There's only 46 days left in which to dine at Veldt.
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The restaurant has confirmed its last service will be on March 26.
Owners Brad and Natalie Myers announced on February 1 their casual fine dining business of seven years would be closing at the end of March.
Mrs Myers told the Daily Liberal last week they were "absolutely devastated" to shut the doors.
She said Veldt's lease in Cobra Street would shortly be up, which led them to considering the future.
On Monday, Veldt announced its final menu, to start on Tuesday.
"It is an eclectic mix of our past favourites," a post to Veldt's Facebook page said.
"We hope you enjoy."
Readers took to the Daily Liberal Facebook page, greeting the news of the impending closure as a loss.
"Sad another venue closes, had dinner last night, beautiful food and great service by very nice staff," Jonathan Perese said in a post.
Rosemary Maunder said Veldt was her favourite restaurant.
Ethel Smithson said it was sad.
"Best food, service and friendly staff, you will be sadly missed," she said.
"Good luck."
EARLIER:
The proprietors of a casual fine dining experience at Dubbo are "absolutely devastated" to be closing their business at the end of March.
Veldt founders Brad and Natalie Myers announced on Tuesday the end of an era after seven years in operation.
They've made the decision as COVID-19 continues to create uncertainty for business owners but have hopes one day they "may rise from the ashes".
But for now they have heavy hearts.
"We've worked so incredibly hard over the past seven years to build our reputation, maintain it, and survive the conditions that we've had to endure, as has everyone else, with the droughts and everything else that's affected the cost of produce rising and COVID," Mrs Myers said.
"It's been a really, really tough time."
Mrs Myers said Veldt's lease would shortly be up, which led to them to considering the future.
"The cost of meat has skyrocketed, it is just a decision with COVID hanging over us as well, because we haven't had COVID yet, that once our business is affected by COVID, it will cause another closure, which will ultimately hurt as well," she said.
...that was our decision-maker that we just walk away now, while we were able to.
- Veldt co-owner Natalie Myers
"So we decided now with the market, and the whole hospitality industry... I don't know if it's Australia-wide, but I can certainly confirm that it is NSW-wide, it's really, really tough out there, it's really quiet.
"So... that was our decision-maker that we just walk away now, while we were able to."
On their sad day they also had cause to celebrate - their restaurant won a 2022 Australian Good Food Guide Chef's Hat Award.
Also softening the blow is the outpouring of support they've received since calling time.
"I was working last night, and could hear my phone constantly going off with messages and it's been absolutely humbling and heartwarming, the show of love that has come through, to see us off in such a way," Mrs Myers said.
...it's been absolutely humbling and heartwarming...
- Veldt co-owner Natalie Myers
"We've ended up with I think about one hundred bookings overnight, with people trying to jump in before the end of March to dine with us one last time.
"We've got a couple of customers who've made four bookings during that time, so it's absolutely heartwarming to see the community support that we have."
Veldt has a staff of nine.
"We are hoping that our staff stays with us to see it through to the end, because it was such an amazing achievement for all our team to have such a wonderful restaurant," Mrs Myers said.
"We will endeavour to find them jobs, but each of them are such assets to us that they will certainly find a job easily within the Dubbo hospitality industry because of what wonderful people they are."
The restaurateur said the achievement she was most proud of was Veldt becoming a "household name".
They had had so many patrons travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane who had received a recommendation from someone they knew to dine at Veldt, Mrs Myers said.
"Being synonymous in Dubbo with being such a great restaurant and people choosing to dine with us for any occasion, or a just because dinner has meant the world to us," she said.
"So just having that word-of-mouth reputation that we've built up, we're really proud of what we've achieved."
Mrs Myers, who has a corporate background, said she was hoping to find a "nine to five position" and her chef husband would also be looking for a job, perhaps with a larger hospitality group in Dubbo.
They were also thinking about creating "Veldt chef for hire".
"Being such a hard time in the industry, everyone is really stuck for chefs, so we consider that for the short-term we could hire Brad's skills out to the hospitality owners in Dubbo and maybe surrounding areas..." Mrs Myers said.
They may also "rise from the ashes", Mrs Myers said.
"So if an opportunity arose in Dubbo that we open a restaurant, after I suppose the brunt of COVID has settled down, don't discount the fact that we may rise again," she said.
"But I just really want to enforce that if you have the opportunity, please support local businesses, everyone is doing it really tough, and just be kind - just be kind and support local."