Bakery and cheese store add holiday surcharge

Two food shops - one selling bread and the other cheese - have added a 10 per cent surcharge to compensate for higher staff costs over the Christmas-New Year public holidays.

They were a Bakers Delight shop in Auckland City and the Puhoi Valley Cheese cafe outlet near Orewa.

They join controversy over a 15 per cent surcharge on petrol at a South Island service station and 15 to 20 per cent on meals and coffees at many cafes and restaurants throughout the country.

Herald readers were yesterday quick to report the spread of surcharges, which were previously confined to the hospitality industry to counter statutory pay rates brought in by the Holidays Act.

A woman who bought bread rolls and a loaf of bread from Bakers Delight in the Pt Chevalier Goldmine Centre said she was appalled at being charged 10 per cent extra for a $10 purchase.

The customer, who did not want to be named, said: "This is starting a trend I don't like. This is not like going to a restaurant - this place sells basic items."

The shop is believed to be the only franchise in the city-wide chain to impose the surcharge.

Franchise holders spoken to by the Herald at St Heliers and Birkenhead said they believed a surcharge was inappropriate because bread was a necessity.

But Pt Chevalier Bakers Delight franchise holder Mike Judd said the surcharge was necessary because Christmas and New Year's Days fell on weekends this year, creating two lots of four statutory holidays.

Staff were paid time-and-a-half plus a day's holiday in lieu, pushing his wage costs up by about $1000.

Mr Judd said the shop was closed for the weekend public holidays but staff still had to be paid for those days.

"It's our first time with the surcharge and we didn't want to do it. But most customers didn't have a problem with it."

North Shore reader David Corlett complained to the Herald that Puhoi Valley Cheese - a popular tourist spot - put a surcharge on a prepacked cheese bought on December 28.

"This would be understandable for dining at the cafe where the main element of a meal would be labour.

"But on the purchase of a product how can you justify adding 10 per cent to the product price for ringing up a sale?"

Owner Chris Leuthold said it was the first trial for the surcharge and it would be reviewed before the next holiday weekend.

Service and Food Workers' Union spokesman Alistair Duncan said the surcharge anywhere amounted to a "sting operation" and could not be justified on the low wages paid to staff.

A Wellington pizza parlour added 10 per cent to a product that sold for less than $10, he said.

Yet chain stores were able to hold sales and offer discounts while paying staff the legal rate.