Meet Wellington's New Service Delivering Restaurant-Quality Meals to Your Front Door

In the early stages of New Zealand's COVID-19 pandemic a group of Wellington hospitality owner-operators came together to offer a collaborative home delivery service. With the subsequent lockdown and closure of all non-essential services across the country, the idea evolved into a collaborative cookbook. Now, as we transition from COVID-19 lockdown to Alert Level 3 at 11.59pm on Monday, 27 April, The Pandemic Pack is back in its original form.

While the forthcoming alert level means that restaurants, bars and cafes are still closed to dine-in customers, some non-essential businesses can offer services like takeaway and contactless delivery as long as social distancing and good hygiene is practised. The Pandemic Pack is set to offer direct-to-door delivery to those working at home or in isolation while bypassing big name companies that typically clip a generous portion of commission from hospitality operators.

Users of the service can order from all 16 local Wellington businesses involved, including first-class pastry outfit Lashings, fried chicken joint Soul Shack, much-loved Chinese restaurant Taste of Home, all-vegan cafe Sweet Release, boutique manual coffee brew bar Pour & Twist and Leeds Street Bakery.

How it works: delivery will happen in three windows from Tuesday to Sunday — morning tea, lunch and dinner. The delivery is also contactless, meaning the drivers will ring the doorbell, leave your food and go. The serviced areas include the inner city, the inner suburbs and outer suburbs from Petone to Porirua and Lower Hutt. Those who would prefer to avoid delivery charges can simply pick up from a dedicated inner city hub.

The Pandemic Pack is set to launch across Wellington in line with the shift to COVID-19 Alert Level 3. For more information and to download the collaborative cookbook, visit pandemicpack.co.nz.

Top image: Lashings.

Head to the New Zealand Government's Ministry of Health website for the latest COVID-19 advice.