It will be meals on wings, rather than wheels, if the Compass Group starts flying food to the South Island after the rupture of its supply chain.
The company has confirmed it is using the Lewis Pass, rail and shipping to keep the Southern District Health Board’s food service going after Monday's devastating quake in North Canterbury that has cut off Kaikoura and part of State Highway 1.
Compass will fly meals around the country if that becomes necessary.
"We are pleased that our main distributor’s transit services are flowing both ways, most of which is going via Lewis Pass.
"If the need arose, we would explore air-freighting supply.
"However, for now we are on track with our coastal, road and rail delivery options and will continue to maintain two weeks of stock in supply should we need it," a company statement said.
Compass corporate communications manager Justine Banfield was concerned about how the coverage of the supply chain rupture would be viewed by Otago Daily Times readers.
Ms Banfield told the ODT to "be careful about how you position" the story.
She said the company had not activated its contingency plans, because it had not been necessary.
"Please make sure that you don’t make it look like we haven’t activated [the contingency plan] ... The reason we haven’t is there actually is no need.
"We don’t want to cause any undue alarm when everything is going well, and people are getting what they need.
"That’s my concern really, is those vulnerable people down there," Ms Banfield said.
The SDHB referred ODT questions to Compass. When asked if the SDHB could incur extra costs from the new freighting arrangements, the DHB said that was a contractual matter and the question would be transferred to another government entity for consideration under the Official Information Act.
The supply chain rupture is another challenge for Compass in what has been a difficult first year of its 15-year outsourcing deal with the SDHB.
It is responsible for both Meals on Wheels and hospital patient meals.
* An earlier version of the story said the issue was being handled for Compass externally by Ms Banfield in her role as owner of Jigsaw Communications in Auckland. Ms Banfield became a staff member at Compass a week ago.
