Butchers desperate to open up as lockdown extended

Butchers say they’re desperate to be able to open their doors to customers as the nationwide lockdown is extended again.

During Level 4, supermarkets and dairies can serve customers in-store but for green grocers, butchers, bakeries and fishmongers only contactless orders and deliveries are allowed.

Naenae Meats owners Phillip Austin and Julie Lemisio had been in business for less than a week when lockdown hit. They’d bought $30,000 worth of meat and needed to figure out how to switch to contactless delivery.

“We pretty much had to hit the ground running” Lemisio says.

“We are not well supported with our systems so we are just working through what we can in regards to our tools like our Facebook page and doing orders through that.”

Austin says he’d love to be able to open to customers again.

“We are no different to a supermarket or dairy, we only let a certain amount of people in at a time - one or two and as long as they keep their distance. I think we could do the same thing. Why should the supermarkets have the monopoly? That's the way I look at it”.

Locals Rob Mackie and Shane Thorne agree. There is no supermarket in Naenae and the pair say it’s hard for those without cars or money for public transport to get what they need.

“I don't think it's very fair, the guy's just started up his business and it's his income. It's convenient for us because we're local. We don't have a supermarket in the area… it's a fair walk from Naenae to Lower Hutt... about an hour”

Mackie says he’d like to see the business be able to do click and collect.

“I thought it would have a least been alright to have a security grille with everyone outside...he can still turn around and do his meat, make the sale and put it outside.”

Greg Harford from Retail NZ says there’s no obvious reason why supermarkets and dairies are different from smaller specialty food retailers.

“If it's safe to go to a supermarket if you're wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing, it's hard to see how that logic doesn't also apply to businesses like bakers and butchers.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s “a matter of scale”.

“If you say suddenly we’re going to open up every bakery, every bakery in New Zealand has the ability to open or every butcher in New Zealand. That introduces a whole extra layer of risk and so it’s all cumulative. The more people you have available to attend their place of work, that’s more supply chain that opens up that are having to service that, more customers that are accessing and more risk.”

Some businesses are thinking of creative ways to keep sales going while keeping the doors closed. In Wainuiomata the Dawnbake Bakery isn’t allowed to open, but it’s next-door neighbour Ziggy’z Dairy is.

The bakery’s packaging up its pies and sausage rolls to be sold at the dairy.

Owner Umesh Patel says the collaboration is “working really well”.

“It's a mix of pies, sausages in there, savouries... pretty much a surprise package for people. It's going pretty fast, I'm getting a phone call just about every five minutes you know.”

“It's all about helping each other out... it is a really tough time for the people so the more help the better.”

Harford says while it’s now clear which stores can serve customers on-site, the rules around online retail are a lot less clear.

Kiwis can still buy luxury gift hampers, designer clothes and liquor online as well as shop on Trademe and Facebook marketplace.

“Educational books for example can be sold but ordinary books for entertainment purposes are not, exactly where you draw that line becomes quite a difficult thing for businesses to do,” Harford says.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says it’s up to online retailers to decide if their goods are essential.

“Reliance is placed on businesses and traders to determine if the products they are selling or giving away meet the rules on essential non-food consumer products. We expect businesses, traders and consumers to act responsibly,” a spokesperson said.

“This applies to people selling or giving away items on social media platforms.

“If you can’t complete the transaction that’s within the Alert Level 4 rules you should wait until it is safe to do so.”