Business owner urges customers to support local and stick to the rules

The Coffe Culture team is "really excited to be back and making coffee for our guests". Image / Supplied

Thousands of businesses south of the Auckland border have reopened their doors after the change in alert levels.

As customers gear up to get their caffeine fix or favourite takeaway, small businesses are urging consumers to buy locally and support their community.

"We hope that people understand, we'll survive this [taking a financial hit due to Covid] through the support of our community," says Sacha Coburn, director and chief operations officer of Coffee Culture New Zealand, which operates in Hamilton at Five Crossroads.

"Anything you can do to get out there and support local businesses is hugely beneficial."

For businesses such as Coffee Culture that operate in the customer-facing sector, preparing to shift levels overnight was difficult.

Coffee Culture chief operations officer Sacha Coburn encourages Kiwis to "keep calm, stay caffeinated and stick to the rules". Image / Supplied

"It's really challenging preparing to open at level 3, while still in level 4, because it means our staff can't go into the stores and set up," says Coburn.

To accommodate this, staff were working outside their usual hours. "Some staff are going to go into stores after midnight and do a deep clean, others started really early on Wednesday morning, so we could open at 7 or 8am."

Coburn says her team is "really excited to be back and making coffee for our guests", and will be operating within the safety guidelines of level 3, including mandatory social distancing and mask usage.

All Coffee Culture premises will also have crosses marked on the ground, to help customers keep within their bubbles.

Coburn urges Kiwis to visit their favourite local places, despite the extra steps it might take to order in alert level 3.

"If you enjoy a place at level 2 and level 1, then please order from them at level 3. It's those little bits of income that keep those small businesses afloat."

Coburn encourages customers heading out to collect food to play their part.

"The Delta variant is like an entirely different virus. Even though we took social distancing pretty seriously, we can't control what guests do outside our store," says Coburn.

"I'm hoping this year, there's a wider respect for the rules that are there to keep our guests safe and to keep our staff safe as well."

This includes being patient with longer wait times, due to the extra procedures required for level 3.

"Everyone's doing the very best to get the product out as fast as they can."
Coburn acknowledges it wouldn't be possible for businesses to reopen their stores without New Zealanders adhering to lockdown protocol.

"We were super-thankful for the team of 5 million that are following the rules that made it possible for us to get to level three."

Coburn says although level 3 allow more freedom, it's still important to stay home when possible.

"If we continue to keep calm, stay caffeinated and continue to follow those rules, we're optimistic that we will get to level 2 and can have people back in the store."

Looking to eat locally at level 3? Waikato Food Inc has prepared a handy guide. Check here for updates.