And with that Auckland is thrown back into an immediate level 3 lockdown with the rest of New Zealand hovering nervously at level 2. We all knew this could happen again but we were all hoping it wouldn't!
We do not yet know exactly when the Prime Minister will decide to move us into a lower level of restrictions. With a little bit of luck it will only be the initially announced 3 days. So in preparation, below I have outlined the key areas food businesses will need to be aware of for this latest Covid interruption.
Alert Level Three:
Level 3 status means we have community transmission. The point of level 3 is to allow contact tracing and isolation of the infection to avoid further spreading. It will also prepare for us to move to level 4 if it becomes necessary. The main areas that impact on food businesses at the level 3 stage are:
- No face to face transactions are allowed. This means no bars, restaurants, cafes, malls or retail stores. However online shopping, food delivery, drive through takeaways and click and collect services will be allowed.
- Schools are closed except for the children of essential workers. Many families will homeschooling their children.
- No mass gatherings are allowed. All public venues are closed, this includes all food courts, theatres, stadiums and anywhere people gather in large crowds.
- Social distancing and mask wearing guidelines are in place.
What does this mean for my food business?
You are probably currently closed or working in a heavily diminished capacity. Think about the following areas to help your business to continue to trade.
- Set up a contactless delivery or customer pickup service. This is going to be essential to trading during level 3.
- Look at how you are going to take payments from your customers without handling cash or cards. Think about whether an online card payment system such as Stripe or Paypal would work best, an electronic invoice or, in some cases, paywave on your eftpos machine.
- Review your production processes to ensure employees can remain 2 metres apart at all times.
- Review your staff sickness procedures and your cleaning and sanitising program.
For more information on what you can put in place to protect you, your staff and your business from Covid 19 check out the following articles:
Protecting your Food Business from Covid-19
Protecting your Food Business from Covid-19 Part 2
Alert Level Two
Level 2 it means Covid 10 is now contained with no new community cases. It does not mean that it has been contained elsewhere, there is still a very real chance of it coming back into the country from outside.
At this point all food businesses are allowed to be open but social distancing and increased hygiene rules are still in place.
What does this mean for my food business?
- There may be heavier restrictions on international travel than we have been experiencing in the past 6 months. This could impact on your ability to import and export products and slow down the flow of the shipments of products and ingredients.
- High risk staff will not be able to work. High risk staff include people who fall into one of the risk categories associated with age or pre-existing conditions or those employees who live with someone who is considered high risk.
Flexibility is key:
This disease has a habit of coming back. We may sit at a level 3 for a while before moving to a level 2, or worse, we may end up moving between the different levels several times before things settle into normality. As we are seeing at the moment, some areas may move into a lower level before others depending on where the clusters are occurring. We need to remain flexible to allow for these changes without crumbling as a business.
Think about stock levels, particularly of fresh produce. If you are to be closed again, probably without a huge amount of warning, you do not want to lose an unnecessary amount of food thus risking losing even more money. Think about how your longer lasting stock is stored. How long will it last? Are the temperatures in storage going to be adequate?
Look at what types of foods and/or services you will provide to the consumer post lockdown. While the general population work to regain their financial footing they may be spending less on the luxuries in life and you may have to be more flexible in what it is you are supplying and how you go about that.
Develop a comprehensive plan for how to move between the stages of emergency. Share this with your staff and get their input. Often your staff will know details about your business that you are not able to pay the attention to.
Continue to communicate with your customers and your community. This is a confusing time for everyone, and it is going to continue to be for a while yet. Letting everyone know what you are doing to mitigate risk and remain flexible in a volatile environment will help make your customers feel secure in their purchasing decisions.
With a bit of planning, creative thinking and a whole pile of collaboration and support we can give our own food businesses the best fighting chance we can. And remember - you've got this!