Move to orange would reduce some workload, staff costs: Napier bar manager

At orange level there are no restrictions on the number of people allowed into a hospitality venue, and customers can move around. Photo / NZME

The general manager of three bars in Napier says staying at the red traffic light level for a little while longer won't impact them too much, as they can't host more than 200 people at a time.

However, he says a move to orange will certainly save on wage costs and staff workload - as hospitality businesses must offer table service at the current red setting.

There was an outcry from some hospitality groups on Monday when the Government announced it was keeping New Zealand at the most restrictive traffic light setting - red- until at least Easter due to hospitalisations still being relatively high from Covid.

For hospitality venues that means they have a cap of 200 people and customers cannot move about and must be seated to eat and drink.

At orange, there are no restrictions on the number of people allowed into a hospitality venue, and customers can move freely.

The Station Bar and Bistro general manager Dave Perreaux, who is also GM of The Duke of Gloucester and The Boardwalk, said the 200-person cap was not a huge concern for their venues.

"We can't hold much more than 200 so it does not really impact us very much," Perreaux said.

He said other venues in Hawke's Bay could hold more than 200 though, so it was a bit strange to have a "one-size-fits-all" rule for everyone under the current cap.

Perreaux said where the red setting was impacting them was wage costs and the workload on staff to run table service, as opposed to customers coming to the counter to collect or order their food and drinks.

"It impacts our wage costs ... if staff need to operate table service it doubles the workload."

He said, understandably, the Government does have detailed data and makes its decisions accordingly.

Hospitality NZ chief executive Julie White said, because the country was seemingly past the Omicron peak, businesses should be able to drop to orange soon.