874 independent 🥝 businesses listed here during the 2020 lockdown. We checked every one again in September 2026.
3 in 4are still open today. 627 of the 841 businesses we could confirm, or 74.6%.
210have closed. Only 5 of them closed in 2020. The rest closed in the years after lockdown.
89%of coffee businesses survived, the best of any group. Dairy was the worst, at 58%.
What happened to the businesses on the 2020 listPublished 18 September 2026
Key findings
Six years on, three in four are still open
74.6% of the businesses that listed on Delivereat in 2020 are still trading in September 2026: 627 of the 841 with a confirmed outcome.
The failures came after the lockdown, not during it. Only 5 companies closed in 2020. 12 closed in 2022, and 12 more in 2026 by September.
Businesses that delivered nationwide survived at 78%. Auckland-only businesses survived at 61%.
Coffee (89%) and alcohol (87%) survived best. Dairy (58%) and ready meals (61%) survived worst.
Early joiners lasted longer. Businesses that listed in week 1 survived at 77%. Those that listed from week 5 on survived at 63%.
1 in 10 failed businesses had its old domain taken over by a gambling or spam site.
71 businesses stopped trading but never closed the company. It is still on the register today.
The median company that closed was 6.5 years old. 24 of the 58 closed at five years old or younger.
Part 1 · who signed up
Half the list sold something to drink
Delivereat was open to any independent business that could deliver food, drink or household basics. What came in was not a cross-section of New Zealand food. It was a picture of what is easy to put in a courier bag: shelf-stable, high in value, light to pack. Wine, beer, coffee and pantry goods made up most of the list. Fresh food was a third of it.
Listings by category · a business selling in two categories counts in both · 711 of 874 listings recorded a category
Four kinds of business
48% sold drink: alcohol, coffee and tea, or soft drinks
34% sold fresh food: fruit and veg, meat, seafood, dairy or baked goods
24% sold pantry goods or ready meals
9% sold pet food or hygiene products
The shares add to more than 100% because some businesses sold in more than one group. Most did not: 581 of the 711 sold in a single category. These were specialists, a winery, a roastery, a butcher, and not general stores.
Drink arrived first. Fresh food followed.
The mix changed over the 13 weeks the list ran. Businesses that already sold online, mostly wineries, breweries and roasters, listed in the first days. Butchers, growers and bakers took longer, because they had to build delivery first.
Share of new listings
Week 1
Weeks 2 to 4
Alcohol
34%
25%
Fruit and veg
10%
19%
Meat
8%
14%
Coffee and tea
16%
19%
391 businesses listed in week 1, from 30 March 2020, and 319 in weeks 2 to 4.
Where they delivered
Four in five offered nationwide courier delivery. During level 4 that was the only way to reach a customer outside your own suburb.
679 nationwide
63 Auckland only
41 Wellington
21 Canterbury
70 other single regions
How they were set up
Most were established businesses with their own New Zealand web address. A small number had opened a shop days earlier.
619 traded on a .co.nz address
148 on .com, and 67 on .nz
15 ran on a bare Shopify address with no domain of their own
Part 2 · who survived
Reach and shelf life decided who lasted
Two things separate the survivors: how far they could ship, and how long the product keeps. A business that sells coffee or wine to the whole country has a wider market and no spoilage. A business that sells fresh milk to one city has neither.
By delivery area
Share still trading, by delivery area · Canterbury is a small group of 18 businesses
By what they sold
Share still trading, by category · a business selling in two categories counts in both
Early joiners lasted longer
The businesses that listed in the first week were already able to sell online. The later joiners were more often building that ability under pressure, and fewer of them kept it.
77% of week 1 joiners still trading (293 of 380)
72% of weeks 2 to 4 joiners (221 of 309)
63% of week 5 and later joiners (39 of 62)
What made no difference
Selling more product lines did not help. Single-category businesses survived at 78%, two-category at 77%, three or more at 74%. Range was not protection.
The weakest setup was a bare Shopify subdomain with no domain of its own: 6 of 15 survived. The group is small, but it fits the pattern that the most improvised shops were the first to go.
Part 3 · who failed, and when
The failures came after 2020, not during it
Every business on the list survived the shock itself: they were open and taking orders through level 4. The Companies Office status dates show when the survivors ran out. Five closed in 2020. Twelve closed in 2022, two years after the event everyone remembers, and 2026 has already matched that by September. Closures are not slowing down.
Companies removed from the register or placed in liquidation, matched to a 2020 listing · 58 in total · 2026 runs to September
How a failed business looks from outside
Of the 210 businesses that stopped trading, most left no notice. The website simply stopped answering.
How the websites of the 210 closed businesses appear today
What the register says about them
55 company removed or in liquidation
71 company still registered, business gone
84 no company record, likely sole traders
A small business rarely ends with an announcement
For 71 businesses the shop is gone and the company still sits on the register, current. Nobody filed anything. The domain lapsed and the owner moved on. Only 39 of the 210 posted a closure notice.
How old they were
6.5 yrs median age of a company at closure
24 of 58 closed at five years old or younger
14 of 58 had traded for more than ten years
Part 4 · the same story, across the country
What happened to these businesses happened to New Zealand
The Delivereat list is 874 businesses. Xero Small Business Insights tracks the sales, jobs and payment times of hundreds of thousands of New Zealand small businesses, from anonymised accounting data. It shows the same shape: a violent shock in April 2020, a rebound, then a long squeeze that is still running.
April 2020, by the numbers
Small business sales fell 43% in a single month. For hospitality it was 72%. The businesses on this list were the ones trying to sell through that.
Sales growth, April 2020 against April 2019 · Xero Small Business Insights, New Zealand
The squeeze came later
Sales rebounded in 2021 and 2022. Then growth stopped. In 2024, small business sales shrank across the country, and hospitality sales and jobs both went backwards for two years running.
Average year-on-year sales growth, all small businesses · 2026 runs to June · Xero Small Business Insights
When cash mattered most, it arrived slowest
In April 2020 the average small business invoice took 29 days to be paid and arrived 9.1 days late. Hospitality businesses, normally paid 3.7 days late, were paid 12.2 days late. The month sales collapsed was the month customers took longest to pay.
29 days to be paid in April 2020, against 26 in a normal month
12.2 days late for hospitality that month, three times its normal
5.1 days late is still the national average in June 2026
A business that survived a 43% fall in sales can still be finished by invoices that arrive a fortnight late. Most of the closures on this page came years after the lockdown, in the slow squeeze, not the shock.
The businesses on this page did not fail for lack of customers. Most failed years later, short of cash they had already earned. Put in three numbers and see how long your money takes to arrive.
40days to be paid
You
40
Your terms
20
NZ average
23
Your action plan
0 of 4 done
Four jobs, in order. Each one takes an afternoon or less. Tick them off as you go.
This follow-up study is brought to you by Denym Bird, co-founder of Paidnice, and Alex Hamilton.
FAQ
FAQ
How many of the 2020 Delivereat businesses are still trading?
627 of the 841 businesses with a confirmed outcome, or 74.6%, were still trading in September 2026. 210 had stopped trading, 4 had been sold to another company, and 33 could not be confirmed.
When did most of the lockdown businesses close?
After the lockdown, not during it. Only 5 companies closed in 2020. 12 closed in 2022, and 12 more had closed in 2026 by September. Closures have run at 6 to 12 a year since 2021.
Which types of food business survived best?
Coffee (89%), alcohol (87%) and pet food (85%) survived best. Dairy (58%), ready meals (61%), soft drinks (69%) and fruit and veg (69%) survived worst.
Did delivering nationwide help a business survive?
Yes. 78% of businesses that delivered nationwide are still trading, against 61% of Auckland-only businesses and 59% of businesses in other single regions.
What happens to the website of a business that closes?
For 62% of the failed businesses the website no longer loads. 19% show a closure notice, 9% are parked, and 10% have been taken over by an unrelated site, most often gambling or spam.
How was this checked?
Every listing from the 2020 directory was opened in a browser in September 2026 and classified. Businesses that were gone or unclear were then searched on the New Zealand Companies Office register.
The list. Every listing from the live Delivereat directory and its three sign-up exports, 31 March to 28 June 2020: 878 rows, which resolve to 874 distinct businesses after merging duplicate domains for the same business.
Website check. Each website was opened in a real browser in September 2026 and classified as trading, closed, parked, taken over, moved, not loading, listing only, or unclear. A site that failed was retried on www and on http before being recorded as not loading.
Second check. Every unclear or doubtful result was checked again, with a web search for news of a closure, sale or rebrand. 42 of 45 unclear results were resolved.
Register check. The 243 businesses that were gone or unconfirmed were searched on the New Zealand Companies Office register by trading name, short name and domain name. Entity status and status date were taken from each company's record.
Match control. A register match was dropped when the company had been removed before April 2020, because such a company cannot be the business that was delivering in lockdown. 44 matches failed this test.
Outcome. "Still trading" means a live website for the same business with no closure notice, including a business that moved to a new domain. "Stopped" means the site does not load, shows a closure notice, is parked, or now belongs to an unrelated site.
What are the limits of the data?
A live website is not proof of trading, so true survival is likely somewhat below 74.6%.
Sole traders and partnerships have no company record. 84 failed businesses could not be confirmed on the register either way.
163 listings did not record a product category, and 97 carry no sign-up date. Those are left out of the category and timing figures.
The list is self-selected: businesses that could deliver in a lockdown and chose to list. It is not a sample of all New Zealand small businesses.
Closure years count only companies matched to the register. They show the shape of closures over time, not the full count.
Cite this study
Use these figures
You may quote any figure on this page with a link back. Please cite it as:
Delivereat (2026). Still delivering? What happened to 874 New Zealand lockdown businesses. Published 18 September 2026.
https://delivereat.co.nz/