Posted By

Tags

New Zealand Restaurants unclear of lockdown regulations

Liu Chen  
Wellington, March 24, 2020

Restaurant Association of New Zealand Chief Executive Marisa Bidois

Restaurants are crying out for clarity on government restrictions and essential services as the deadline for the unprecedented nation-wide shut down fast approaches.

The government has asked all bars, restaurants and cafes to close, and for takeaway services to follow suit when the alert system moves to level four at midnight tomorrow (1159 pm March 25, 2020), but the Restaurant Association Chief Executive Marisa Bidois, had some questions.

Clarification sought

“We are just asking clarification from the government. We have already been in touch with several officers for clarification on the guidelines. It does include food delivery, but there has not been any confirmation as to whether that includes sort of restaurants, using Uber or other delivery services to keep delivering food to people,” Ms Bidois said.

She said that the advice was that food delivery could still operate, but was wondering who was going to prepare the food if restaurants were shut.

She said that the Association had more than 2300 members and it was seeking answers as many were waiting to find out whether they remained open or not for delivery.

Difficult time for all

“We know a difficult time for everyone. But people still need to eat and we think that our industry can contribute to assisting feed our communities, our local communities, our essential service staff and really sort of be a part of assisting everyone through this difficult time,” Ms Bidois said.

If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs)

McDonalds to close

McDonalds said its restaurants, deliveries and drive-through services around the country would be closed by midnight Wednesday.

Restaurant Brands said all Taco Bell and Carl’s Jr would be closed from Tuesday (March 24, 2020) evening, and it was also staggering the closure of KFC and Pizza Hut stores.

Domino’s Pizza General Manager Cameron Toomey said their delivery services would keep operating.

“It is important to note here that it is a very fluid situation along with a lot of things at the moment. And we will continue to operate as long as we have the support of our team, our customers and of course the approval of the government. So if either of those were to change, then we would of course stop immediately,” he said.

Mr Toomey said Domino’s is offering one free meal a week to those over 70 years old and people can phone to place an order.

“We have certain times we all need to pitch together and do our own part, so we definitely recognise that the oldest citizens are some of the most vulnerable in our society and we feel that this is our way to provide that service to our community and do a little bit to help everybody out at the moment,” he said.

Read more about the Covid-19 coronavirus:
See all RNZ Covid-19 news
Covid-19 symptoms
What the Level 4 lockdown will mean
Covid-19 alert system: What you need to know
Self isolation – your questions answered
Touching your Face: Why do we do it and how to stop
Scientific hand-washing advice to avoid infection
Coronavirus: A glossary of terms

My Food Bag
Meal kit delivery company My Food Bag said it was experiencing a high demand for its services.
Chief executive Kevin Bowler said he was expecting more growth in the coming weeks.

“The last couple of weeks for My Food Bag has been the strongest in our history. And we were seeing that I think as a result of people really wanting to access quality food delivered to the door without having to have any interaction with other people,” he said.

Mr Bowler said the company had made a long list of small changes to their procedures to ensure the safety of staff and customers.

“We are increasing the amount of cleaning we’re providing people with more sanitization stations and equipment and more cleaning, more separation of people in the assembly areas so that we are working in smaller groups as well,” Mr Bowler said.

Unite Union is calling for pizza shops to close out of concerns that it may set an example to every restaurant and undermine the lockdown.

The government said it was working to further clarify what were essential services, and businesses can call its helpline on 0800-779997 to confirm if they could stay open.

Liu Chen is Reporter at Radio New Zealand. The above Report and Picture have been published under a Special Arrangement with www.rnz.co.nz

Share this story

Related Stories

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Indian Newslink

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement

Advertisement

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement

Previous slide
Next slide

Advertisement