Some help, a rethink and some hope
‘‘GOOD bits and bad bits’’.
That is how Dunedin businessman Kevin Gilbert summed up yesterday’s muchawaited Budget announcement.
Mr Gilbert, who is president of the Baking Industry Association of New Zealand, and his wife Esther own Gilbert’s Fine Food.
The business had its roots at the Otago Farmers Market which then morphed into the need for a larger premises, with a bakehouse shop opening in Otaki St in 2012.
He believed there was some ‘‘wishful thinking’’ — including the projections concerning unemployment — and also some gaps, and that the focus on businesses was likely more beneficial for larger organisations, rather than small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The couple were delighted to see the $1.6 billion trades and apprenticeships training package, and Mr Gilbert said that was an area that had been ‘‘missed for so long’’ and one that was weakening, as people with skills and experience retired, and fewer were coming through.
In their own business, they always tried to have at least one apprentice or an employee in some form of training.
While the wage subsidy extension sounded good — and it would be for certain sectors — they believed the details were incomplete.
From June 10, businesses that had suffered, or expected to suffer, revenue loss of at least 50% from the 30day period prior to the application date compared with the nearest comparable period last year would be eligible for the extension.
But 50% was ‘‘whopping’’ and many businesses with such a reduction would be ‘‘dead long before then’’, he believed.
When it came to the likes of initiatives to support SMEs to ‘‘thrive’’ in the digital economy, including incentives and grants to encourage ecommerce, Mr Gilbert said there were already many resources available for businesses.
There were plenty of existing initiatives that could be supported, developed and promoted more.
When it came to their own business, Mrs Gilbert said they had been fortunate to have been able to keep working through lockdown, albeit to a ‘‘lesser degree’’.
Initially, they were still delivering to one supermarket which gave them a reason to have a baker working, rather than doing a full shutdown.
About 10 days in, they received notification they could do home deliveries and, within three hours, they had opened up an online ordering system.
That increased production allowed them to have some revenue coming in which was ‘‘really quite satisfying’’, Mrs Gilbert said.
Two parttime roles were made redundant just as they went into lockdown, and the team of six fulltime staff, which included themselves, was now being paid 80%. They were very grateful for the support of their staff.
Mrs Gilbert said they had responded very quickly to the situation, applying for the wage subsidy within 24 hours and talking to their bank and landlord, and focusing on minimising all costs.
They were ‘‘quietly confident’’ they would ‘‘come out of this at the other end, more or less intact’’.
‘‘We have still got a . . . long way to go, it’s still going to hurt an awful lot,’’ she said.
Their business had diversified and included a wholesale arm, the farmers market, their retail shop and online sales.
Coming into winter, the farmers market would be quieter, while some of the cafes and restaurants might not come out of the winter, she said.
For them, it came down to doing everything they could to maximise revenue and manage expenditure.
More innovation and ideas were in the pipeline; they had not taken lockdown as a holiday and, instead, had used that time to reevaluate their business.
The time not being spent working in the business was an opportunity to sit back and think about what it would look like when they came out of it, Mr Gilbert said.
They realised they were in a better position than others around the country, including some who had been relying on the Easter period to build up their coffers to get through the winter — and never got that.
‘‘As a Southerner, I have complete faith . . . as a community we are going to come through and we’re going to rally around each other,’’ he said.