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Dunedin pizzeria Biggies is turning away customers who have been to Auckland due to concerns about the spread of Covid-19, but says it is not a blanket ban.
A couple who posted on social media claimed that a Biggies Pizza employee asked them if they were from Auckland and if they had traveled abroad and then refused to serve them because they had been in the super city 16 days earlier.
Health authorities say Auckland’s community cluster of 54 cases is contained, but the city remains at level 2.5 while the rest of the country is at alert level 2.
“Each of our incoming customers is judged on a case-by-case basis. We certainly don’t have a total ban for Aucklandites,” said Biggies Pizza owner Tacey Millard. Control.
“Our restaurant manager asks three simple questions when people want to come in. One is: ‘Have you been traveling and where?’
“Another is: ‘Have you been to Auckland?’ and another is: ‘Have you had any symptoms of Covid?’
“Depending on the responses and the attitude of the customers, because obviously we execute this with a very high level of confidence, because people can lie to the questions and we make a decision on whether we consider it safe to have these people, diners, customers , in our little restaurant. “
Millard said the restaurant will accept travelers who have been to Auckland if it has been at least 14 days since they were in the city.
“The people who wanted to come for a drink last night had been out of Auckland for two weeks plus three days. But they were extremely rude to my restaurant manager when she asked questions, and they weren’t interested in helping at all.
“So he made the decision not to invite them to dinner with us. We have a small restaurant and we are under social distancing regulations at the moment, so we have had a lot of tables closed.
“Our staff is our family and our loyal customers who come every week. We seek to protect them.”
She says a small number of people from Auckland have visited and understood the precautions.
“I guess it’s an indication of the attitude of these customers [on Thursday night] They immediately posted scathing reviews and went straight to the media.
“We have introduced additional rules because we have a very small place. We have had a drop in our turnover by more than two-thirds, due to closure levels. There are other places in the city that have had to close because a staff member or a client has had to go get tested for Covid. And to be fair, if we were to close, it would probably be the last straw, “Millard said.
“Business is tough, really tough right now, and we have to make decisions that support our business in the long run.
“Contrary to popular belief, restaurants and bars are not public property, they are private property and we have the right to refuse for any reason that is not discriminatory.
“We have an incredibly professional and friendly staff who try to keep everyone happy and take care of them in the best possible way. And we are receiving an inordinate amount of negative feedback from false reviews, direct messages and text messages to our restaurant phone. , abusive messages. And I feel like [the duty manager] She has done exactly what I asked and I am very happy with how professional she has been and how kind and generous she is to all of our clients. “
However, Aucklanders visiting Dunedin can order take out at the restaurant, Millard said.
“We offer contactless delivery, unfortunately we probably wouldn’t want them to stay at the restaurant if they wanted to pick up, but I’d be happy if they would place an order and then we would give them contactless delivery delivery. They’ll have a call when it’s ready and they could come and take it.”
