Dozens of cafe, restaurant and venue owners in central Auckland say they are on the brink of bankruptcy, with the looming Omicron wave keeping customers away.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
More than 60 have signed an open letter to the Finance Minister, calling for more support.
Even though they can operate in the red traffic light setting, they say business has never been quieter and without help, more than half of what they call the city's cultural infrastructure will cease to exist.
Yael Shochat was at home on Wednesday night. Usually she would be running her busy restaurant Ima Cuisine in Central Auckland.
"There's basically nothing to do at the restaurant because I have no customers."
That's because many of them are working from home and no one is coming into the city at night for events in the red traffic light setting.
Her landlord has been flexible with rent payments, but she is still grappling with a sharp drop in income.
"Every restaurant, once they lose a significant amount of their customers ... once you have a big drop, every restaurant is only three months away from bankruptcy."
Bestie cafe on Karangahape Road is feeling the pinch too.
"This is probably the quietest that's ever been since since we've been operating really so it's kind of crazy," cafe co-owner Tane Williams said.
Williams attributed this to customers being Covid cautious - there were 135 cases of Covid-19 reported in Auckland yesterday.
When the city last had similar infection numbers during the Delta outbreak, Bestie was propped up by government financial support.
How long his business will cope this time depends on a few things, Williams said.
"The help that I get from my landlord and from suppliers ... if they can push out bills and and that kind of stuff I can probably hold on in about a month, I suppose, without going too far into the red. But then I end up hitting the debt limits."
Whammy Bar co-owner Tom Anderson said without further support, Auckland risked losing more than half its venues and production companies.
"It's really really dire out there where most people have been able to hang on most venues have been able to hang on but there's no reserves left after the last 18 months and that's the same for a lot of businesses."
These Auckland business owners are among more than 60 who have signed an open letter to Finance Minister Grant Robertson pleading for help.
The letter, written by Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick, calls on the government to help facilitate commercial rent reductions, revive the wage subsidy or other targeted support, extend the IRD interest-free and government-backed loans schemes and support Auckland Council to provide reductions of or flexibility in payment of bills for rates, licensing and administrative fees.
"This is cultural infrastructure that if we lose is going to take a heck of a long time to try and build back and, frankly, it will never be the same," Swarbrick said.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in a statement the government was continually monitoring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses, including up to date sales data.
"As with the recently announced arts and creative sector package we are considering whether targeted support for some sectors is necessary," the statement said.
"The Small Business Cashflow Loans scheme is still open for applications until December 2023. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue is also able to offer deferred payments on some tax obligations. The Short Term Absence Payment and Leave Support Scheme are also still in place."