General manager Peter Deans said the company took a "dim view" of things during the Covid-19 lockdown and anticipated laying off more workers than turned out to be necessary.
The food distributor had to restructure because revenues and volumes dropped as their clients reduced orders.
"I suppose in hindsight [and with] a little time to actually breathe and see the wood from the trees ... we’ve tried to minimise and effectively keep as many staff on as we can."
The company was moving to a new site at the corner of Kitchener and Wharf Sts in about two months, he said.
"We didn’t want to jeopardise that move and future opportunities by severely cutting and burning staff to that extreme," Mr Deans said.
The wage subsidy scheme helped Kaan’s management to plan for the future but the company did not need the extension of the scheme.
"We’ve restructured the business in a way that it will be fit and raring to go for the future."
The 33 redundancies were spread across the business.
"We went through a consultation process once we’d determined the areas of the business ... and where the excesses were, based on where we thought the future of the business [was]," he said.
Some of the people who were made redundant were able to find new jobs, while others would take up the 12-week Covid-19 unemployment payments, he said.
"It’s never a nice process to go through and all of the redundancies we made ... we felt every one of them that’s for sure.
"It was obviously done with the best wishes to those staff."
The company’s dream was that by Christmas it might be able to look at hiring new staff, "but let’s not count our chickens yet", Mr Deans said.
The company had reduced its capacity in Central Otago and Queenstown.
"We’re still providing the same service as far as deliveries and that up there go.
"Our trucks aren’t as full."
Businesses such as restaurants and accommodation providers in Queenstown were having to remodel their businesses to target the domestic market, he said.
What that would look like in the future he was not sure, but it would mean less was spent there.
"There will be people ‘dumbing down’ their menus because they don’t have international tourists coming in ... and happy to spend $200 or $300 on a meal and buy a nice bottle of Central Otago pinot.
"Typically, New Zealanders don’t want to or don’t have the money to spend that sort of coin on meals."
