For those in Auckland craving hāngī, banana poke or even dumplings, the Auckland Night Markets are ready to cater.
Co-founder of the Auckland Night Markets Paul de Jonge says, “Level 3 for us means that we can deliver. So we’ve developed an app but now that this (lockdown) has happened this has become a short term project. So we’ve got the app, it will be ready, we’ll be launching next Wednesday.”
The Auckland Night Markets operates out of 10 areas across Auckland. Co-founder Paul de Jonge says they’ve created bubbles around each market to stay with the parameters of social distancing. Customers can download the app for free and can make multiple orders.
“We’re sort of encouraging everyone to stay within their bubble and trade within their bubble.”
De Jonge says supporting their vendors and helping them get back on their feet has been a main driver behind the app. As a result, vendors will be charged a zero-commission fee.
“They’ve been loyal to us for all these years. We felt an obligation to keep the ball rolling and a lot of them have given up their day jobs, so they really had a lot riding on this. For a lot of them, it was their only income. It was imperative that we had to do something quickly and for now this is the best we can do.”
Vendors will prepare the food from their restaurants, cafes and commercial kitchens. De Jonge says they’re confident their app can take all the orders.
“We think we’ll be ok. Maybe the first day there might be a few adjustments going on but no we think we can handle it. We had a trial run just before lockdown when they introduced level 2 and we got closed down. So we did for a couple of days and we ironed out a few teething problems and now we’re ready to go. A well-oiled machine.”
APPLE users can find the link here.
ANDROID users can find the link here.
de Jonge says, "Currently, the app is number one for food and drink, for app store download. So number one in New Zealand so we’re pretty happy about that."
The Auckland Night Markets are open for business from Wednesday 29 April.
