Better together: Taupō businesses team up after lockdown

From left: Camilla Baker of Cozy Corner Cafe teamed up with Sue Shaw and Jo Allen of Spacecraft to offer gift and coffee packages at alert level 3. Photo / Laurilee McMichael

A Mother's Day gift and breakfast in bed? Some edgy streetwear and a treat from Replete? Or a weekend in Taupō with everything organised?

Those are just some of the ideas smart Taupō business owners have come up with in recent weeks to give themselves and other local operators a boost.

They have ranged from the option to add breakfast in bed to your mum's Mother's Day gift right through to a weekend escape with accommodation and tourism operators teaming up to organised everything for you.

With all businesses searching for ways to get back on their feet post-lockdown and the message of spreading the love around resonating locally, the deals aim to benefit more than one business while meeting a customer need or want at the same time.

Taupō gift store Spacecraft teamed up with the nearby Cozy Corner Cafe to give a bonus twist to its online offerings.

Spacecraft owners Sue Shaw and Jo Allen already had an online store operating during level 4 and when New Zealand moved to alert level 3 and they were able to begin delivering gifts, they came up with the idea of giving people the option of adding a coffee from Cozy Corner to their order when it was delivered.

The lead up to Mother's Day was a busy time for online orders and as part of their promotion Spacecraft and Cozy Corner upped the ante and added breakfast in bed for mum as well, with the breakfast and gift being delivered on the morning of Mother's Day.

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"We have an online store and Camilla [Baker from Cozy Corner] doesn't so it promotes her and it promotes us," explains Sue. "Heaps of people were super-excited with the coffees - as part of level 3 people were still staying at home and hadn't been out and about.

"For Mother's Day there were people from Auckland or even London ordering things for their mothers locally and they were really excited to be able to add a coffee or a breakfast and it was really nice to get heaps of personal messages saying 'thanks so much for that, it was lovely being able to add a coffee for mum'."

Camilla Baker of Cozy Corner Cafe says it was "amazing' being included with Spacecraft's deliveries as it helped the cafe reach a new market.

"Putting our logo on [Spacecraft's] social media and advertising, us on their website, it opened the avenue to a whole pile of people who may or may not have heard of us."

In the tourism sector, tourism operators Chris Jolly Outdoors, Wairakei Terraces and Taupō Hole in One have teamed up with Lake Taupō Accommodation and Two Mile Bay Sailing Centre to put together all-inclusive weekend escapes with a variety of options and prices.

The two-night Taupō Packages start from $516 for two people and go through to a diamond escape with top-end accommodation and all the trimmings, costing $3100 for two. There is also the option to add on other attractions to their stay.

Katie Jolly of Chris Jolly Outdoors says the idea for putting together Taupō weekend escapes sprung out of a domestic survey conducted at the start of lockdown which showed that Kiwis still wanted to travel domestically, and their preference was that it was packaged and therefore easier to book.

That led Katie and other local operators including Elle Knight of Lakeside Accommodation, Renee Kiwi of Taupō Hole in One Golf, Torben Landl of Two Mile Bay Sailing Centre and others to brainstorm ideas on how they could boost the Taupō region, not just individual businesses.

"We understand that tourism is a flow-on benefit to the town, so if people are coming here, they are keeping many other industries employed by spending their money in town. By working as a tourism community, we are more likely to stay afloat rather than going in to battle against each other and slashing costs," Katie said.

"Because accommodation and activity providers rely on each other, it makes sense to create some fantastic bundles to promote what is on offer right around the lake."

Streetwear retailers Urban Edge have also been embracing the team-up idea, giving away vouchers for a cup of coffee at Replete Cafe with in-store purchases of $100 or more.

Owner Rob Hickling said the idea was to support other businesses and help put some money their way.

"If they [the customer] are in town and they buy a hoodie or something they can go and get a coffee ... we thought why not give them a voucher in the hope that they'll [also] buy a coffee for their partner and something to eat."

Urban Edge had a busy weekend with a lot of holiday home owners and locals in town and Rob says 60 of the coffee vouchers were given away, receiving a positive response.

"The customers were stoked on it, they were saying 'cheers for that'."