“Melbourne, are we really going to live like this?”
That’s the question from an award-winning Melbourne chef who has been broken after pouring blood, sweat and tears into her work only to have her venues destroyed or stolen from seven times in three years.
Sutinee Suntivatana — who goes by Tinee — is the Bangkok-born success story behind a number of hugely-popular Melbourne ventures.
She has launched brunch icon Humble Rays, Japanese matcha hotspot Tori’s Cafe and Carlton restaurant and co-working space called Midday.
Last year, she won an Australian Good Food Guide Chef’s Hat for Midday, which was then named Regale.
Her hard work and dedication to the city and to creating good food is her passion. She loves Melbourne, but rising crime has had a direct and damaging impact on her.
In a heartbreaking video posted online on Tuesday night, hours after thugs broke into one of her venues and stole her money, Tinee begged for help.
“I’m just a small business owner trying to make an honest living,” she wrote.
“Like so many others, we work hard, create jobs, support our community, pay our bills, and keep going even when the cost of running a business keeps getting higher.
“But in the past 3–4 years, our businesses have been broken into more than six or seven times.
“We’ve had windows smashed, doors forced open, things stolen. We’ve had calls in the middle of the night telling us that another one of our shops has been broken into.
“And every time it happens, we pick ourselves up, repair the damage, improve security, add more cameras, spend more money and hope it doesn’t happen again.
“But how many times are small business owners expected to do this?”
She acknowledged that police are working hard and that there is no simple fix to crime — it is a “complicated issue”, she said.
“But surely the answer cannot simply be that business owners have to accept this as part of living and doing business in Melbourne.
“People sometimes say, ‘You should have better security,’ or ‘You should have done more to protect your shop.’
“But why should the responsibility always fall on the victim?
“Why should hardworking people have to go to bed wondering if the next phone call at 3am will be someone telling them their shop has been broken into again?
“We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking to feel safe. We are asking for accountability. We are asking for something to change.
“Small businesses already carry so much — rising costs, rent, wages, bills and the responsibility of keeping people employed. We shouldn’t also have to live with the constant fear that someone can simply smash their way into everything we have worked so hard to build.
“I love Melbourne. I’ve built my life and my businesses here, and I still believe in this city. But something needs to change. Because accepting this as ‘normal’ should never be the answer.”
Insane act after door kicked in
In an interview with news.com.au on Wednesday, Tinee said “We’re scared”.
She said that over the course of several years, she would have paid more than $60,000 of her own money to repair smashed windows, broken doors and replace stolen items including an entire security and CCTV system.
On one occasion, a man was filmed at one of her cafes kicking the door in. She told news.com.au that he came back the next day with an insane request.
“Some guy kicked the door in. The next day he came back asking for free coffee. This is last year. I was like, ‘This guy, motherf***er’.”
She is also frustrated at being told she could do more to protect her businesses.
“People want to say ‘that’s normal in Melbourne’, but its not. We need tougher laws, accountability, consequences for actions or if they break the laws. People have gone crazy.”
Tinee, who moved from Bangkok to Melbourne 20 years ago and began working as a chef at the Grand Hyatt, says she chose the city for a reason. She believes it has struggled after the pandemic and with the cost of living crisis.
“I also feel sad for people. I walk my dog in the park and I see people really struggling, living in tents.
“Of course, they might turn to drugs — not everybody can make good decisions. We need tougher laws, we need some help.
“I came here in 2006 as an international student. I saved money, have a small business with my husband. I work in the business — I am in the kitchen right now making bagels, doing deliveries, every day.
“We are living in fear. I get phone calls from police at 3am. When I hear the phone I’m straight up. They tell me ‘your shop got smashed’ and we have to drive there at 3am.
“It’s so bad, it makes me paranoid.”
In a separate post online, Tinee wrote that the stress is worse than losing money.
“I don’t want to waste my time feeling sad every time one of my shops gets broken into. I deal with it, fix the doors, replace the windows, clean up the mess and get the business running again,” she wrote.
“Money we work so hard to earn ends up going to repairs, security, insurance that keeps getting more expensive every year.
“But honestly, the money isn’t the hardest part. It’s the stress of never knowing when it will happen again.”
News.com.au last week reported on traders packing up and leaving hard-hit suburbs because of retail crime and attacks on hospitality workers.
In Footscray in one week, Misfits, a hugely-popular night spot, announced it was closing down. Counterweight Vinyl and Espresso did the same, citing crime that makes it impossible to continue.
“We were forced to close down our store in Footscray mall due to the absolute dumpster fire that it has become,” the business wrote on Saturday.
Down the road, another cafe closed down a day after owners were assaulted by a member of the public who walked into the venue and started throwing punches.
Moustafa Saoud made the decision to leave the area after a brutal and unporovoked attacked inside his Eleven: 11 cafe on Buckley Street.
Confronting CCTV footage of the attack showed a hooded man walk through the front doors, approach Mr Saoud behind the counter and throw a punch directly at his mouth.
In the vision, Mr Saoud could be seen scrambling for safety but the assault continued.
When his attacker was done, he calmly walked back out the front door.
Mr Saoud said crime is being fuelled by drugs and that it was worse than it was when he first opened.
“When I opened, it was alright. It was beautiful, nice and quiet. It’s a great community. It started getting worse.
“It’s not nice. Everybody is worried about their kids. Customers always say they are worried. They’re scared to walk around after 6pm.”
Read related topics:Melbourne