An Auckland bar owner is frustrated with the lack of information the Government is giving to the hospitality industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Owner of Ponsonby's Fitzroy Lounge Bar Nikki Ahern told Newshub she's been impressed with the support from her suppliers and the community, but says there hasn't been much clarity on the short-term future of business.
Ahern also works as an education consultant and says she receives daily bulletins from the Ministry of Education, however she says there isn't solid information for the hospitality industry about how or when they can operate once the lockdown lifts.
"We need to know if we're going to go to two-metre distancing, what kind of businesses can open, how long until level 2, are we going to stay in level 3 for a month. We need a little bit more information.
"The support's been awesome, but if we don't have the information about when we can open, how do we start planning?"
Although Ahern says she's unsure when her bar will open again, a way the public can support small business owners in hospitality is by purchasing vouchers through the SOS Cafe website. The not-for-profit Kiwi initiative supports local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic and allows them to register on the website so the public can buy a voucher.
"I started a campaign the first weekend we were closed and I was like 'hey guys, we've got reduced rent and we're getting lots of help from suppliers, but to stay open I need your help'.
"If I can get 100 people to buy a voucher this weekend and every weekend we're closed I'll be able to stay open, I won't go under."
She says community support will help keep small businesses open, which in turn will maintain a city's cultural identity.
"If we don't start supporting some of the cultural businesses and hospitality, we're going to have a really different New Zealand and that is a shame."
Her advice for the public once hospitality and local businesses reopen is people need to visit these spaces.
"When you can come out, do come out and support your local businesses, your local butchers, your local spaces.
"Generally most of us scrape by anyway, and so to have this massive thing [COVID-19] - it's going to be soul destroying."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday the Government will release further details on Thursday of what Alert Level 3 and Level 2 will look like beyond the framework set out in the Alert Table.
"[This will provide] more detail for businesses, transport, health, recreation and education," she said.
Ardern reiterated that New Zealand is "definitely not in a position to move out of Level 4 early" and when it is safe to move to Level 3, significant restrictions will remain in place.
"Think of it as a waiting room which allows a bit more activity to occur," she told reporters.
