Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Whanganui hospitality businesses grateful to see customers again

Logan Tutty
By Logan Tutty
Multimedia journalist·Whanganui Chronicle·
7 Sep, 2021 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Rutland Inn Arms owner Jennifer Gilbertson-Small said the 50 person limit will be hard on business. Photo / Bevan Conley

Rutland Inn Arms owner Jennifer Gilbertson-Small said the 50 person limit will be hard on business. Photo / Bevan Conley

Local hospitality businesses are excited to return to some sort of normality as Whanganui wakes up in Covid-19 alert level 2.

With the Delta variant making its mark in New Zealand, alert level 2 and the rules under it have been modified accordingly.

Face masks must now be worn inside most public venues, including shops, malls and public spaces.

There is also an indoor limit of 50 people at hospitality and event venues, while outdoor venues can have up to 100 people.

Springvale Cafe owner Lyn Crawford said they were grateful to be back after a few tough weeks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It has been stressful for myself and my staff. We have been open for takeaways and done some deep cleaning around the place. We are open seven days a week so we don't get to that sort of thing very often so that has worked in our favour.

"We are just ready to get back into it now."

Crawford said the distancing between tables, the 50 person limit and having a single server per table all presented challenges, but those were the rules that had been put in place.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It is what it is, it's the rules. We can moan about it, but at the end of the day, rules are rules and they are there to keep our customers and staff safe.

"Our turnover will be down and we can't seat as many people and we still have to employ our staff. We just hope it isn't like this for too long, but it will be good to get some income in."

Discover more

New Zealand

Covid-19 and Whanganui: The path forward

10 Sep 05:00 PM

Whanganui leaders back move to new alert level 2

06 Sep 05:00 AM

Whanganui sport back up and running under alert level 2

10 Sep 05:00 PM

Many Whanganui church services choose to stay online

07 Sep 05:00 PM

The mandatory scanning upon entry also made Crawford a bit nervous, saying they would have one staff member at the door at all times.

"Having to pay a staff member to stand at the door all day, that will cut into our profit when we still aren't able to have as many people in as normal.

"At the end of the day, we are positive we can open and thankful we are not in Auckland."

Cactus Creme Cafe owner Richard Keat said they would be all set to open on Thursday.

He said they could usually seat around 100, but less than half than that would be able to sit in after you account for staff and distancing.

"We will try our best to keep the limit, but I don't think many people will come in when we first open. Usually it is a bit slow when we first open."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He hopes that everyone who comes in knows and understands the rules and respects this is how it will be until level 1.

Rutland Arms Inn owner Jennifer Gilbertson-Small said it was great to see her staff again on Tuesday as they prepared for level 2.

"We are really excited to be trading. We are happy to trade again and see all our customers again, it has been a while."

She said the 50 person limit had raised some concerns and will be very tough on business.

The Rutland is looking at having two dine-in times in the evening, one from 5.30pm to 7pm and then from 7pm onwards to try to maximise customer patronage.

"Just so we can get as many people as possible and make it viable to open."

"In the meantime, we hope our customers will understand the rules around masks and signing in. It is something we have to live with and hopefully, they will be respectful to our staff and still come in.

"We hope everyone gets behind us and other hospitality businesses around Whanganui during this tough time."

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

End of the line for former St George's School buildings

Whanganui Chronicle

Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash

Whanganui Chronicle

Athletics: London Diamond League overshadowed by UK's packed sports month


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

End of the line for former St George's School buildings
Whanganui Chronicle

End of the line for former St George's School buildings

'We must be honest about the fact not every structure can or should be saved.'

16 Jul 06:00 PM
Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash
Whanganui Chronicle

Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash

16 Jul 05:00 PM
Athletics: London Diamond League overshadowed by UK's packed sports month
Whanganui Chronicle

Athletics: London Diamond League overshadowed by UK's packed sports month

16 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP