Coronavirus: Hamilton hospitality owner prepares for uncertain future

Friday, 14 August 2020

John Lawrenson is in limbo until the government decides on what Alert Level New Zealand will be in.

Hamilton hospitality magnate John Lawrenson is stuck in limbo waiting for the government to update the country’s lockdown status.

Lawrenson who has a stable of restaurants and nightclubs is already feeling the impact of the majority of New Zealand going Alert Level 2 and to Level 3 in Auckland.

And now with the decision not known until 5.30pm on Friday Lawrenson said it’s difficult to plan.

“All of our suppliers generally work Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, so we have to decide if we order a weekend's worth of stock, and then have it rot in the chillers because we can’t sell if we go straight to Level 3 at 5.30pm. Or we don't order it, and we don’t go to Level 3, and we don't have any stock to sell.”

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House is functioning as an eatery under Alert Level 2 with nightclub functions stopped.

Lawrenson said it’s a very bizarre bit of timing from the government, and he’s interested in how they actually deal with it.

Currently, under Level 2 he has had to close popular nightclub The Outback, while eateries such as House, Bank, Furnace and Keystone have been able to operate under the restrictions.

“Keystone, Bank and House do have nightclub functions that won’t be able to operate. So people will be able to come in there and eat, sit and drink.

“We will generally have a musician or a DJ playing music to create some mood but obviously no one can dance.”

There was a reasonable patronage to Lawrenson’s businesses during Level 2 last time for a cocktail or win but it was nowhere near the normal turnover.

“The Outback isn’t open and Bar 101 in Auckland is closed, so even at the current levels we are pretty severely impacted. You would be talking a drop in turnover of 40 to 50 per cent already and then under Level 3 our drop in turnover is 100 per cent.”

Should the government decide to move the rest of the country or Waikato into Alert Level 3 Lawrenson would close all of his businesses as it’s not feasible for him to do just takeaways out of his eateries.

”We have found Uber eats has been something we’ve done as a bit of a top up when we were already trading but there is absolutely no value in getting the kitchen teams in just to do takeaways because Uber takes such a huge chunk of that 35 per cent commissions. It’s not profitable to do that.”

Lawrenson is disappointed there hasn’t been conversation around government support for businesses should we return to further lockdown requirements.

“I am hoping they're going to extend the wage subsidy, it would be nice to get some clarity around what their intentions are there, we’ve got 200 staff, so we would definitely like to give them some certainty that there is going to be enough money for a six to eight-week lockdown.

“Last time the wage subsidy definitely helped so with any luck they would return to that strategy.”

Lawrenson said they learnt from the last lockdown and have been preparing for further expense.

“We’ve been as sensible as we can be since the last lockdown, and we’ve put a lot of money aside and paid off a lot of suppliers and paid debt down, tried to get ourselves in as strong a position as possible.

“Because obviously anyone with any brains would have seen this was an inevitable outcome of the approach that New Zealand is taking but the reality is it costs us a million dollars a month to be closed. I am hoping they’re going to extend the wage subsidy.”

Lawrenson said even without the wage subsidy his businesses can last a number of weeks.

Last time the country was in strict lockdown levels some of Lawrenson’s staff were abused for enforcing the rules.

He hopes there is not a repeat of that behaviour.

“The rules have been put in place, we just have to enforce them.

“If you are a 50-year-old person ripping into a 19-year-old because they just asked you to sit back down again that doesn’t make you right and doesn’t make you a good person.

“I just don’t know why people persist in taking their frustrations on the government's rules out on teenage hospitality staff.”

One of Lawreneson’s bouncers was spat on by a patron when the country was last in Level 2, when the staffer asked the patron to leave due to not adhering to the social distancing requirements.

The person has not been caught.