The award-winning Blind Finch Hamburgaria and Bakehouse has missed out on summer trade under red traffic light restrictions.
Photo / Bevan Conley
The award-winning Blind Finch Hamburgaria and Bakehouse has missed out on summer trade under red traffic light restrictions.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Ruapehu business owners say they are struggling under Covid-19 restrictions.
A recent national survey conducted by Hospitality NZ has revealed that more than half of its members are facing the likelihood of closure.
Derek Allomes, owner of award-winning hamburgeria and bakehouse The Blind Finch in Ohakune, said the return toa red light traffic setting on January 23 had been disastrous for his usual summer trade.
"When we moved down to orange on December 30, things had started to pick up a bit but the move back to red meant that we lost out on three long weekends where we would normally have a lot of visitors in town," he said.
"Wellington Anniversary Weekend, Auckland Anniversary Weekend and Waitangi weekend were all really quiet and there's just hardly anyone around."
Allomes adapted his business after the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 by making the tough decision to close his newly opened Rotorua restaurant and converting the seating area of The Blind Finch into a bakery.
"I'm out of ideas this time," he said.
"We only sold 17 burgers last night and that doesn't even cover wages for one of my staff."
Allomes employs 12 people and said he was grateful for the Government's wage subsidy and resurgence support payments that had enabled the business to keep going.
"We are able to stay open now but we simply don't have enough customers. We have loyal locals but we rely on visitors for summer trade and Ohakune is normally a favourite with domestic tourists. "
A scarcity of travellers has meant fewer customers for the Angel Louise Cafe in Raetihi.
Photos / Bevan Conley
Lyn Griffin-Chappel, owner of Angel Louise Cafe in Raetihi, said loyal custom from locals was helping her business stay afloat.
"In a town with a population of around 1000, we rely on travellers to boost our business but we just haven't seen them," Griffith-Chappel said.
"We did have a slight upturn when the traffic light restrictions went from red to orange for that brief time but we just haven't seen the numbers we usually see over summer.
"I am so thankful to our loyal locals who are supporting us as best they can but a lot of them are finding it hard to pay their own bills so they can't afford to come here too often."
Ruapehu mayor Don Cameron said it was difficult to see local businesses doing it hard.
"Unfortunately, the council doesn't have the ability to support them financially but we do what we can by way of encouragement," he said.
"People can still travel under red traffic light restrictions and we want to encourage visitors to the region while trying to keep the community safe as Omicron spreads. We are having a meeting with RAL [Ruapehu Alpine Lifts] to talk about how we will manage the winter season."
Hospitality NZ said the sector was in crisis nationwide as 58 per cent of respondents to its survey said they were preparing for insolvency within the next three months.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has indicated that the Government plans to offer one-off targeted relief to hospitality owners and told RNZ that it was "a work in progress".
"Overall economic activity is only down two to five per cent but within food and beverage it's much more significant than that so we're working through how we could provide targeted support to that sector and we will have more to say about that in the near future," he said.
