The Regulations Ministry will next conduct a sector review focused on hospitality.
Regulations Minister David Seymour announced the review together with Hospitality Minister Louise Upston. The review will cover regulations for restaurants, cafes, bars, market food stalls, food trucks, caterers, and hotels but will exclude gambling regulations.
Seymour said the industry was severely affected by Covid, and bureaucratic red tape has made recovery difficult.
“Every Kiwi has a café or bar they wish was still open. Inconsistent requirements cost owners valuable time and money,” he said.
“For example, some business owners might be required to get resource consents on top of alcohol licences so that customers can enjoy a cold beer in the sun. In other areas of the country, just an alcohol licence is required.”
It would also examine regulations that prevent hotel guests from taking a glass of wine they purchased at the bar back to their rooms.
“It just doesn’t make sense. That same guest can purchase a bottle of wine from the supermarket to drink in their room.”
He said that food truck owners wanting to serve at events were facing “disproportionate costs” from some local councils, with one owner paying more than $900 for a single event.
Meanwhile, Upston expressed her enthusiasm for “working to get hospitality back on the table.”
“This review will improve hospitality rules so they’re working as they should – cutting red tape, keeping costs down, managing risks, and making compliance easier.”
Upston said a strong hospitality sector would be crucial as tourism numbers continue to increase.
“It is such a vital part of our towns and communities; they have had challenging times, but it’s actually really exciting to see they’re feeling more optimistic, and we are starting to see some green shoots of growth, which is fantastic.”
“Tourists have a choice, so if we want people to come to New Zealand, we’ve got to make sure that the great businesses in the hospitality sector aren’t held back by different restrictions than their competitors, who are actually in other countries as far as tourists go.”
Seymour said the ministry’s tipline had received over 1,500 complaints about hospitality regulations, with inconsistency and overly strict enforcement being the main issues raised.
“We got people who say, ‘I got pinged for some minor technical issue,’ or ‘I had the need to have three different exits from my bar, and even though I had two exits that were actually vehicle width, I couldn’t open because I didn’t have three.’ That kind of thing is really just quite crazy.
“Another good example would be I’ve got a hospitality business that’s got a shared seating space – two of them have licences to sell alcohol, but if you’ve bought a drink from one, you can’t then buy a drink from the other.”
He said there were no current estimates on the time or cost savings the review might deliver, but the Regulations Ministry has previously estimated that each review typically saves “tens of millions” in societal welfare net present value over a 10-year period.
The review is scheduled to be completed within six months.