Veronica de Oliveira: Black Orchid Collective Cafe Owner on Tauranga City Council raising the fees for alfresco dining

Tauranga businesses are furious about what they label harsh outdoor dining fees following a tough winter. 

They've been waived for the rest of 2024, but in the new year businesses must pay an annual charge based on outdoor dining area.  

In Mount Maunganui it will be $150 per square metre used, which compares to Auckland, where the highest fee is $154 a square metre.  

Black Orchid Collective Cafe Owner Veronica de Oliveira told Ryan Bridge she understands the council wants to control the outdoor areas a bit since the summer is quite busy, but it’s also the only time of the year that they’re actually very busy. 

She thinks that a lot of people will rebel against the fees, and quite a few alfresco set ups will be lost, making the city quiet.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nationwide Alfresco fiasco. Queenstown now the latest city to be
hit by this issue. Hospitality business, the hotels are in
z that their outdoor dining fees are going up fifteen
hundred percent. One business used to pay an annual cost
of three thousand dollars to the council. That's now going
to go up to more than fifty thousand dollars. Apparently

(00:23):
they're charging a percentage of the indoor rent. Totong has
been having issues and Veronica di Olivera is the Black
Orchid Collective cafe owner and she's with me this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good morning, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
How are you very well? Thanks Veronica. How much are
you paying where you are?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, well, I'm not paying yet, but it would probably
be paying over one thousand dollars for like little three
tables they have in front of my business at the moment.
So it's just quite a beat just for their space
I'm using.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Actually, and this is because at the moment you're paying,
I think because you haven't needed a license they're introducing.
The licenses end up coming with a fee exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
So they have decided last July all the business downtown
a Mount will have to pay feats out. So it's
about one hundred and fifty dollars staty square meter, but's
a five hundred dollars administration feeds. I'm not very sure
what is it about. But yeah, so for the space

(01:27):
that I have now, I would be saying at least
like five square meters.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Right, can you describe the space for us? Is it
on the footpath or.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's on the footpaths? Yeah? Yeah, you off my cafe.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Do your tables block the footpath or anyone, you know,
if you're disabled or the elderly or.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
No, definitely not. It's actually like rules frame, so all
the business amount or probably in New Zealand have to
follow all the rules. Like it's like I don't know
how many meters, but that is a space that you
need to leave for the people to pass. So I

(02:11):
understand the fact that they want to control a little
bit because the summer time is quite busy and you
cut really pass. But it's the only time of the
year that we actually is very busy. That's the time
that we actually make money. You know, the city is busy.
So it's like the style of the mount is the

(02:32):
soul of the mount, and this what's happening now. I
believe a lot of people will rebel against and we're
going to lose a few of these little tables outside
and we'll just you know, make the city quieter.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, it's nice to have people outside and it does
make the city look busy. As you say, Veronica, thank
you very much for joining us. Veronica de Olivera. She's
the Black Awkward Collective Cafe and toto Ona and she's
going to be paying one thousand dollars a year for
three tables on the footpath. For more Familier Edition with
Ryan Bridge, listen live to Newstalk SEDB from five am weekdays,

(03:06):
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.