Covid 19 coronavirus: Stratford food businesses back open for level 3

Tarek Amin's son Noah, 5, is happy Sahara Kebabs and Grill is open to the public again. Photo/ Supplied

Business was booming for Stratford eateries on Wednesday as they reopened their doors to the public.

Under level 3 rules, food places were allowed to open as long as they offered contactless pick up or delivery.

Tarek Amin, owner of Sahara Kebabs and Grill, says the support from the community has been great.

"Small and local businesses rely heavily on the support from the community and we're very appreciative of our regular customers who come in."

With the alert level 4 lockdown being announced suddenly, Tarek says he lost quite a lot of food.

"I didn't have the time to give it away which is disappointing. We had to start over but we're slowly getting there. With the uncertainty of Covid, I think things will pick up when we're back in alert level 2."

Sahara Kebabs and Grill weren't the only business that lost stock. Taranaki Sourdough Company owner Patrick Gordon says he lost over $2000 worth of stock due to the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown.

"We went into lockdown quite suddenly and we had our bread ready for the week. The stock we hadn't made into bread was fine though."

Patrick says they have three staff working at a time.

"They are all wearing gloves and masks and maintaining safe social distancing rules. We're all happy to be back working."

Owner of Azure Sara Skilling says the customers are following mask-wearing rules.

"They've all been so good and we only had one manual sign in on the Wednesday, everyone else had the app which is good to see."

Sara says she had plans in place for the reopening.

"We've done it before last year so we already had our plans in place. We knew what to do and that it was important to pre-order stock so we wouldn't run out."

She says the phone was ringing all day.

"It was much busier than anticipated. We take orders over the phone and people can come and pick up their food contactless and pay via eftpos. Our website is set up so people can order and pay online. The Stratford community is pretty awesome they always rally behind small businesses."

The Baking Company manager Lynn Pearce says they were also busy, with food flying out the doors the whole day.

"Everyone was excited that we were open again. We're very happy to be back. We ran out of milk on the Wednesday but we're all stocked again. People can ring up and order their food and we will have it ready for them for contactless delivery."

The Stadium Bar and Bistro co-director Steve Roberts says the staff were happy to be open again.

The Stadium Bar and Bistro co-director Steve Roberts says there was a steady flow of orders on Wednesday.

"It's great to be back cooking, serving food and being part of the community group that's open."

He says they received a steady flow of orders on Wednesday.

"The good thing is that they were staggered throughout the evening which relieved the pressure. People are able to order our full menu online. Once they place their order, they can wait in their cars outside the stadium and we will give them a call once their order is ready. A staff member will put their order at a collection point outside the stadium.

"The website is quick and easy to use and people can pay online, or via eftpos on-site."

While many businesses were closed during the alert level 4 lockdown, Fenton Street Arts Collective were able to sell gin.

Jo Stallard, co-owner of Fenton Streets Art Collective, says they received a number of orders for gin during the level 4 lockdown.

From left: Fenton Street Arts Collective staff Amelia Lett and Josh Watson say coffee and gin have been popular buys.

"Steve and I were quite busy distilling and now we're in the process of labelling the bottles. It was important for us to keep our stock up."

Jo says a table with hand sanitiser and a sign in sheet is set up at the door for people to pick up their orders.

"Everyone has been really good about wearing their masks and maintaining a safe social distance. Our staff are wearing their masks and sticking to the two-metre rule. It's good to see the Stratford community supporting small businesses."