Restaurants Association: 1000 businesses gone, taking 13,000 jobs

Thursday, 23 September 2021

Upokoina George-Yates, general manager of Churly's Brewpub, is happy his business can move into alert level 3, but says moving further down the alert levels comes with a cost.

George-Yates said in many hospitality businesses level 2 was harder than the higher levels because it marked the end of the government wage subsidy.

“Because of the restrictions and the margins that come naturally in a hospitality business, you are really limited in what you can do in terms of making a profit in level 2,” George-Yates said.

Hospitality businesses are in the difficult position of needing to recover the heavy losses of lockdown, while also covering the often large costs of reopening, George-Yates said.

* Most hospitality businesses in Auckland will not be financially viable after another week in lockdown

Upokoina George-Yates, general manager of Churly’s Brew Pub & Eatery, in Mt Eden, Auckland said many hospitality businesses are fearful of money down the alert levels without sector specific support.

* Covid-19: 'Highest possible price' paid again by hospitality sector

While George-Yates said many industries were hit hard by Covid-19, hospitality in particular required special attention from the Government if the sector was to survive.

Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said it was only a matter of time before it became cheaper to grab a takeaway than to make the same meal at home.

“Any additional funding is always going to be beneficial. We don’t know what people’s mindsets are going to be, coming out of this lock down. Delta brings on a mentality that people are going to be more hesitant to come out after the lockdown ends,” George-Yates said.

The Restaurant Association will on Thursday ask the Government that the sector be given specific attention.

Association chief executive, Marisa Bidois will present a plan to Parliament’s Economic Developmenet, Science and Innovation Committe, to get the hospitality industry out of the financial ruin of Covid-19.

The Future of Hospitality Roadmap, aimed to help the sector bounce back from an estimated 13,000 job losses due to 1000 hospitality business closures since the start of the pandemic.

“Following the return to alert level 4 in August 2021 we expect the fallout to be significantly higher over the next three to six months,” Bidois said.

The plan calls for continuing the wage subsidy in level 2, a continued “lockout subsidy”, a one off “reopening payment”, and various vouchers and incentives to encourage customers to support their local businesses.

Matt Stenton, programme director at Go With Tourism, said if the government was able to encourage consumers to get back to hospitality and tourism businesses, then the industry could do the rest.

The lockdout subsidy would give businesses that could not operate a payment equal to 50 per cent of their average weekly sales in a level 1 week.

Bidois said the plan would put options in front of the Government to help a sector that needed it more than most.

“We are essentially presenting ways of directing financial stimulus to hospitality. Which is really important because a lot of feedback we are hearing from our members outside of Auckland, is that this time level 2 is a lot quieter than it has been in the past,” Bidois said.

The plan was the first of several stages aimed at setting up the hospitality industry for a different kind of future, Bidois said.

“For me the most important thing is setting hospitality up for a bright future. Many in the industry have been working through the pandemic, and accumulated debt while doing that. So we are really just looking for solutions,” Bidois said.

Matt Stenton, programme director at Go With Tourism, said while many businesses were feeling the pinch of Covid-19, tourism and hospitality had long required a more focused approach from the Government.

“There has got to be something better offered than just the resurgence support and the wage subsidy to ensure that all parties win,” Stenton said.

“The Government is doing a sensational job with trying to support employees and employers, but at the end of the day it is employers in these industries who are the ones missing out,” Stenton said.

Stenton said he would like to see a voucher programme that could only be spent in tourism and hospitality businesses to get consumers to the areas that needed them most.

“Yes it will cost some money. But this isn’t a ‘give me’ situation. If the Government can give us some assistance to get people here then we will do our part in offering discounts, packages what ever we can to make this work,” Stenton said.

George-Yates said the Government giving a focused hand up to the hospitality industry would will be a help to all of New Zealand society.

“For the government to assist hospitality would in turn help New Zealanders get back that social aspect of their life that so many people have missed during lockdown,” George-Yates said.