No.5 Café & Larder owner Johnny Duncan said that although they haven't been part of the programme for long they have high hopes and for the concept moving forward. Photo / Paul Taylor
No.5 Café & Larder owner Johnny Duncan said that although they haven't been part of the programme for long they have high hopes and for the concept moving forward. Photo / Paul Taylor
Small Hawke's Bay businesses have a new lifeline for survival in the face of Covid-19.
A new system called SOS Cafes - which stands for Save Our Special Cafes – was set up by Auckland senior government official David Downs on March 24 to help struggling businesses through the lockdown,when all non-essential businesses closed.
Businesses can join the website and sell gift vouchers worth $5, $25 or $100 to customers, which they can redeem when they re-open.
He said they understand the lockdown is absolutely necessary and are hopeful that the swift early action from the Government will mean things will get back to the new normal as soon as possible.
"The support from the government in the form of the wage subsidy has been incredibly helpful," he said.
"Without this help we would have most likely lost some truly great people.
"Being a business owner in these uncertain times is really worrying."
Café Tennyson + Bistro owner Julien Debord said that they had made use of the Government offer since the beginning of lockdown but that this will help with the business to continue in some way during the lockdown.
But for them it is uncertain times as the hospitality industry goes into its quiet period of the year.
"We will keep all of the staff as much as we can for this coming winter," he said.
"As we don't know how our business is going to react, but we know that we will be strongly impacted. We get lots of tourists six months a year. We are scared for the coming months."
Café Tennyson + Bistro owner Julien Debord said that they had made use of the Government offer since the beginning of lockdown. Photo / Paul Taylor
As at April 9, more than 1300 cafes and restaurants had joined the website, along with several hairdressers, osteopaths and massage therapists.
More than 6500 vouchers worth over $300,000 have been purchased.
Downs, the general manager of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, came up with the concept after feeling "a bit helpless" when the alert level 4 lockdown was announced on March 23.
The website was launched the next day, and the response has been "overwhelming", he said.
"I thought about the hundreds of cafes and small businesses who would suffer and what I could do over the next four weeks to help out.
"While they can get Government help with the wage bill that's nowhere near enough. Many of these small businesses are running on small margins ... we've got to help them live as long as they can."
Downs doesn't make any money from the initiative, which started with three volunteers and now has 12, including customer support people.
It has become so popular, Downs changed the name to SOS Business just last week to include all small businesses.
"It's become massive now, we've got more and more people asking to join," he said.
"People are really appreciative knowing we're trying to keep their businesses alive.
"They're the heart and soul of the New Zealand economy and we need to make sure they keep going."
