It's been little more than a year since Jimmy Hoyle officially opened his bar and restaurant Phoenix in Brisbane Street.
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The business found its niche specialising in hosting private functions, not to mention regular comedy nights.
"From my point of view it [private functions] was really good for controlling cost for my point of view as a new business," Mr Hoyle said.
However, the coronavirus had all but put an end to private function bookings at the venue, even before the state government banned all gatherings of more than two people in public.
Mr Hoyle said the last few weeks had been really challenging for his relatively new business.
"It's taken 10 years to save the amount of money I've ploughed into this thing," he said.
"We were trending up, I had just put two staff on permanent recently.
"I saw a lot of opportunity and it's now about getting through it [coronavirus] and if so, how do we scale up to keep all of our businesses viable and open.
"I've had quite a lot go wrong over the time, it's really bittersweet to still be open, trading and have a good reputation, especially on social media ... it's really sad to see my business empty."
With bars being forced to close, Phoenix has done what many businesses have and turned to food delivery.
"Businesses like mine are adapting ... I've kind of shied away from it [food delivery] until now," Mr Hoyle said.
"A lot of the take away-based businesses I've spoken to haven't taken that kind of hit that physical premises like mine have."
Mr Hoyle's day-job now largely pays for Phoenix to stay afloat. He works in a business mentoring program that specialises in helping prospective small businesses get on their feet.
"It's a really challenging time everywhere at the moment, these kinds of programs are imperative," he said.
"We work in a highly services-based economy and coming into contact with people is inevitable.
"A lot of the people we work with are micro businesses ... a lot of these businesses don't have the support or resources these larger organisations have, that's where we come in."
It's taken 10 years to save the amount of money I've ploughed into this thing.
Throughout the hardships, however, Mr Hoyle has said the Launceston business community continues to look after one another during this difficult time.
"The support has really resonated locally. I've spoken to a few business owners around town and it's [the support] been amazing," he said.
