Wellington's Prefab café ceases operations, staff given notice of redundancy

Prefab is a high profile café in Wellington. Photo / Rebecca Zephyr Thomas

High profile Wellington café Prefab is ceasing operations immediately and staff have been given notice of redundancy.

Delta level 2 has proven too restrictive for Prefab to re-open. Under the rules there is a limit of 50 people at hospitality and event venues, while outdoor venues can have up to 100 people.

Prefab Eatery, the 180-seat flagship café for the ACME brand, was founded in 2013 by Jeff Kennedy and Bridget Dunn.

Kennedy told the Herald they hoped to reinvent themselves at some point and open again, but he didn't know when that would be.

"If you want my opinion, it will be months off and we don't have funds to pay people to run a cafe until the situation changes, as simple as that."

Dunn added: "There is no confusion. We are closed."

In a letter emailed to staff this week, which the Herald has seen, Kennedy and Dunn said they have reviewed the financial position of the business.

They said they have experienced a 100 per cent drop in café revenue and as outgoing expenses continued, losses would also continue.

They said the new Delta level 2 rules were "not conducive" to the way they operate.

Even if they did start operating again, they could not foresee how long restrictions would go on for or if the next alert level would be eased.

"Therefore, we have decided to cease Prefab Café operations immediately."

They said they knew the decision would not be easy for staff.

"But this was an inevitable outcome of this global crisis and we believe this will be the best for the business. Therefore, regretfully all the positions at Prefab café will be redundant."

Staff were told they could take time to get back to Kennedy and Dunn with any comments or concerns by Friday, but if they didn't hear back from staff they would treat it as an acceptance of redundancy.

"This was a very hard decision to make. We would like to thank you for your hard work and commitment to Prefab Café."

The normally busy Wellington waterfront, on day 6 of the alert level 4 lockdown. Photo / Mark Mitchell

When asked by the Herald how many people have been made redundant, Dunn and Kennedy said no one had at this stage as they were still in the "discussion period".

They were not in a position to make any decisions on whether the situation would be reviewed once there was more clarity from the Government on future Covid-19 restrictions, they said.

Their message to Wellingtonians was "kia kaha".

Dunn and Kennedy said the new Delta rules made it "impossible" for them to open responsibly.

"A café is a space where people eat, drink, talk, have meetings, cook, serve, clean, wash, prepare food. It is a perfect storm for spreading aerosols causing infection."

They said cafes were "busy buzzy hives of social activity" and Wellington and Auckland were deserted cities.

Prefab Hall, which is operated separately by Nosh, is unaffected.

On Prefab's website, Kennedy said their dream was to have an area they could control socially and musically, with eating, art and beautiful weddings.

"We wanted to have the ability to have a space in the inner city and we love this area, Te Aro.

"Anyone would be able to pop by to use the free wi-fi. It would be a public space without a council bureaucrat in sight. This is why we live in Wellington. This place has sun, and it's not a high-rise area."