Last week, The Courier reported hundreds of overseas hospitality workers face the prospect of being stranded with no work and no income support as the COVID-19 crisis rips through the industry in Ballarat.

This was true of Heshan Perera, a chef from Sri Lanka, who has had his shifts at the Provincial Hotel dry up in recent weeks.

Now, after the hotel made the decision to keep its kitchen open and move towards an at-home meal delivery service, Mr Perera says he is feeling more comfortable moving forward.

"This has provided some light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

"Every week we can continue working is another week we can hold out until the end of the lockdown."

He says the continued work has alleviated a sense of panic he and his wife were feeling initially.

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"It's awesome for us because when everything started to happen, we really started to panic.

"It's been really stressful and a really hard time for us because we can't get any government or centrelink help.

"To be able to continue working has helped us massively because like everyone else we're still having to pay all our day to day expenses like rent, bills and food."

Mr Perera added his gratitude towards the Ballarat community, who have continued ordering meals from the hotel since it moved to the delivery service.

"I want to thank the Ballarat community. We are all so grateful for their assistance and making an effort to spend money on our food... It's going to save our lives.

These sentiments were echoed by The Provincial Hotel's Simon Coghlan, who initially alerted the media about his staff's situation.

He praised the community for rallying around people in need.

"We've seen a lot of support already... The feedback has been great," he said.

"This is about supporting Ballarat chefs, this isn't a sustainable long term business model, this is about making an effort to keep our staff working."

Mr Coghlan encouraged all those in Ballarat to continue supporting not only his hotel, but all hospitality businesses while they are able to remain open.

"The opportunity for the community to support local businesses is still there currently so I feel as though that's what we all should do.

"Every business' aim currently is to come out of this afloat... no one ever wants to see a business fail, especially because of a disaster like this.

"For people in a fortunate enough position to be able to afford to order home delivery meals, I think there is a social responsibility to help out those in need."

The Provincial's Lola menu is available for home delivery between 4pm and 6pm.

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