Julie Evans: Rodney Wayne CEO on it being illegal to serve hot drinks in hair salons

There’s a push to alter New Zealand's laws to allow people to indulge in a tea or coffee while at the hairdressers. 

It's an offence to serve a drink in a salon's service area – deemed unsafe under health regulations. 

National MP Dana Kirkpatrick has added a bill to the ballot to remove the law. 

Rodney Wayne Chief Executive Julie Evans told Mike Hosking the offence is news to them, as their salons have long served tea and coffee to clients. 

She's unsure why it was never brought to their attention when the council conducted checks of salon dishwashers, to ensure they worked to legal standards. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got are you members?

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Bill?

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Hairdressing Reducing Restrictions Amendment Bill I Kid You Not
has been pulled from the famed Biscuit Tin since two
thousand dight. Apparently it's been illegal to serve drinks drinks,
any drinks in a hair salon. Who knew? Nationals East
Coast MP Danna Kirkpatrick is behind this particular bill. Rodney
Wainboss Julie Evans as well as Julie Morning Morning Ike.
Do you serve drinks?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
We do. Yeah, I don't send the police around, though
I didn't know we weren't supposed to.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
So if I asked anybody in your salon or series
of salons, is it legal or illegal to serve drinks,
none of you would have known one way or the other.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
They wouldn't have said it's probably legal, except if it
was alcohol, and they knew there was license and laws there.
So we don't serve alcohol.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
So you had never served alcohol? Because I know a
place that does serve or did serve alcohol, Is it
like highly illegal as opposed to just being moderately illegal?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
If you serve tea, I think it's probably moderately And
it depends how much you serve I suppose, and on
what occasion maybe glass of bubbles at the Christmas time.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
So when I when I sit down and with my
haircut and I just asked for a bottle, open up
the bottle. That's probably a bit excessive, you.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Think, possibly, what do you spend on time of day?

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Is my Well, well does it honestly? Really?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
So?

Speaker 1 (01:14):
What do you do tea and coffee?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
We do tearing coffee, We do different flavored teas. What
interesting though, which I'm really surprised by, is we get
visits from the council before the issue certificate and we
have to have dishwashes and things to be able to
wash dishes and cups and sauces to a certain standards.
So I'm just not sure why it was never brought
to our attention then and then following following COVID after lockdown,

(01:39):
we were recommended not to save tea and coffee when
the salons reopened because of contamination and things. And again
we were never told we shouldn't have been saving what
we shouldn't have been saving.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
So do you think the people who were giving you
the advice didn't know it was a legal either?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely, even the hair and barber Association of New Zealand.
They recommend us both saving teas and coffees directly after COVID,
So it was never ever, ever, as far as I'm concerned,
brought to our attention that it was illegal to save
hot drinks.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
So it's the heat. So to get the legality of
it is the concern around heat? Is that right?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
No idea. I suppose it's just walking across with hot
drinks and or here going into the cups, perhaps maybe
to health and the safety thing. But all I know
is the clients love a hot drink when they're having
their heads on, especially if they're having a big service
like a color service. Exactly part of the client journey.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Exactly whenever I get my hair colored and there for hours,
what do you see? Do you serve still unsparkling and
some salons yet and do you put a limon in
the water.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Possibly sometimes a sprig of mint?

Speaker 1 (02:47):
There you go, good on your nice and nice to
talk to you. She's lovely, isn't she? Julie Evans, who's
the Rodney Wayne CEO. The reason I asked about the
water is that where I go, they do the water
sparkling or straight, and they always serve it with a
slice of limon. Up until recently, and I stand to
be corrected, they used to hand out a menu and
there were drinks, alcoholic drinks on that menu, and I'm
assuming somebody woke up to the fact that was probably

(03:08):
not really kosher. I don't know that that still exists,
but they do tea and coffee. They've done tea and
coffee forever.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
I think, really there's an opportunity to sort of set
up a chain of speakeasy sellons, isn't there.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
I reckon go really go underground with it. For more
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