On 25th March 2020, New Zealand went into Level 4 Covid-19 lockdown, everybody had to stay home.

Nobody could go to work except for those in essential services. Our people – all our staff – who worked for Kāpura were not essential services and couldn’t work.

Being closed for a weekend in hospitality is hard. Being forcibly closed for an indefinite period is a disaster.

If you choose to see it like that.

Jamie called Will, Iain and the troops and said, ``We might think we’ve got it tough but there’s a lot of people out there who have got it tougher.”

We contacted the Ministry of Social Development to see how we could help and when we got the green light we began making freezer-ready meals and grocery boxes for Wellingtonians in need.

Working out of our Central Kitchen we gathered as many chefs and workers as we could find and we put them in a bubble together. The team worked on a rotating schedule, actively working for 20 hours a day.

During the lockdown, Kāpura prepared and delivered 220,000 meals and 35,000 grocery boxes to 9000 people in need in the Wellington area. An amazing effort from an incredible team we are proud to call our own.

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