Kiwis still need to observe physical distancing when buying takeaways, says Restaurant Association

April 29, 2020

The people were filmed waiting outside a BurgerFuel in Glenfield last night.

While it's great to see Kiwis out supporting their local restaurants at Alert Level 3, caution still needs to be exercised to halt the potential spread of Covid-19, Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois is warning customers.

This comes after police were called to a BurgerFuel restaurant in Auckland's Glenfield last night to disperse a crowd that had gathered to place their first takeaway order following the lifting of Alert Level 4.

The images drawing concern from both Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff who spoke today about the lack of social distancing among the customers.

Despite the issues around crowd control at BurgerFuel last night Ms Bidios says it was overwhelming to see how many people were supporting local restaurants.

"The thing to remember is that this is new for our industry," she told 1 NEWS.

One of the biggest talking points of dropping to Alert Level 3 is the return of takeaways and fast food.

"I don't think anyone was expecting so many people to come out en masse and supporting the industry, which is great to see that, but there was certainly a lot more people out than we expected as an industry.

"It certainly poses its own challenges for sure, and I think as everyone is coming to terms with the new requirements around trading, it certainly has been a bit of a challenge.

"It really is good news for these small businesses, they've been struggling - as many have across the country for many weeks.

"It really is great to see so many people out there, we just need to get our heads around managing the crowds."

The BurgerFuel scenes have also led to the Restaurant Association having to re-clarify guidelines around how to operate during the initial move out of Alert Level 4.

"We weren't happy to see that. It's basically prompted us to relook at our processes and see what more we can do to assist the industry with making sure that they maintain that physical distancing.

The Restaurant Association is asking the food delivery service to lower their commission rates so restaurants can survive.

"I really don't think our industry was prepared for just how much of a response we'd had from the public, in terms of reaching out, dining out, and grabbing takeaways from their local businesses.

"It's been great, but it's certainly brought with it some areas to rethink for many of the industry.

"What we've done at the [Restaurant] Association, is we've reissued our guidelines around physical distancing outside stores.

"It's a new environment for operating, but many of our businesses today certainly have plans, and looked at their processes for managing this."

Yesterday's first day of Level 3 has also been a much needed relief for many local businesses, opening their doors for the first time after over four weeks of uncertainty.

"It's good news for the industry that we're being so well supported. It certainly is helpful for many businesses.

"We have seen many businesses open up, the reports coming back to us yesterday and today have been very good reports in terms of trading.

"We've had a few members call in and say, 'we've had one of the best trading days we've had this year'.

"It hasn't been a strong trading year for our industry. But it's probably one of the strongest days that some have seen this year."

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