Owner of the Blind Finch, Derek Allomes, thinks there may be a few issues with the new law.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Owner of the Blind Finch, Derek Allomes, thinks there may be a few issues with the new law.
Photo / Bevan Conley
With new rules around mandatory record keeping being brought in to aid Covid-19 contact tracing efforts, local hospitality businesses are unsure how it will work in practice.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Sunday the new rules would help make contact tracing faster.
The order would applyat busy places like cafes, restaurants, bars, casinos and concerts, aged-care and healthcare facilities, barbers, exercise facilities, nightclubs, libraries, courts, local and central government agencies, and social services providers with customer service counters.
It will not kick in until seven days after each move down alert levels, which will give businesses time to make the necessary changes.
Owner of Red Eye Cafe, Caley Maulder, said she understood why the rule was put in place, but it left them vulnerable to potential unruly customers.
"We are not going to get into it with people trying to enforce these rules. As a small cafe, it's hard enough to do a single server per table under level 2. We usually only have two workers most of the time, how is that suppose to work?
"In a time like this, I don't want to argue with people risking losing customers. I need to make money in time like this, not a bad reputation because someone has it out for me."
Maulder said there needed to be a better way of "scanning in" than using an app on your phone, suggesting perhaps some sort of card they can scan when they pay.
Owner of the Orange Cafe and Castle Eatery, Vik Handa, said he would have one of his staff solely focused on ensuring people scan or sign in.
"We will dedicate one person to be outside to make sure whoever enters we have their details. We will do some training around it, we will show them before opening the cafe.
"It's going to cost me extra, but at least we make sure everyone who comes in feels safe."
Handa plans on offering takeaway meals and deliveries through Delivereasy whenever we move into level 3.
Derek Allomes, owner of the Blind Finch in Ohakune, said while many customers had been using the Covid-19 tracer app at the bakery, some were just "popping in for a pie" and didn't record their visits.
"They can be in and out in 30 seconds so it will be very hard to keep track if we have to monitor it," Allomes said.
"We have school kids coming in to buy their lunches and most don't have phones so we would have to ask them to sign in manually."
Allomes said he estimated 90 per cent of customers pay electronically and he wondered if that might provide a means to track people rather than trying to get everyone to use the tracer app.
