The Northland community of Kawakawa is offering support to a local cafe owner and her wife after the pair endured hours of abuse on Sunday for refusing to serve an unvaccinated man.

Cathryn Baragwanath, owner of Cafe 39 in Kawakawa says the customer retaliated to not being served by verbally abusing her and attacking the business in a Google review.

Further, Baragwanath says she and her wife have fielded attacks from the man, his friends and family, which included "homophobic slurs," bullying private messages and threats which led her to call 111 for support.

Under the traffic light system, vaccine passes are required to enter hospitality venues throughout New Zealand. Non compliance from business owners can result in hefty fines of up to $15,000.

Baragwanath says the local community has gathered around the pair offering practical and emotional support.

"They have come in, brought food, gifts, sent beautiful words and have been generous and kind in spirit," she says.

"They are the most generous humans who have been so kind to us, that I feel so strong today and grateful."

It comes after the couple were so tormented by the abuse, they escaped the region for two days.

Baragwanath says the final straw was a threatening phone call on Sunday which brought her to tears.

"They rang me on my phone and said 'we are going to f*** up your life and your business, you f****** lesbians - we are going to take you out.'"

"At that second, I started to cry," Baragwanath says.

She says the customer had been a "friendly and normal regular “ but she had not served him since "the last lockdown".

On Sunday, after he was asked for his vaccination pass the man allegedly became aggressive, swearing at Baragwanath.

She says he told her he was going to report her to the Human Rights Commission and the police on the grounds of discrimination.

However, over the next four hours Baragwanath says “the abuse didn’t stop”.

“I called 111 and told them I had been threatened,” Baragwanath says.

She says she is awaiting an interview with police to progress the report.

In a statement, police told 1News they are "aware of an incident that is reported to have taken place at the cafe in Kawakawa.

"The matter has been reported to police by both parties involved and police are looking into this matter."

Baragwanath made an emotional plea to politicians via social media on Sunday asking them to intervene.

"We left our home because we felt threatened," she said on Instagram.

"To the Government, what are you doing to support small businesses?" she asked, sending a plea to the Prime Minister and members of Parliament to intervene.

"Jacinda what do you do to support when we are being bullied? We have been bullied through private messages, phone calls, abused and attacked.

"It's just been horrible," Baragwanath told 1News.

Her message to the unvaccinated is that she respects their choice, “but please respect ours”.

“Please don’t school us on the mandates and any of your conspiracy theories, we have had enough,” Baragwanath says.

Restaurant Association says reports of aggression have increased

A spokesperson for the Restaurant Association of New Zealand says it's providing guidance to its members on how to manage escalating situations.

"There have been some challenges for hospitality operators with the move to the traffic light framework and 40 per cent of respondents to a recent member feedback survey indicated they have experienced issues with challenging customer behaviour.

"This has ranged from minor grumbles to some quite serious aggression. It’s disheartening to us that our operators have had to bear the brunt of this aggression. We are in the business of hospitality and keen to welcome diners into our businesses. Our operators are simply doing what is required of them to open their doors under the traffic light regulations.

"We’ve been able to provide guidance for members on managing challenging situations and have a number of webinars and resources they can use, including de-escalation techniques and managing aggressive customer behaviour," the spokesperson said.

It comes as all of New Zealand - except Northland - will move to Orange in the traffic light system on December 30 at 11.59pm. Northland is set to stay at Red due to its lower vaccination rate.