Te Kai Whakarongo Issue 1204 | 7 April 2026 | Proudly locally owned and operated
theinformer.co.nz
@theinformernz
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COROMANDEL PENINSULA
BASKER ROAST NIGHT Every Wednesday night from 5pm Pork, lamb, chicken or beef Buffet salad and sauce bar Bookings recommended
3A Reweti Drive (opposite Mobil) www.basker.co.nz info@basker.co.nz Phone: 07 866 0645 Hours 8.00am to late
Easter adventure at Coroglen Tavern
See page 15
Hospitality businesses need you COMPLILED BY PAULINE STEWART
I
took a photo of the outdoor dining of one of the cafes in Albert Street, Whitianga on Easter Saturday. It was very busy and there was a line of customers to the door ready to order their menu item. The day before on Good Friday when this café was one of the
few open in Albert Street. There were very few people in the main street. It felt dreadful but Saturday came and the world changed. A few hours in the morning on Good Friday, The Informer was in Whangamata for a brief period 9.30am - 10.30am and there was a burgeoning crowd in ten cafes that I counted. That had me wondering The following comments are
from talking with people very involved with hospitality; some of them in charge of their establishments. They are not my comments. • There are many hospitality places in jeopardy – closure is very imminent for some of them. In this I am talking about Whitianga, Cooks Beach, Hahei. I’m not an alarmist but am aware of several factors
• Increased prices - the hospitality sector, like others is paying more to get their supplies delivered. • Winter is coming – do we promote our winter and all-yearround attractions enough? Some places will not survive the winter if we don’t do something more than we are. If we close, then the result will devastating for employees but also for the town. Hospitality
keeps them here. This can be a very rewarding industry but we need more hep to be open all year round. • Often the communications about roads are heavy on what is closed but not clear when roads are open. This is not a criticism but there is often confusion. We need to give travellers and visitors confidence in coming to our town and region. Continued on page 5