Restaurants and cafes can begin hosting up to 10 patrons from Friday, as well as pubs and clubs which can open their dining areas only.

It comes almost two months after businesses were forced to close their doors or retreat to depleted takeaway-only operations.

Marvan Hotels will resume dine-in trade at the Delaney Hotel and Maryland Tavern from lunchtime on Friday.

Manager Adam Taylor said the company had jumped at the chance to be among the first venues to reopen.

"It's an exciting step because it gets more people back to work," he said.

"It's definitely not a financial gain for us, but there's a number of factors that come into the equation.

"We're already open for takeaway food and the bottle shop.

"It will allow us to utilise the JobKeeper program a little more thoroughly. It gives the staff and management a sense of security and a boost to morale. It also puts a few subcontractors back to work, like our cleaners, beer technicians and point of sale and marketing services."

Mr Taylor said the hotels would offer four one-hour dining slots over lunch and three one-hour slots at dinner. Customers must book online, where they can order their meal as well so there are no delays when they arrive. They can also extend their booking for an hour if there is space available.

"If we were to get to capacity every day, it has the potential to make money to cover the current operating expenses, rather than losing money," he said.

"Fixed costs haven't gone away, so if we can sustain a few thousands dollars a week, it cuts into that loss."

The Burwood Inn publican Tony Dart said the government's late change of mind on Wednesday to allow pubs and clubs to open dining areas proved too short notice to begin trading Friday.

Mr Dart, who has run the Merewether pub with his wife Sandra since 2018, said they would restart next week with some conditions.

"We'll be taking bookings but we're basically asking that you find nine of your best mates and we just take the one booking," he said.

"We'll be doing a 5.30 to 7.30 service, and then 7.30 onward. We're thinking Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. We're probably going to ask for a minimum spend, but there's a bit to work out."

Mr Dart said the government's JobKeeper scheme had "been the saviour" and the hotel "wouldn't be doing anything without that".

"If I didn't have most of my staff on JobKeeper, I wouldn't be opening for 10 people," he said.

"The number of staff I've got in here on JobKeeper looking after takeaways, I probably don't have to add any more staff to look after the [dine-in] customers."

Mr Dart said it would be a "juggling act" trying to maintain consistent bookings of 10 people, but he hoped to seat one whole group around a large table, which had been put together using a number of smaller tables.

"It's obviously a step in the right direction," he said of restrictions being eased.

"I have to say my phone has been ringing pretty solid this morning, so there is obviously people out there looking to get out.

While many businesses view the ability to open dining areas as a positive first step, the difficulty and viability of the 10-person limit has left some feeling luke-warm about the opportunity.

Australian Hotels Association regional president Rolly de With said the industry welcomed the "small but significant step" to reactivate venues but looked forward to the "next stage of trade".

"While a maximum of 10 people may not be financially viable for all pubs and hotels, it is a positive step toward allowing venues to prepare for future trade," he said.

"Allowing pubs to cater for limited in-venue dining will particularly assist small country towns where perhaps there is no cafe or restaurant."

John Elsley, who owns The Whistler and El Chapos restaurants at Maitland, along with The Blind Monk at Hamilton and Babylon in Newcastle, said dining would recommence at all his businesses except for Babylon.

"It still won't be viable," he said. "Just the power alone, 10 people aren't going to pay the electricity.

"It will just keep some people working, obviously we're not going to make any money and we understand that.

"As long as our staff are kept in jobs and people have the opportunity to use the venue and we stay front of mind ... then that's pretty important to us."

Mr Elsley said he had stood down about 55 staff over recent months but managed to keep 15 through the JobKeeper scheme.

He said he was making plans for the businesses to return to "semi-normal", without restrictions, by September.

"Most of the people, being hospitality, hadn't been here a year or were too young," he said. "There was a lot people who weren't eligible.

"It's really hard to put a monetary toll on [the impact of the shutdown] but I expect it will be very substantial.

"I would suspect it will take about 18 months for us to get back on our feet."

Elsewhere in Maitland, Italian eatery Fratelli Roma, which has been providing takeaway food options, will open again from Friday. Ometto Pizza Bar has announced it will open too.

Blackbutt Hotel operator Fiona O'Connor said she and her husband had taken the opportunity to renovate sections of the pub during the shutdown, which was partially why the venue would not resume a dine-in service.

The pub's bistro has remained open for takeaway, but Mrs O'Connor said they would wait until restrictions were eased to relaunch.

"It's not really economical at this point," she said. "Our food game is not expensive, we're not charging $49 a meal. It really does not fit and work at this point."

Mrs O'Connor said it was difficult to determine what person-limit would trigger the hotel to resume dining.

"I don't really know what the magic number is," she said. "On some of our busy evenings, like a Saturday night, we do up to 300 meals."

Cafes might be best placed to resume dining given their typical size, but Victoria Karozis, who with her wife Alma opened Little Brown Wolf in Adamstown five weeks before restrictions were enforced, said the 10-person limit did not offer a viable level of trade.

"We're not reopening, it's just not worth it," she said.

"We're just going to wait until we can open properly and come out with a bang, instead of this trickling of restrictions being lifted."

The cafe closed for three weeks but reopened late last month to offer takeaway coffee and food. Ms Karozis said restarting dine-in service might actually hamper the cafe's takeaway operation.

"I'd love to say we're reopening for 10 people, but it's just going to be too hard to police," she said. "Customers are going to be too excited.

"It will be way too hard to tell them what to do and you can't make money out of 10 people. It's much more trickier than the politicians think, so we're going to wait.

"I'm sure a few other smaller [cafes] will, but I think if we're looking at 30 [people] it would be better."

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here