CATERING TO COVID: ‘It’s a nightmare’
New Zealand’s hospo industry has long relied on a regular supply of international workers – but, as Alexia Santamaria hears, that tap has run dry and businesses will have to battle to make summer a success.
One of the great things about going out to a restaurant or bar in New Zealand is you’ll often be served, or cooked for, by someone who wasn’t born here.
International staff make up a significant proportion of our hospitality workforce, be it young backpackers working their way around the Southern Hemisphere – or migrants who have moved here for a new life.
So what happens when a pandemic hits and that international workforce shrinks almost overnight? When lockdown made its presence felt in March, many non-New Zealand citizens in the hospitality industry packed their bags for the next flight home, while they still could.
Those who stayed took a big risk – not knowing whether visas could, or would, be renewed – or how long it might be before they saw their families again.
It’s been tough on both employees and employers in a year where the hospitality industry didn’t really need any more hurdles.
Leanne and Vaughan Nairn, of busy
Taupo¯ eatery Vine, know all about this.
They haven’t had a day off since lockdown, and are spending more time than ever before sorting staffing issues.
“It’s a nightmare – we had international staff who left in the first lockdown that we haven’t been able to replace; we have staff waiting on visa extensions who are in the country, but can’t come in to work till they are legal; we have one of our best staff members – who helped build this business – trapped in India, desperate to get back to New Zealand.
``I’m spending so much time on email and the phone trying to sort immigration issues and we’re about to hit our busy period with no backpackers around to come and cover the extra gaps for us like normal. It’s not ideal.’’
The couple have three venues in Taupo¯ – Vine Eatery, Cafe Baku and Finn’s Gastro Pub and Beer Garden, but are struggling the most with Vine.
``One of our biggest issues is the standard of staff we need there. It’s higher end than the other two and we just can’t get enough local staff who are up to it.
``I’m on my fifth advertisement for front of house staff and can’t find anyone. At Cafe Baku and Finn’s there’s a little bit of scope to train people up on the job, but Vine is the next level up and requires a higher skill set.
``We need people who are able to hit the ground running as we are always so busy. It seems that many of the international staff we usually get are already at a certain competency because hospitality is viewed differently in other countries.
``I have a gentleman from Portugal working with us who has been doing it for 50 years and loves it. In New Zealand it’s not really considered a career path, you do hospitality to fill a gap or because you need a bit of extra cash for a temporary period.’’ The emotional toll is huge. The Nairns have several staff with lives in limbo, waiting on a yay or nay on their visas.
A yes means they can continue the lives they love here, a no means deportation – in many cases to countries where Covid is rife.
``I have one guy who has met the girl of his dreams here.’’ says Leanne. ``They’ve been together for four years, but he could end up having to go back to the States, unable to return for a long time.’’
By far her worst case is a staff member who came to New Zealand to start a new life but has ended up separated from his wife and child. He came with a group of friends who all planned to get jobs, set themselves up and bring their families over.
The friends’ families are all here now but his family’s paperwork got held up in a processing backlog. The visas finally came through earlier this year and they were all set to move to New Zealand when lockdown hit and they had to stay put.
It’s his son’s fifth birthday this weekend and he hasn’t seen his family since February 2019.
``He’s heartbroken and because we’re all so close, this affects us all.’’
The Restaurant Association is acutely aware of this issue. ``When we surveyed our members across the country back in March, approximately 30 per cent of employees were on temporary work visa holders’’ says chief executive Marisa Bidois.
``The loss of them has had a big impact on businesses and migrant workers themselves. We have had members worried about key staff who are unable to get back to New Zealand, others concerned about not being able to retain key people or having issues finding the right skilled staff for the busy season over summer.
``Not having working holiday visas coming through this summer will put pressure on our sector. Many of these people would have filled key gaps for our businesses and not having them accessible will definitely be an issue.’’
Queenstown is an area that suffers more than most, with its high percentage of overseas workers.
James Ace, managing director of Future Bars, which runs five Queenstown bars and restaurants, says while they got off relatively lightly on the staff front at the peak of Covid, he can see massive problems unfolding in the next few months.
``We were so lucky, the subsidy covered everyone and only one staff member left when the borders closed in March. Because we have a range in our portfolio – apre`s ski, tourist haven, local bar and Mexican restaurant – we’ve managed to retrain people and it’s actually been really nice to develop their skills and watch them work in different parts of the business.’’
But with a workforce which is 70 per cent nonNew Zealand resident, Ace can see a row of rapidly falling dominoes ahead.
``We have so many highly skilled staff whose visas are running out very soon and there is just nothing we can do to keep them here.
``They are going to have to leave and we are going to struggle to replace them with no seasonal workers coming into the country over this busy summer period.’’
Like Nairn, Ace is finding it heartbreaking as an employer.
The group has many staff who have become like family and would ordinarily be able to extend visas relatively easily, but will now be forced to go home.
``We have these great, skilled, awesome people who are going from what has been a relatively Covid-contained environment back into places like the US and Europe. They really don’t want to go home and it feels so brutal to watch them just walk back into a kind of warzone.’’
The latest addition to the group, new restaurant Margo’s, has been way more successful than they anticipated.
``It’s been amazing – people seem to love the food and the vibe. It’s such a great thing but we’ve got staff who are going to have to leave soon and no New Zealanders who want to replace them so we are going to be really short.
``We’ve tried to work out why we can’t attract
‘‘We have one of our best staff members - who helped build this business - trapped in India, desperate to get back to New Zealand.’’
locals, but can only put it down to the fact that Queenstown has a reputation for being an expensive place to live – and possibly because of this, Kiwis don’t want to relocate here.
``This might be an opportunity to change that perception and try and get more Kiwis to come and set up in our beautiful part of the country.’’
So what does the immediate future of hospitality in New Zealand look like if the borders stay shut for an extended period? It’s something Richard Sigley, founder of The Nourish Group, doesn’t like thinking about.
With 16 outlets spread through Auckland, Taupo¯, Wellington and Queenstown (including well known Euro, Jervois Steak House, Soul, Andiamo and Bistro Lago) he’s already having to look at other options.
``The impact is huge – especially in Auckland where there seems to be a new restaurant opening
every minute – several in the case of Commercial Bay.
‘‘There simply aren’t enough staff to go around and there’s a massive void in the industry. Without migrant workers we can’t get enough people to keep all our outlets open normal hours and days.’’
He’s already having to run limited trading days in many of the restaurants.
‘‘It’s so great that New Zealanders have come home from overseas and are supporting local, but we are so understaffed we can’t open every day for them.
‘‘Staff need days off. I’ve had to start closing one of our eateries on Waiheke Island for a few hours every day instead of running the all-day eatery 7am to 10pm hours we used to.
‘‘Over Labour Weekend we got slammed and without enough staff we couldn’t serve people quick enough. Of course people complained and that put pressure on our front of house because they were coming under fire from customers for something they couldn’t do anything about. We can’t have them working under those conditions when summer hits full force.’’
Sigley says it’s going to mean many places, not just The Nourish Group’s eateries, are going to have to find solutions that ultimately aren’t great for customers – limited hours, fewer trading days, restricted menus (reducing the need for so many kitchen staff), and no all-day trading so staff can actually have a rest.
‘‘It’s also going to mean many restaurateurs are going to have no choice but to hire inexperienced staff, just to have staff at all.’’
When asked about possible solutions he says there’s a ‘‘critical’’ answer.: ‘‘I personally think the government did a tremendous job over the worst of Covid, and we totally support how they handled it, but now it might be time for them to look at whether they can class hospitality staff as critical workers for visas. Hospitality is an $11 billion dollar industry that employs around 130,000 people so maybe it’s time we got our own minister to take care of the issues that we’re facing.’’
It’s a tough time to be in hospitality. While some inner city businesses are worrying about the lack of patronage as more and more and more people work from home, others – especially in tourist hot spots – are losing sleep over how to find staff and retain their standards of service when they can’t find skilled labour.
But hospitality is a resilient industry full of resilient people who will find ways to navigate this tricky period.
Spare a thought for those in busy restaurants this summer, your coffee might be slightly late or one of your meals accidentally forgotten – but while we’re having our beach or lakeside holidays, they’ll be doing their best to navigate some exceptionally challenging times.