Hawke's Bay Today visited five business owners and leaders to hear exactly what it's been like operating in a pandemic - including their biggest challenges and what they want to see happen to help business thrive again.
It comes as big border restrictions are due to be lifted in the coming weeks to welcome more travellers and workers into the country to lift the economy.
Staff shortages, delivery disruptions, rule changes, wastage of food and products, and the impact on mental health.
Those are some of the biggest challenges Hawke's Bay business owners have dealt with during the pandemic - while trying to run their businesses and lead staff teams.
Duncan Smith, the owner of Waipawa Butchery, which has stores in Havelock North and Waipawa, said logistics had been the toughest challenge for his company, including getting products to customers.
"Getting our product out to our customers has been really difficult.
"Couriers - as everyone knows - have been really under pressure."
He said the thing that would help business most would be simply "getting back to normal".
"We want our customers to feel comfortable coming in off the street and coming in and shopping and supporting local."
Blair Tickner, owner of 13th Stag Cafe at Mitre 10 Sports Park in Hastings, said there had been plenty of food wastage at his business during lockdowns.
"With the closures there was wastage of a lot of food and supplies for our kitchen, which we had to re-prepare when we opened up again."
He said another big challenge had been the constant uncertainty over what was happening, while trying to provide certainty for staff.
"A lot of mental health came into it for us and also the staff."
He said seeing the cost of living come down - such as food costs - would be a huge help for the cafe going forward.
Rebekah Taylor, who owns Glenn's Pharmacy in Taradale, said staying on top of all the Government updates had been the biggest challenge, particularly when those updates severely impacted her business and services.
"The biggest challenge has been keeping up to date with what is happening and what is going on, particularly for us in healthcare because we are the ones that are supposed to be answering patients' questions," she said.
"It has been hard when the public have known more about the updates before we have been told - so that has been really, really hard."
Making things even tougher for pharmacies has been calls for them to offer extra services to the community - often at short notice - such as assisting people with setting up vaccine passes and administering Rapid Antigent tests (RATs).
Yummy Fruit Co owner Paul Paynter, based in Hastings, said staff shortages had significantly impacted his business particularly with a big drop in apple pickers.
He said the return of more backpackers and seasonal workers into the country would be a huge boost.
"The biggest challenge for our business has been labour - first, second and third.
"New Zealand usually issues about 300,000 short-term work visas each year and we are missing those people - the backpackers and vocational [travellers].
"Labour shortages have been a disaster for three years now."
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce CEO Karla Lee said more Government financial support would be great to see for businesses here in Hawke's Bay, and borders opening in the coming weeks would be a huge help.
"The borders reopening is really exciting... we can see the tourism market and hospitality expand and grow from April 13 with Australians coming in, and we can see our staffing shortages fixed as well."
People from a long list of other countries, including the US and UK, can also come into the country without isolating from May 2.