returning to work until 3am. “You have to love it, or you wouldn’t do it,” he said. More than three decades on, Linda said she still loves her work. “I get to be a part of so many special moments,” she said. Passion is critical, but partnerships help“What’s the special sauce - that little thing that makes you just want to go back to a place?” said Strode. “It isn’t necessarily that the food is good, or that the service is good, but it’s this feeling you know you’ll get every single time you go. That’s the special sauce, and we’ll lose that if there aren’t halfwits out there, with that deep need to create a place with feeling.” But get a backer, she advises, because they’ll help in making sound financial decisions.