Covid 19 coronavirus: Relief for Rotorua's Fat Dog Cafe after Covid scare

Rotorua's Fat Dog Cafe today has revealed it has so far received five negative test results for Covid-19 for its staff and their family members.

The results come after it was revealed on Wednesday that two people who tested positive for Covid-19 visited Rotorua last weekend.

Their visit included the Fat Dog which was praised for its honesty when it came forward to report it had been one of the places the family visited.

Today's post said: "We've had some test results back from the four Fat Dog staff and six of their extended family – to date, we have five negative test results, which includes one of our staff on service last Sunday.

"As you can imagine, this news is a massive relief for the team and we'll keep you updated as soon as the other results come through.

"Also, we understand the Auckland family of four is having a tough time. Our team wanted to reach out to them publicly and show our support.

"It's important to note that they were doing what every Kiwi has been encouraged to do – go out and see NZ's backyard. At the appropriate time, Fat Dog hopes to see them again in Rotovegas.

"Lastly, we have been overwhelmed with the support online and instore from all of you. Such an incredible response to our last post – a genuine thank you from our team to the Fat Dog community. Stay safe, well and we'll be in touch. We've got this NZ!"

Fat Dog initially alerted its customers to the incident via Facebook and the feedback in the comments had been overwhelmingly positive.

Owner Chris Powell said honesty was the best policy in this situation.

"To be honest, we kind of expected it. Fat Dog has been around a long time and we like to think we have at least one meal occasion when people come to Rotorua, so you know there's a good chance they came through.

"I think [customers] love the fact that we're being completely upfront about it. As soon as we found out, we went public with the information and I think people really appreciate that honesty," he said.

Powell said the cafe, like many other hospitality businesses, had been following strict hygiene practices since lockdown which made it well placed to deal with an incident like this.

"It's about going through the process and I think every hospitality business in New Zealand has pretty strict cleaning processes anyway so as far as the deep clean goes, we're doing that every day."