A restaurant owner is fighting to keep his institution “old school” by only accepting cash payments and refusing to offer milk alternatives.
Bar Italia has only been accepting cash since it opened in Sydney’s Leichhardt in 1952.
Owner Con Damouras said the decision came from his young children not knowing how to count money and the desire to keep circulating cash in a digital society.
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“There is people who get disappointed, we have a few that call us different names,” he told 2GB Sydney.
“We just say, ‘Look, this is part of the institution and we’re keeping it that way. Cash only’.”
Damouras had an ATM installed near his restaurant to help accommodate customers, who were previously walking up the road to the nearest ATM.
“We contacted our bank, we said we’re losing customers because most people are using credit cards,” he told the radio show.
Damouras also does not offer milk alternatives.
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Despite the old-fashioned way he does business, Bar Italia is bustling with people queuing up outside to get a seat.
“It works for us, we don’t lose many people,” he told 2GB.
“We just want to keep it old school, the way it was, the way it is.”
Damouras is one of millions of Australians fighting to keep cash circulating.
Today, about two million people are expected to participate in a cash-out protest against digital and card payments by withdrawing cash and using it at businesses.
The organisers, cash advocacy group Cash Welcome, said they hope to “keep cash alive”.
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