The Tribune

• ‘Economic freedom is back’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Fusion SuperPlex’s principal yesterday said ending COVID emergency orders and curfews could help it regain up to 47 percent of pre-pandemic revenue, adding: “Economic freedom is back.”

Carlos Foulkes told Tribune Business that eliminating these restrictions would enable the entertainment and cinema complex to resume its final two night-time showings which have either been shut-down or severely disrupted for the past 20 months.

However, he acknowledged that the Gladstone Road-based destination has “to do some work to get us back” to pre-COVID operating hours, with around 40 staff still needing to be recalled from furlough and “retooled” in terms of refresher courses and training.

Predicting that all staff wanting to return to work will be recalled “within the next two weeks”, Mr Foulkes also disclosed that consumer “reaction” will determine how swiftly Fusion SuperPlex resumes a night-time movie slate where showings sometimes ran past 1am.

“I would say both of the evening shows, that would represent anywhere from 32 percent to 47 percent of our revenue [pre-COVID],” he told Tribune Business, highlighting the importance of their resumption to the company’s survival.

“That’s the two shows combined; the 8pm showing and the late-night show. With everything getting back to normal, they are anywhere between 32 percent and 47 percent of the revenue. That’s assuming we have reasonable occupancies.”

Mr Foulkes had previously told this newspaper that the 9pm curfew, which the Davis administration pushed back to midnight on its first day in office on September 17, had a “devastating” impact on Fusion SuperPlex to the point where no employee was working a full week.

Managers had been receiving just 60 percent of their due salaries - “with some of us down to 25 percent” - to ensure the business “survives” the pandemic’s crushing economic effects. That burden has now been eased with the end to the emergency orders, aiding a cinema and entertainment industry that has been one of the sectors most battered by the pandemic.

Mr Foulkes, though, yesterday explained that “a big factor” determining consumer demand in the immediate term will be the confidence, and willingness, of persons to gather in larger groups and be in the same space given that COVID-19 - and the fear of COVID-19 - remains an ever-present threat.

Suggesting that “by the end of next week maybe” the late-night movie screenings will resume, Mr Foulkes told this newspaper: “As soon as we’re internally capable we’ll get right back on it. If we had been able to do it at the weekend, we would.

“It’s going to take us a little time to wind-up. Part of the process is seeing who is available, and that will tell us how quickly we can get back to full operating hours. But, ultimately, yes, once we get back to full operating hours we will recall all employees.

“We need to make sure we’re ready for this holiday season. The goal is to get ready for Thanksgiving, and everybody back. That’s our goal; to get everything operational for Thanksgiving.”

Some 230 staff have been recalled by Fusion SuperPlex since the COVID-19 restrictions started to ease under the former Minnis administration, with those workers deployed on both a full-time and part-time basis “to spread the work around so people feel some economic relief”.

Of the remaining 40 on furlough, Mr Foulkes said: “Within the next two weeks we should have all the employees willing to return come back to the facility, and for those who are not willing, then we will put notices of vacancies out to the public”.

While unable to say how many staff may not return, or how many jobs will be advertised, he added that Fusion SuperPlex’s amenities such as the Edge restaurant had lost multiple chefs, waiters and other staff to the hotel sector - which had been allowed to open its facilities while the entertainment complex was forced to close.

Mr Foulkes, though, said he was unsure about the occupancy levels that cinemas are permitted to operate. Adding that he was awaiting guidance from the COVID-19 health rules recently tabled in Parliament by the Government, he disclosed: “We’ll ramp it up, maybe starting at 50 percent, and see how it goes.” However, other sources suggested occupancy is still restricted to 33 percent.

Meanwhile, the complex’s Edge restaurant will offer outdoor dining until 1am this weekend. “We used to have the late night crowd wanting to spend time at Edge, but we had to say ‘Guys, thanks for coming, we have to shut the music down and you must exit the building’. People were just getting into their game,” Mr Foulkes recalled of the 9pm curfew’s impact.

“People now do not have to worry about having to fly up town before the curfew. Economic freedom is back, and personal freedom is back.” He pledged, though, that there would be no let-up in enforcing the COVID-19 health protocols, adding: “As far as we’re concerned none of that stuff stops. We’re just doing it for a longer period of time.”

The Fusion SuperPlex has also partnered with the Ministry of Health and Wellness to offer itself as a COVID-19 vaccination centre these past two weekends; something it will repeat again this Saturday and Sunday as it is also helping to drive inoculation rates among staff.

“We hope this drives us closer to our goal, which is a 90 percent vaccination rate internally,” Mr Foulkes said. “Right now, we’re close to 70 percent. I’m hoping in the next months, coming into the New Year, we’ll be at our 90 percent goal.”

He added that COVID-19 restrictions had also prevented the complex’s Courtyard from catering to weddings, birthday parties and educational events that could hold 200-300 persons at a time. Mr Foulkes estimated that it will take between 60-90 days to “get back into full scale marketing” of that product, and selling and booking the space.