Millions of New South Wales residents are getting $100 worth of entertaining vouchers this month as a Covid-support measure for the hospitality and entertainment industries. Photo / Getty
Millions of New South Wales residents are getting $100 worth of entertaining vouchers this month as a Covid-support measure for the hospitality and entertainment industries. Photo / Getty
A Kiwi restauranter says "it's just depressing" to watch a A$100 ($103) restaurant voucher system kick off across the Tasman this month.
Tim Wood, one-third owner of the company behind the Mexicali Fresh, Burger Wisconsin, Taco Joint and Ha Poke chains, reacted angrily as details of the New South Walesscheme were confirmed.
He posted to Twitter: "If only we had the same here in NZ. It's just depressing. We get told to just shut up and be grateful we are still in business."
"We get told to just shut up and be grateful we're still in business," says Tim Wood, a 37% shareholder in the company behind the Mexicali Fresh, Burger Wisconsin, Ha Poke and Taco Joint chains.
Wood, who cofounded one of New Zealand's first internet service providers, ihug with his brother Nick before selling it to Vodafone for $41m in 2006, elaborated to the Herald:
"In contrast to waiting for 'shovel-ready' projects, which take forever to bring online, targeted spending across the hospitality and tourism sector with a voucher system means money filters right back to the growers and farmers providing the products your eating. It's not just top-line support of restaurants and staff, but helping suppliers and transport.
Image / 123rf
"When people are having a nice meal out or grabbing a burrito they probably don't pause to think about how many other support layers sit underneath," said Wood - who is based in hard-hit Queenstown, but feeling pain from his company's squeezed operations across the country.
"I think the NSW voucher system is a great way of stimulating the economy across multiple economic layers."
After a series of delays, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed details of the voucher system on Friday.
Millions of the state's citizens will be able to access four vouchers by the end of this month, with the stimulus move consisting of:
• Two $25 vouchers are available to spend at restaurants, cafes, bars, wineries, pubs and clubs seven days a week, excluding public holidays.
• A further two $25 vouchers can be used for entertainment and recreation, including museums, live music and theatre.
The past month has seen a wave of restaurant closures, including over the past few days Wellington's Milk Crate and iconic Auckland corporate-dining venue O'Connell Street Bistro.
The fine-dining O'Connell took direct hits from lockdowns. But, reacting to its shutdown on social media, some like business writer Bill Bennett - in times gone, no stranger to the midday dining experience that finished at 4pm - saw other trends in play, from the end of long-lunch culture to the post-pandemic emergence of hybrid work-weeks to empty offices being converted to apartments - filled by those who often wanted cheaper eats.
Bucking the trend: Epic opened its first taproom and pizzeria in Onehunga on Saturday - but founder Luke Nicholas says Covid, and council red tape, made it challenging. Photo / Supplied
Yet there are also those bucking the trend, including Epic Brewing. The craft beer maker is opening its first taproom this weekend, in Onehunga - with a pizza kitchen on the side in a scaled-down version of Lion's Little Creatures brewery and eatery setup at Hobsonville Point.
Expansion is on the cards, founder Luke Nicholas told the Herald.
However, he did not anticipate it would be easy, given the red tape he had to negotiate to open in Onehunga.
"Just doing the basic stuff with the council has been such a challenge," Nicholas said.
How the Bit's did it
The NSW leg-up is similar to the UK government's "Eat out to help out scheme, launched in August 2020 before the country's current lockdown. It saw more than 74,000 venues sign up to subsidies that would provide a 50 per cent discount on every meal they served - with a no-alcohol provision and a £10 ($19.80) per person cap.
'Random series of rescure packages'
Wood's hospitality critique followed a broadside by Sky City chairman Rob Campbell against the government's wider support for the tourism industry - or, in his view, lack of.
After tourism minister Stuart Nash raised the possibility of charging visiting Australians a $35 levy to help fund the struggling industry as part of a possible new focus on higher-end tourists, Campbell posted to LinkedIn on Saturday:
"There has been plenty of time for the Minister and officials to sort out an appropriate path for the future of the tourism industry that is more than just a random series of rescue packages.
"This is not a new look, not even sure it's a decent paint job."
