"The safety and security of our team members is of the utmost importance to Domino's and each team member is equipped with safety training," the company said.
The Domino's spokeswoman said the stolen van was found a few days later.
"We can confirm instruction was given by police to the store manager to avoid the area until further notice for the safety of his staff. The store manager advised the owner and agreed to follow this advice."
Rotorua police prevention manager Inspector Stu Nightingale said police were happy to provide crime prevention advice to businesses but would not tell a company not to go somewhere.
"If they have any reason to feel unsafe when they are doing their business I would hope they would contact us. We can talk to those people, it's not a problem; it's the same with taxi drivers or any other business.
"They need to be alert. If they see something that concerns them ring the police station or 111. We would rather be deployed and find out there is nothing in it."
Nightingale said police regularly patrolled certain areas of the city, including Fordlands.
In the past few months gang tensions have been reported in the city, including a group of people fighting on Bellingham Cres this month.
Although there had been less tension recently, Nightingale urged anyone with concerns to immediately call police.
Hell Pizza Rotorua manager Bhupinder Singh said the outlet delivered to all areas of Rotorua but there were certain customers, including one in Fordlands, it refused to deliver to.
He said that customer refused to pay last year and had been blacklisted.
He said another customer last year ordered $214 worth of pizza using a stolen credit card, asking that it be delivered to a Clayton Rd property.
Lucky Star Indian Takeaway manager Gagandeep-Kaur Dhaliwai said her staff delivered anywhere in Rotorua between midday and 8pm and had never had any problems.
A Pizza Hut spokeswoman said it had not ruled out delivery to any areas of Rotorua.
"We have a monitored safety app so drivers can alert the team to any safety concerns and we can track their location if needed. Our safety app is monitored 24 hours a day and alerts appropriate emergency services when necessary.
"All of our drivers receive safety training and are advised not to make a delivery if they are ever concerned for their safety."
Meanwhile, locals have expressed sadness about Domino's' decision on Facebook, some saying it was a shame some people in Fordlands were ruining it for others.
Another said they were annoyed about crime in Fordlands and something had to be done.
Police statistics provided to the New Zealand Herald for its Counting Crime series shows just two victimisations for theft of a motor vehicle for Fordlands from July 2014 to April 2017. There was also 35 common assaults, five aggravated robberies, and 13 thefts of motor vehicle parts or contents.
