Matthew Lane is quick to point out that he is acutely aware of — and has huge sympathy for — those businesses and industries far more heavily impacted by the ramifications of Covid-19 than his own.
For Night ’n Day Foodstores, the challenges it has faced have largely been positive and involved "implementing things for the better", Mr Lane says.
It had made Night ’n Day learn about its business, identify any weaknesses and "plug some of those".
Disruption in the market presented not only opportunities but also sites; it hit a big milestone this month by entering the Auckland market with its first stand-alone store in Grey Lynn, featuring the look the business was most recognised for further south.
A second store was planned for Onehunga. Both stores were established on former bank sites which were traditionally on high-profile locations with good car parking and on street corners, so it was "perfect for us to come in", he said.
Night ’n Day had previously been rolled out at Gull service stations in the North Island but, at those sites, Gull was the primary brand and Night ’n Day the secondary brand.
The new Auckland stores created a more premium offering which was the space the company wanted to operate in, he said.
Night ’n Day is a family-owned franchisor with its support business based in Dunedin. The company was founded by Mr Lane’s parents, Andrew and Denise, who continued to be heavily involved in the business.
The couple had been retailing in the trade since 1978. In 1990, Night 'n Day Foodstore Ltd was established to begin converting existing foodstores and to offer a franchise system.
In October 2012, the company was ranked fourth nationally in the annual Deloitte Fast 50 companies around the country, with 952% growth. It was also Otago's fastest-growing retail or consumer products business.
It has been a quiet, largely under-the-radar, Dunedin success story which started with one store in the city. There were now 52 stores throughout New Zealand and soon to be 55.
Mr Lane (31), who grew up around Night ’n Day, said there had been many sacrifices on the way through.
"It definitely wasn’t easy ... business wasn’t easy then, it isn’t easy now. You can’t take anything for granted. You’ve got to keep on top of your game."
His involvement officially began when he started working in the Regent store in Dunedin in his early teens and he continued to work in the business while completing a commerce degree, majoring in accounting, at the University of Otago.
He then worked at Deloitte for four years and obtained his chartered accountancy qualification, before returning to Night ’n Day where he held various roles within the business development and finance departments before shifting to the general manager role in 2019.
Having been involved in both as a franchisee and franchisor has allowed him to understand the day-to-day challenges franchisees were presented with.
"It’s always had a place in my heart, no doubt about it. I could talk about Night ’n Day all day long. I live it and breathe it," he said.
No day was the same; it was a very dynamic environment. Covid’s challenges meant decisions had to be made quickly — there was nothing worse than "being a deer in the headlights" when franchisees were looking for decisions and certainty.
Supply was the biggest concern, although Night ’n Day was fortunate that it had diversity among suppliers, and that came back to the argument about being able to get dry groceries, he said.
Mr Lane was part of a panel that appeared before the Commerce Commission in November last year as a probe continued into competition in the retail grocery sector.
The sector is dominated by Foodstuffs and Woolworths, which own or license supermarket chains such as Pak’nSave, New World, Countdown, Four Square and FreshChoice.
Night ’n Day is New Zealand’s third-largest groceries operator, after Foodstuffs and Woolworths. However, wholesale channels were controlled by the two big players, Mr Lane said.
The commission was considering options such as requiring operational or structural separation between wholesalers and retailers, forcing the major operators to shed some shops and enabling creation of a standalone wholesaler.
Mr Lane called for retailers and wholesalers to have separate ownership. If a freer market was established, Night ’n Day could compete initially against chains such as SuperValue and potentially take on larger retailers in the longer term.
Unable to focus solely on groceries at the moment, Night ’n Day had adopted a broader food to go, milk bar and coffee offering, along with some staples.
Mr Lane believed the traditional dairy was going to battle over the next five years and it was fortunate that Night ’n Day was not just in that traditional dairy space.
Acknowledging that the business did not seek the limelight, Mr Lane said it focused on what it did, keeping communication strong and being very invested in its brand.
"We just do what we do whether we’re recognised for it or not."
In the 2020 Westpac Otago Business Awards, Night ’n Day won both the Otago Daily Times excellence in retail category and the ACC essential service safety award. Such recognition was good for the wider team, he said.
Staff were very hard to recruit in any industry at the moment and Night ’n Day was fortunate to have a lot of long-term staff.
Mr Lane enjoyed being in business in Dunedin where there was a close business community which tended to look out for each other.
"It’s nice to have a strong business community in any town, it gives a beating heart to the overall atmosphere of the town."
He had some good mentors, including former Night ’n Day boss Tony Allison who would "take a phone call whatever time of day" and, through his previous job, Kyle Cameron at Deloitte.
His wife, who had the Mornington franchise, was very supportive; she understood the business and her involvement helped him keep connected with what was happening with stores. His brother and sister were also heavily involved in the business and family values were a theme through the business.
Night ’n Day was very involved with various sporting teams, including sponsoring cricket and football, and it had the naming rights for the Otago Nuggets which was one of the bigger things it had taken on.
Its reasons for supporting the community were simple — "it’s easy to take from a community but it’s really important to give back as well," he said.
As far as the year ahead looked, Mr Lane said it became harder to plan long-term when businesses were faced with "so many changing goalposts".
So Night ’n Day would focus on solving "what’s on our plate at the moment", growth and reinforcing its brand.
There were still lots of growth opportunities, including in Christchurch where it had lost sites during the Canterbury earthquakes and found it hard to re-establish them due to "so many moving parts".
The unknown and uncertainty around Covid-19 was incredibly hard.
It was not just about worrying about the brand itself, but for the individual families who had invested in the business through franchises.
Navigating regulations from the Government, while trading during lockdowns, were ever changing and they had to keep on top of that, while also keeping staff safe.
But it was committed to those challenges.
"A lot of people invested with us as a brand ... to walk away or drop the ball on that doesn’t work with commitments made by franchisees."
