Boom in food outlets bucks Covid trend
Auckland saw a boom in new food businesses in 2020, despite Covid-19 causing a dip in spending during the city’s two lockdowns.
A total of 983 new food businesses registered with either Auckland Council or the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in the Auckland region during the year.
Auckland Council’s year-onyear increase jumped from 575 during 2019 to 807 during 2020. Food businesses included cafes, restaurants, mobile food vans, shops, butchers, bakeries, delicatessens and fishmongers.
Ahi restaurant in Commercial Bay was one of the restaurants that opened under the shadow of Covid-19. Co-owner Chris Martin said the business had a particularly rough time of it. Having already suffered a six-month construction setback, the first day for most of his staff was the same day Auckland went back into lockdown.
‘‘We were just about to press play on about $20,000 worth of food. With two hours to [the staff] arriving, I found out we were going to be going back into lockdown. It went from being an induction to a meet-and-greet,’’ he said.
Martin said he was unsure whether Ahi would qualify for the wage subsidy, because it had never traded and therefore couldn’t prove a loss of income.
Ahi’s subsidy bid was rejected, but it appealed and was admitted, which Martin said saved the restaurant having to dismiss most of its 35 staff.
When the modern Kiwi cuisine restaurant finally opened on August 31, Martin was apprehensive that no-one would brave the central city to dine out.
‘‘Surprisingly, we were very well received, and we were very busy from the start. We are super grateful.’’
The total number of food businesses registered with Auckland Council increased by 335 between 2019 and 2020, going from 10,069 to 10,404.
The number of restaurants and cafes licensed to sell alcohol took a small hit.
Council figures showed that as of December 16, 2019, there were 1679 licensed cafes and restaurants in Auckland. As at January 11, that figure had fallen by 21 to 1658.
Auckland councillor Linda Cooper, who chairs the regulatory committee, said it was possible that Covid-related job losses and lockdown-inspired lifestyle changes had led people to look for new opportunities and start their own businesses.
Fears that Covid-19 and the loss of international tourists would have an enduring impact on the restaurant sector did not
appear to be playing out.
Figures from Statistics New Zealand showed that card spending on eating out was up $17 million (1.8 per cent) in December compared with the same month in 2019.
Stats NZ retail statistics manager Craig Liken said Kiwis’ inability to travel internationally during the summer holidays had resulted in a boost to domestic tourism and a lift in spending on eating out.
Other areas of the hospitality industry had not fared so well. Spending on hotels, motels and other accommodation was down $83 million (32 per cent) compared with December 2019.
Restaurant Association general manager Nicola Waldren said she wasn’t overly surprised
that the number of food in Auckland increased.
‘‘Whilst the pandemic has been incredibly challenging on many hospitality businesses, there are some areas of the food industry that have fared better than others,’’ she said.
‘‘Fast food businesses which were able to capitalise on the demand for takeaway services did well once they were able to operate. The grocery industry was also in high demand during the early part of the year.
‘‘There may be some businesses within this that are not traditional restaurants but servicing different needs,’’ Waldren said. These might include food trucks, stalls, heatand-eat meals or gourmet food products.
businesses had
‘‘There are also those that have found themselves in a position to make the most of opportunities that have arisen due to Covid – for instance, we had one member who was a professional chef working for a large hotel, and redundancy gave him the opportunity to start his own food truck.’’
Waldren said the feeling in the hospitality sector was one of cautious optimism.
‘‘Assuming we will have a vaccination roll-out this year, we expect the industry to be stable, but we will need to wait until the borders reopen before we see recovery of the sector.’’
Martin said that if he had one piece of advice for restaurateurs opening in the time of Covid-19, it was to spend a lot of time getting to grips with costs.