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Popular Launceston restaurant Golden Brumby has reopened for dine-in meals after closing over Christmas due to rude customers. The Chinese restaurant took the step of closing its doors to dine-in customers, after staff were abused by unruly patrons on a daily basis for a week, owner Susie Cai said. The Margaret Street store remained open for takeaway orders, but Ms Cai said she needed time off because of the toll the abuse took on her mental health. She said “blow-in” customers from around Australia targeted her and her staff over their Christmas Day $2.50 surcharge and their self-serve policy. “When they order, they want it straight away. I said to them ‘it needs to be cooked from scratch’… So it takes more than a minute,” Ms Cai said. “It’s not many – just a couple a night over the Christmas period. It got to the point where it just giving me migraines.” It was first time the restaurant has been closed over Christmas since it opened in 2004. The issue led to staff placing signage about the problem on the restaurant’s door until last Thursday. “I think (the disgruntled customers are) just stressed and hungry,” Ms Cai said. “Launceston does have this problem over the Christmas period where a lot of places are shut. I think a lot of the one-way streets would add to the whole frustration.” Golden Brumby opened as Hoong Fatt but changed its name in 2014. Ms Cai’s family opened the first Chinese restaurant in Launceston in the 1960s, she said.

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