Paige and Dion Stewart. Photo / Supplied
The news of another level 4 lockdown has left Tauranga hospitality owners with an all too familiar feeling.
Contactless deliveries are back on, a bakery owner is apologising to customers, and one catering company "lost everything" overnight - while a year-old business is navigating its first lockdown.
Business experts say the quick lockdown may have caught businesses unprepared and the wage subsidy that was "a real job saver" last time will be as important as ever if the lockdown lingers.
"It's just déjà vu," The Whipped Baker Cafe owner Frances Cooper said.
Cooper had hired four new staff due to start work this week and said she had been apologising to customers as the three-day lockdown meant cakes may not be delivered this weekend.
"We're having to turn away customers and that hurts," she said.
"We lost thousands last year and just closing for three days means we will be down about $13,000. That's huge."
But Cooper said the business would bounce back strong "like it did last time".
"We will come back fighting. We've done this before, we're strong."
Last time the bakery made goodie boxes with leftover cakes and cookies but a busy day before the snap lockdown meant not much food had gone to waste.
"We pretty much sold everything."
Cooper said wage subsidy support would be "huge" if the lockdown was extended longer than three days.
"Otherwise we won't make it through another lockdown," she said.
"We just got ourselves back on top again and were almost in the same position we were in before the last lockdown."
Lemongrass Catering owner Belinda Lombard said her business had "lost everything".
"We've lost 100 per cent of all our work. It's all gone," she said.
"We had the Rotorua Races on Sunday booked in for more than 250 people.
"Everybody is just heartbroken that they have had to postpone or cancel with us."
Lombard said the Welcome Bay-based catering company had been "really busy" in the lead-up to the snap lockdown and had bought in advance to cater for the upcoming events.
"I'm sitting on about 5kg of mesclun lettuce. That's how busy we are," she said.
"Everybody in hospo or who deals with food or perishable products is in the same boat ... It hurts every one of us instantly."
However, Lombard said she understood the need for a lockdown.
"I'll take a short lockdown any day over anything longer."
Lumberjack Brewing owner Ian O'Malley said he had orders within 10 minutes of posting on Facebook that their online store was open and shipping daily.
O'Malley said a new website and online store meant the snap lockdown had been easier to navigate compared to last year's.
"We sold so much beer last lockdown, our local retail sales grew."
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However, O'Malley said the business had adapted from selling only kegs of beer to now mostly cans.
"It's enough to keep our heads above water."
This lockdown, he said it was important people kept supporting local businesses and "keep money local".
It is the first lockdown for C4 Street Food and Espresso owners Dion and Paige Stewart as business owners and the news is still sinking in.
The husband and wife's food truck business had been operating for about a year and Dion said it was hard to say how much they would need from the wage subsidy.
But he said if the lockdown was extended longer than three days they would "definitely" be relying on it more.
"We are very lucky that we don't have an actual shop to rent so that keeps stress levels down.
"We know that's where most businesses struggle and stress out and we really feel for them."
Dion said being a small business they did not have a lot of food prepared so they wouldn't lose out too much but they did have milk and coffee on hand that had limited shelf life.
"We're really just hoping we can get back out there before it loses its quality. That's when it will start to really affect us and cost us money.
"We did see a few local shops staying open late [on Tuesday] to try to limit their waste. It's such a crazy time."
Dion said he and Paige had been looking at delivery options and maybe contactless pick-ups for food and coffee.
"But I think it's too early to call," he said.
"We've been open for nearly a year now and the entire time we've been dealing with Covid on and off so we're always having lockdown in the back of our minds.
"But when it actually hits I guess you just start thinking, 'OK, this is real, let's solidify our plan a bit more,' so that's our mission over the next few days."
Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said the wage subsidy was "a real job saver" during the last lockdown and would be useful again to businesses, particularly if it was extended.
The Government's Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme - $600 per week per full-time employee and $359 per week per part-time employee - was available for eligible employers if they expect a loss of 40 per cent of revenue as a result of the alert level increase.
Tutt said he expected hospitality businesses, in particular, to be concerned.
"The impact on them will be longer as they're affected by a change to level 3 also.
"The quick nature of this lockdown may have caught businesses unprepared, particularly those with perishable goods, so it will be important to support them."
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said the wage subsidy was an effective tool last year.
"Many businesses were struggling to find staff before this lockdown.
"Without the wage subsidy, some businesses could be considering having to let staff go if this lockdown lingers on.
"Having to recruit and train new staff once lockdown is over would make their recovery worse."
Cowley said businesses with high fixed costs, such as staff and rent, needed the most support as well as non-essential businesses with perishable goods that won't be able to recover lost earnings if lockdown was extended.
"If lockdown lingers beyond two weeks, then the Government will need to review its tools. If so, some businesses will inevitably close.
"On the positive side, businesses that are forced to close means their staff are freed up to fill other job vacancies."
Restaurant Association of New Zealand chief executive Marisa Bidois said the wage subsidy was "certainly useful" in ensuring employees continue to get paid.
But, she said, it didn't cover the full cost of salaries and wasn't enough to cover businesses' fixed costs such as premise leases and power.
"We would like to see targeted assistance for our industry that has no opportunity for revenue generation during level 4 and very limited revenues at level 3.
"While the Bay has been operating well over the last few months the impact will vary depending on the amount of time we spend at level 4.
"No revenue is no revenue and this impacts our businesses."
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