An innovative fish and chip shop that featured on ABC's Landline and Gardening Australia for serving up spray-free salad, freshly grown at its own aquaponics farm, is about to close its doors at Buderim.
'Rak' means love in Thai, and FarmRak founder, Nattapon Chumchujan has not given up on his vision of both caring for the environment and feeding people local food that is fresh and healthy.
But COVID-19 has impacted trade and caused critical staff shortages.
To keep his dream alive, Mr Chumchujan had to put his farm on hiatus and close his popular Sunshine Coast eatery.
"Unfortunately, at the moment we're just struggling with staff," he said.
Anger over rules
The Thai-born chef and engineer, who qualified with a Masters in Information Technology from QUT, said FarmRak had received abuse for enforcing government requirements for the wearing of masks and "proof of COVID-19 vaccination" check-ins.
"We find it quite difficult because not everyone understands we just have to follow the rules of what we've been told to do [or risk getting fined]. It puts staff and the team under a lot of pressure — tough situation," he said.
Mr Chumchujan has juggled aquaponic farming and operating the Buderim shop with renovating and rebranding his FarmRak signature restaurant in Ascot, Brisbane, which is still trading.
"One of the reasons that we decided to shut the [Buderim] shop down, at least I can save my energy and focus on things that I can do and have enough energy for when this wave [of COVID] is over.
"We can still come back, and we can still do other things."
Farm on hiatus
For now, his grow beds are empty, but Mr Chumchujan said his aquaponics farm could be fired up again in winter.
The fish that fertilised the water — that grew more than 20 varieties of chemical-free vegetables including lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkins, chillies and beans — have been released into a dam.
Mr Chumchujan is still working on realising his dream and has teamed up with former accountant turned organic farmer and roadside grocery store owner, Neil Federer, to investigate if there's enough interest for them to start a food delivery service.
Partnership planned
"Our farmers are struggling — with this COVID interrupting their growing, they don't have enough workers. The markets are rejecting their product so every day we see food wasted, so how can we resolve that?" Mr Chumchujan said.
There has been an outpouring of support on the Buderim restaurant's Facebook page with people expressing regret at losing yet another independent local business.
"Nat and Bella, so sad to hear the news. After all the hard work and inspiration ideas it is such a shame. COVID has certainly made an impact on so many lives," one customer wrote.
"Sorry to hear Nat and Bella, COVID has caused a lot of sadness, we send our love," said another.
Mr Chumchujan's wife, Gaeul (Bella) Kim shared her husband's heavy heart over the decision to close their Buderim shop.
"It is a difficult time for everyone, but we will never give up and will do our best every moment," Ms Kim said.
"I hope the day will come when everyone can happily dine at our restaurant without worrying about the virus."
