Finest of Kiwi ingenuity
The prime minister has praised the ‘‘good old Kiwi ingenuity’’ businesses are using to operate and serve customers under Covid-19 alert level three.
There’s no doubt the Coronavirus crisis has hurt many businesses who had to close their doors during the lockdown. But under level three, some are allowed to operate again – provided they can be contactless and meet strict health and safety criteria. Social distancing rules of two metres still applies.
Owners have come up with creative and quirky ways to operate and make sure they provide a contactless delivery service through the use of poles, cat flaps, pulleys and more.
In Palmerston North, coffee-lovers can now receive their flat white via a toy train.
Cyclista Espresso Bar and Roastery owner Steve Stannard says he came up with the ‘‘novel’’ idea after finding his father’s old toy train in a cupboard – it hadn’t been used in more than 20 years.
‘‘At the same time we were thinking about how we were going to do contactless delivery, and I put two and two together,’’ he told Stuff.
The roof of the carriage has been removed and replaced with polystyrene which helps keep the coffees safe on their short journey.
Parky’s dairy and takeaway in Greymouth is also operating in a contactless way – with the help of a cat flap.
Owner Ray Parkinson said he wanted to do something ‘‘different’’ to make sure he was abiding by the level three restrictions.
‘‘I put a bit of effort into it rather than just physically passing it at the door.’’
He was pleased to be cooking takeaways for people again.
People were not allowed into the dairy, but he was taking phone orders and they could collect their takeaways through the cat flap at the side door of the shop.
He set up umbrellas outside in case of rain, and marked two metres on the footpath for customers to physically distance from each other.
In Wanaka, residents can receive their cappuccinos via a wooden trolley made out of bits of scavenged wood.
Little Black Caravan owner Alex Finney joked that it was ‘‘a bit messy throwing the coffees’’ and said that the trolley was a logical solution to maintaining distance.
He had to be resourceful when making the trolley because hardware stores were still closed, so it’s made from the materials he could find.
Fish and chip stores based in both Queenstown and Wanaka have come up with a pulley system to deliver food to
their clients. Erik’s Fish and Chips Wanaka manager James Martin said its pulley – which the owners invented when alert level four was announced – had allowed the business to reopen under level three. The flying fox-type system transports wrapped parcels of food from the store’s counter down to hungry customers.
Zoom Espresso in Auckland’s Green Bay has been serving its takeaway coffees to customers via a long plank of wood.
A video that was posted to Twitter of the delivery method has been watched more than 660,000 times. It’s caption read: ‘‘Love the Kiwi ingenuity.’’
Warkworth’s Let It Brew Cafe has come up with an ‘‘interactive window menu’’. The menu is written on the cafe’s windows. They’ve asked customers to point to what they would like to order and a staff member writes it down.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she had been sent many such examples of clever ideas.
During her daily 1pm press conference on Wednesday, the prime minister mentioned a few of the businesses that had come up with creative contactless methods.
‘‘Gizzy Local, an events website, has collated nearly 30 food businesses that Gisborne locals can now access knowing how to order and how to collect.
‘‘Some of you would have seen coverage of the Auckland coffee shop extending a plank of wood from which to serve up their flat whites at an appropriate distance.
‘‘I do want to say good on everyone who is working so hard to innovate, keep their customers safe, but also get their staff back to work. It’s incredible to see. I know it makes people feel very proud given the difficult circumstances people are operating under.’’