Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Tauranga businesses inundated with contactless home delivery requests, including liquor stores

Thirsty Liquor Tauranga operations manager April Broomfield with daughter Addison Addison Crawford 10, hard at work in the store after an insane few days. Photo / George Novak

Some Tauranga food and liquor stores have been inundated with home deliveries requests in lockdown.

Thirsty Liquor Tauranga operations manager April Broomhead said the store had been working "flat-out" delivering supplies all across the city.

"I don't know what day of the week it is or the time of the day, we've been that busy.

"Since the first day of the lockdown, it's just been insane. On Monday we did four times as many orders as we would do on a normal Monday, and it hasn't stopped since."

Broomhead said a relative visiting from out of town was roped in as duty manager and to do contactless deliveries.

"We're are a family owned and run business and at the moment we're having to make do with only three to four hours of sleep to keep up with demand."

Asked about Mount Maunganui GP Tony Farrell's call for alcohol deliveries to be stopped during lockdown due to potential social harm, she said in her view he was "not wrong, but he is also not right".

She also said social harm from alcohol consumption was part of "a much bigger conversation".

"Like with all things we have got the good with the bad. There needs to be more education about drinking responsibly and more support in mental health services.

"But to take away what has been authorised by the Government as an essential service is only likely to create even bigger problems in the community."

Super Liquor Greerton store owner Doug Harvie said liquor stores were highly regulated in terms of alcohol sales and he and his staff took their host responsibilities "very seriously".

"We all live by this law and try our best to ensure we operate within the requirements of this law," he said

"Yes, there are still some people hellbent on trying to buy alcohol with false IDs or attempt to get around the law, but we do our level best to stamp out this type of behaviour."

Harvie said a blanket ban on alcohol deliveries would penalise the large majority of people who made good decisions around alcohol consumption.

"During the lockdown our sales have been down between three-quarters to two-thirds so there is definitely less product leaving our store on daily basis," he said.

"We are a legitimate law-abiding business and the decision to allow contactless deliveries as an essential service was authorised by the Government," he said.

Kultaran Singh, the owner of Liquor Hut in Mount Maunganui, said since doing contactless deliveries, his turnover was about 65 per cent down compared to a normal Friday.

Singh said there was no question some people had bad habits, but imposing a blanket ban would be unfair to the majority of responsible drinkers.

"We take our responsibilities very seriously and would never sell alcohol to anyone under 18 nor to a known problem drinker.

"As a law-abiding business owner, I still need to pay my bills and staff wages during the lockdown," he said.

Ashley Peat, the owner of Super Liquor store in Te Puke, said the business had been "full-on" making contactless deliveries the past few days, most orders had been made online. She declined to comment on Farrell's concerns.

BakeShack store in Tauranga is an essential service business operating during the lockdown. Photo / George Novak

BakeShack Tauranga owner Marty Mayston said he and his 50 staff were operating from the Hewletts Rd site to service essential businesses across the central North Island.

This included providing baked goods, sandwiches and so on to essential operations open in lockdown.

There were also six delivery trucks out on the roads delivering goods to hundreds of sites across the country, including Coromandel, Auckland, Wellington and some South Island supermarkets.

Other local food supply businesses reported being "too busy to talk" trying to keep up with deliveries orders for their baked goods.

Saurin Gandhi, the owner of 101 Food Market in Maunganui Rd, said he decided to open this week because of demand from his loyal customers.

"We cannot offer contactless home deliveries because I don't have the capacity to do that.

"But I'm following all the strict Covid-19 rules including ensuring my customers all wear a mask and I also limit the number of people in the store at one time.

"It has been very hard as it has been quite quiet since the lockdown. But I don't want to let my customers down, as many prefer to shop here rather than travel further to a supermarket.

A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise spokesman said the responsibility for compliance with the rules for operating at alert level 4 lay with businesses and individuals.

"It is up to businesses to check whether they meet the definition of being an alert level 4 business or service. If anyone is unsure whether they meet that criteria the most up-to-date guidance is available on our website.

"We expect businesses to comply as these rules are about reducing the risk of transmission in the community.

"Having too many businesses operating during alert level 4 increases the odds of transmission with workers moving in and out of their home bubbles.

The ministry spokesman also said if someone believes a business was not sticking to the rules, they can report it at www.covid19.govt.nz/alert-system/covid-19-compliance.

Or if it was an emergency to call 111.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that up to 5pm on August 25, Bay of Plenty police staff had completed 317 business premises lockdown checks across the region.

This generally involved engaging with business owners to ensure the alert level 4 restrictions were being adhered to, she said.