Luke van Veen, owner of Papa Mo's in Pāpāmoa and Frosty and Fox Hawker House in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Talia Parker
Tauranga hospitality businesses are "hurting massively" under red traffic-light restrictions, with one owner saying he struggles to sleep at night worrying.
Several cafes, restaurants and bars have reported a loss in customers and sales of up to 60 per cent, as people work from home and are reluctant to dine out in case they became a close contact and have to isolate.
The impact of this has led to some businesses closing early, making staffing adjustments and cutting down staff hours to cope.
One business owner is "urgently" calling upon the Government to provide financial subsidies, saying its guidelines arethe reason for a lack of customers.
The Government says it recognised there has been a "significant" drop in the hospitality sector and is "actively considering" whether further, targeted support for some sectors is necessary.
It has been nearly four weeks since New Zealand moved to the red traffic-light setting on January 23, as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spread.
Under red, people should work from home if appropriate, while tertiary education, schools and early childhood care centres remain open with public health measures in place.
Luke van Veen, owner of Papa Mo's in Pāpāmoa and Frosty and Fox Hawker House in Mount Maunganui, said: "The day red traffic light came into effect ... everything changed."
Hospitality businesses were "all hurting massively" with businesses talking about revenue drops between 30 and 80 per cent.
People were "wary" of going out in case they ended up being a close contact and had to isolate.
On Sunday, Frosty and Fox Hawker House closed after a staff member tested positive for Covid, resulting in the cancellation of a "full restaurant" of Valentine's Day bookings.
Van Veen said he could keep paying his staff with a Government isolation subsidy.
"But that's only one thing" when he had lost a week's turnover.
The Government "urgently" needed to help hospitality businesses by providing a targeted industry support package.
"Their guidelines are the reason we're in this position ... they're the reason we don't have that many people coming through the doors."
Lone Star Tauranga owner Trevor Donaghy said turnover had been down nearly 30 per cent over the past three weeks.
"You struggle to sleep at night a bit when you're sort of thinking about how you're going to get through the next couple of months. There's no support from the Government."
Anecdotally, Donaghy said the restaurant overlooked a carpark on the waterfront and previously "there was never a carpark to be found in it".
"Now it's probably only a tenth full."
Crown and Badger pub owner Jessica Rafferty said sales were about 60 per cent down.
"Staff still need to have their contracted hours, all our fixed costs are going up with inflation and there's no customers around.
"Either have restrictions and have support but if you're going to do no Government support, drop the restrictions. It's not fair."
Elizabeth Cafe and Larder co-owner Connie Richards said the impact of people working from home had been "huge" because the cafe was in an office building. She estimated customers were down more than 50 per cent.
"It just disappeared.
"I feel like the fear of Omicron for some is still there and that's valid ... but I just think it does stop people going out."
In her view, some people did not want to risk going out in case they become a close contact and were not able to go to work.
She also had to cut down hours for staff to try to keep the business open.
"It just blows my mind that there's no funding. We were better off in the level system where we were locked down because at least we got some subsidy then to get us through."
Dry Dock Cafe owner Kim Ort said she has had to adjust staffing levels since moving to red.
Ort said there were "lots of restrictions" put on businesses such as the vaccine pass and working from home, but people were also worried about becoming a close contact.
"People are concerned about being out and about and what impact that might have on their livelihood."
Ort said the Government was "out of touch" with the sentiment in the business community as they were operating under heavy restrictions with little Government support which was "very difficult".
Little Long cafe manager Rubal Sarao said it had lost some regular customers due to them working from home.
The cafe had reduced its opening hours as a result of it being "really quiet", sometimes closing at noon.
Zest Bakery and Cafe manager Kay Perry said fewer people were going out because they were afraid of getting Covid and due to rising petrol and food prices.
Customer numbers had been "slowly declining" and Waitangi weekend was "really quiet".
Tauranga's Craft Bar & Kitchen (CBK) owner Billy Emeny said people were doing split shifts at their workplaces and corporate employees were not around as much.
"Our lunches have dropped but our dinners have gone up."
But the business was still growing and "pushing hard", he said.
"We have noticed a lack of foot traffic and we're hoping after this thing happens, everyone goes back to work really."
However, The Barrel Room owner Stewart Gebbie said not that many people worked in the CBD anyway and turnover was down about 20 per cent.
"We've had people working from home for the last two years so we haven't seen that much of a drop really."
Hospitality NZ Bay of Plenty regional manager Melissa Renwick said there was "a notable absence of customers" for its members' venues in Tauranga's CBD.
"By business' instructing their teams to work from home it has taken away all of their customer base.
"Everyone is already acutely aware that there aren't any tourists walking the streets and now there aren't any workers."
To make up for lost business, some cafes were offering delivery but delivery services were often at a cost of 30 per cent on each order, she said.
Renwick said the hospitality sector needed financial support from the Government in response to the imposed restrictions.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said it was a "vulnerable time" for the hospitality sector, "as Covid-19 stole what was going to be a prosperous summer with a stacked events calendar across the region".
Limits on gatherings and workplaces meant many corporates were requiring their staff to work from home.
"The combination of fewer events, fewer CBD workers, vaccine pass mandates, and some people's fear for catching Omicron has compounding impacts for hospitality in the city centre.
"They are facing reducing revenue as well as increasing costs thanks to inflation."
Cowley said people could support local hospitality by ordering takeaways, holding work meetings at cafes, ordering workplace catering or by sharing their social media content.
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson said the Government was monitoring the impact on businesses from the Omicron outbreak, with the hospitality sector showing a "significant" drop in business.
"The red setting of the Covid Protection Framework does allow almost all businesses to operate. But it is clear that some people are behaving more cautiously than the setting requires."
Robertson said the Government was "actively considering" whether further, targeted support for some sectors was necessary and would make announcements "in the near future as appropriate".
The Small Business Cashflow Loans scheme was still open for applications until December 2023, and the Government was revisiting the settings of that scheme to ensure it provided appropriate support as it dealt with the Omicron outbreak.
The Commissioner of Inland Revenue was able to offer deferred payments on some tax obligations. The Short Term Absence Payment and Leave Support Scheme were also still in place.
The Bay of Plenty District Health Board is continuing efforts to increase booster vaccination rates with several clinics in the Bay this weekend. First, second, booster and the child vaccine are available at all events.
Tauranga
Drive-through at Trustpower Baypark, Truman Lane, Mount Maunganui
Saturday, February 19 from 10am to 3.30pm
Pop-up clinic at Fraser Cove Shopping Centre on Fraser St, Tauranga South
Sunday, February 20 from 10am to 3pm
Kawerau
Drive-through at Ron Hardie Recreation Centre, Onslow St
Saturday, February 19 from 10am to 3pm.
Matt Nippert and Cécile Meier both won business journalism awards.