Aussie boss defends controversial public holiday surcharge as workers paid $62 an hour: 'CEO wages'

Yahoo

23-04-2025

A Melbourne juice bar owner has lifted the lid on how much public holiday rates cost his business, with some staff paid as much as $62.45 an hour. He said the reality was public holiday surcharges were necessary for staff to be paid properly and for businesses to 'stay open'.
Ahmed Wassel, owner of Drp Bar, told Yahoo Finance it cost him around $5,000 more to open his juice and acai bars over the Easter long weekend just past. He usually has between five to seven staff working each day, who are entitled to penalty rates.
'Last week Friday to Monday with the same roster cost us just over $7,000 in wages, that's not including super,' Wassel said.
'This long weekend that's just passed, Friday to Monday, that cost us over $12,000 in wages. So it is a big jump.'
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Drp Bar, which has locations in Carlton and South Morang, shared a video online where staff members shared how much they were being paid to work on the public holidays.
Amounts ranged from $30.13 to $62.45 per hour, with part-time and full-time staff entitled to double their usual rate and casual staff paid double and a half.
The business joked staff were "earning CEO wages" due to the public holiday.Wassel said the added costs were why it had to apply a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge. But he said it was still 'nowhere near enough' to cover the extra costs.
'That's not even factoring in everything else, so the cost of goods, rent, electricity, it does take a big toll,' he said.
'Energy just keeps going up. Rent is the same until the yearly review. Operating costs have increased, especially since wages went up and super went up as well.'
Wassel said he and his business partner did not pay themselves for working over the long weekend.
Aussies are still divided over public holiday surcharges.
A Yahoo Finance poll of more than 7,500 readers found 63 per cent thought they were 'fair', leaving 37 per cent in opposition.
Drp Bar also received mixed responses from their video.
Many praised the acai and juice bar for paying their workers well, with some even asking if they were hiring.
But others were critical of businesses passing on costs to customers and questioned why businesses opened at all.
'Just because you're incurring a cost doesn't automatically mean it should be alleviated by adding surcharges, customers aren't prioritised, only when they're paying,' one wrote.
'Why even charge a surcharge? Just raise your everyday price to smooth out your expenses for holidays,' another said.
Wassel said most customers understood the need for public holiday surcharges, but there were still a handful who questioned it and 'huffed and puffed'.
He noted Drp Bar had offered double point rewards to customers over the long weekend, with customers who spent $50 able to get a free drink with 100 points.
"I don't like charging the surcharge, but unfortunately, it's just one of those things we have to do to stay open," he said.
Lightspeed managing director Nicole Buisson said public holidays were often a 'double-edged sword' for hospitality businesses.
'Successive long weekends courtesy of the Easter and ANZAC day public holidays will provide a great opportunity for venues to increase customer volume, and therefore revenue,' she told Yahoo Finance.
'Despite seeing more foot traffic through the door, they also mean an inevitable spike in operating costs.'
Wassel said public holidays were usually pretty good for business, but the Easter long weekend was a 'weird' one with people going away and the cost of living potentially impacting sales.
'We basically take a loss, to be honest,' he said.
Despite this, he said it was still important for the business to open up on public holidays.
'It's not about always making a profit, obviously we're in business to make a profit, but we know people are out with their families and they want a treat and our customers do count on us to provide that service and be open for them,' he said.