Coronavirus: Cafes ban keep-cups due to virus risk | Stuff.co.nz
MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
As the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb worldwide, some Kiwi cafes are banning the use of 'keep-cups' in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus (file photo).
Some cafes throughout the country are no longer accepting reusable cups due to fears about coronavirus.
McDonalds McCafes nationwide have suspended the use of keep-cups until further notice.
"The temporary suspension of reusable cups at McCafes is ... part of broader measures to protect staff and customers nationwide," a McDonald's spokesperson said.
RNZ
The government is facing criticism for not moving fast enough on a package to help businesses impacted by the coronavirus.
Takapuna Beach Cafe on Auckland's North Shore has also temporarily scrapped accepting keep-cups as cases of the virus continue to climb worldwide.
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Owner James Bryant told Stuff the move, implemented this week, was to reduce the risks attached to a cup changing hands multiple times.
Supplied
Takapuna Beach Cafe has suspended the use of reusable coffee cups in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Customers who visited the cafe on Monday were reportedly told they could not use their keep cups as "staff could not guarantee [the cup] had been washed".
Bryant said he had taken a leaf out of Starbucks' book, which temporarily banned the use of personal cups or tumblers across its North American and United Kingdom stores last week.
It is not clear if local Starbucks cafes would follow suit – Starbucks New Zealand did not respond to requests for comment.
Keep-cups were still in use at a central Auckland Starbucks on Wednesday.
The process around customers using keep-cups presented issues as "we just don't know the origin of the cup itself", Bryant said.
Staff could wash the cups, but it would make for a "long, slow process".
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"At the end of the day, we want to provide the same quality coffee in the same amount of time and don't want to delay that."
Bryant said the move had affected a small group of regular customers, who had responded "positively".
Has your local cafe stopped accepting keep-cups? Email hannah.martin@stuff.co.nz
Ted S. Warren
A sign posted at a Starbucks store in Washington in the United States.
Katy Ellis, the general manager of Mojo New Zealand, said signs were being put up in Mojo cafes around the country asking for customers to only bring in clean reusable cups.
The Coffee Club chain, which operates 66 cafes across the country, was still allowing customers to use keep cups but was looking at different operational procedures to ensure they were sanitary.
The Coffee Club New Zealand co-director Brad Jacobs told Stuff the company is working on different ways to ensure keep cups didn't come in contact with anything that remained in the cafe.
For example, some larger keep-cups could touch the handle of a coffee machine.
The Coffee Club NZ is looking at different vessels to move the shot of coffee to the keep-cup, to prevent the risk of contamination.
If a person came into the cafe with a visibly dirty keep-cup staff would wash it before making a coffee, but would not clean reusable cups as a matter of course, Jacobs said.
The Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said during a stand-up on Wednesday that he had a keep-cup himself.
However, "you shouldn't be going out with a keep-cup if you're symptomatic", he said.