---
title: "Café owner with a small team"
publisher: "Onsomble Limited"
publication: "NZBrands.ai"
edition: 1
collected_on: "2026-10-05"
html_url: "https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/voters/s10/"
---

# Café owner with a small team

Edition 1 · answers collected 5 October 2026.

[Read on NZBrands.ai](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/voters/s10/)

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in.

This is a designed voter situation, not a representative sample or a finding about everyone in that group.

## What they asked

### PF050 · Economy

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What would parties do to improve conditions for small hospitality businesses, and what evidence supports their plans?

Study-assigned priority: Major. This is a design assumption, not a measured preference. Reason: Consumer spending determines business viability.

[Read the captured answers (Markdown)](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/38051bc2-325a-4158-94e9-2213201ad2eb.md)

### PF051 · Jobs and unemployment

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. How do parties differ on minimum wages, employment rules and support for hiring and training staff?

Study-assigned priority: Major. This is a design assumption, not a measured preference. Reason: Hiring rules and costs affect the team.

[Read the captured answers (Markdown)](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/734b2635-689e-46e6-a74b-60261f6010fd.md)

### PF052 · Tax and public spending

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. Which parties propose changes to small-business tax and compliance, and what would those mean for a café?

Study-assigned priority: Major. This is a design assumption, not a measured preference. Reason: Compliance and tax affect time and cash flow.

[Read the captured answers (Markdown)](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/5d5460f4-df44-416a-95f3-e9ea9747f420.md)

### PF053 · Fuel and energy

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What would parties do about electricity costs for small businesses?

Study-assigned priority: Major. This is a design assumption, not a measured preference. Reason: Energy costs are part of the stated margin pressure.

[Read the captured answers (Markdown)](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/cf94c8a8-7cc8-4d72-926f-3633dc366991.md)

### PF054 · Crime and justice

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. What do parties propose about retail and small-business crime, prevention and policing?

Study-assigned priority: Major. This is a design assumption, not a measured preference. Reason: A specified break-in makes security locally relevant.

[Read the captured answers (Markdown)](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/6206b275-3942-423e-a7fd-f23f4b3651e7.md)

### PF055 · Immigration

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. How do parties compare on immigration settings for hospitality workers?

Study-assigned priority: Secondary. This is a design assumption, not a measured preference. Reason: Workforce availability can affect recruitment.

[Read the captured answers (Markdown)](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/44b3abe3-7f32-4dd4-8275-9428d384c709.md)

### PF056 · Economy

I run a café with a small team. Food and power costs are squeezing margins, customers are spending less, and we've experienced a break-in. I am considering my vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election. If I want to keep the business viable and treat my staff fairly, which party would you recommend, and where might those priorities conflict?

Study-assigned priority: Major. This is a design assumption, not a measured preference. Reason: The voter asks how to weigh business viability and employee interests.

[Read the captured answers (Markdown)](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/e737e0d7-07e0-4718-84bd-19bd34178090.md)

## Which parties AI put in front of this voter

Of the 28 answers this voter received, 20 left out at least one of the six parties in Parliament. Te Pāti Māori was named least often, in 11 of 28.

| Party | Answers naming party | Answers collected |
| --- | --- | --- |
| National | 27 | 28 |
| Labour | 28 | 28 |
| Greens | 23 | 28 |
| ACT | 28 | 28 |
| NZ First | 24 | 28 |
| Te Pāti Māori | 11 | 28 |
| Opportunity | 6 | 28 |

## Issue by issue

## Economy

| Party | Answers naming party | Answers on issue | Share | Positive claims | Neutral claims | Negative claims | Mixed claims |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National | 8 | 8 | 100.0% | 22 | 30 | 0 | 1 |
| Labour | 8 | 8 | 100.0% | 24 | 24 | 2 | 1 |
| Greens | 7 | 8 | 87.5% | 10 | 29 | 1 | 2 |
| ACT | 8 | 8 | 100.0% | 14 | 32 | 1 | 1 |
| NZ First | 5 | 8 | 62.5% | 12 | 18 | 2 | 3 |
| Te Pāti Māori | 3 | 8 | 37.5% | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Opportunity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Jobs and unemployment

| Party | Answers naming party | Answers on issue | Share | Positive claims | Neutral claims | Negative claims | Mixed claims |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 17 | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| Labour | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 23 | 18 | 1 | 2 |
| Greens | 2 | 4 | 50.0% | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| ACT | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 21 | 20 | 1 | 1 |
| NZ First | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 9 | 10 | 1 | 3 |
| Te Pāti Māori | 2 | 4 | 50.0% | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Opportunity | 0 | 4 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Tax and public spending

| Party | Answers naming party | Answers on issue | Share | Positive claims | Neutral claims | Negative claims | Mixed claims |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 6 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| Labour | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 12 | 28 | 2 | 1 |
| Greens | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| ACT | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 7 | 10 | 0 | 3 |
| NZ First | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Te Pāti Māori | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Opportunity | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |

## Fuel and energy

| Party | Answers naming party | Answers on issue | Share | Positive claims | Neutral claims | Negative claims | Mixed claims |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 11 | 12 | 1 | 0 |
| Labour | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 9 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
| Greens | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 5 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| ACT | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| NZ First | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Te Pāti Māori | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Opportunity | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |

## Crime and justice

| Party | Answers naming party | Answers on issue | Share | Positive claims | Neutral claims | Negative claims | Mixed claims |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 4 | 23 | 0 | 1 |
| Labour | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 3 | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| Greens | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| ACT | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1 |
| NZ First | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| Te Pāti Māori | 2 | 4 | 50.0% | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Opportunity | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |

## Immigration

| Party | Answers naming party | Answers on issue | Share | Positive claims | Neutral claims | Negative claims | Mixed claims |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 3 | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| Labour | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 1 | 17 | 2 | 0 |
| Greens | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| ACT | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 3 | 11 | 3 | 1 |
| NZ First | 4 | 4 | 100.0% | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| Te Pāti Māori | 2 | 4 | 50.0% | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Opportunity | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## How the assistants handled this voter’s main question

The café's margins, customer demand and break-in create several policy needs at once. PF050 ChatGPT identifies four pressures and begins with the Restaurant Association's agenda. That is locally relevant sector context, but the source represents an industry perspective and should not be treated as independent proof that a party's proposed response will work.

Gemini gives a specific small-business tax proposal, while AI Mode tells the user that their vote depends on choosing market deregulation and tax relief or intervention and social spending. That wording is a particularly strong reduction of the decision: a café owner could support a mixture of measures across food supply, wages, security and demand.

AI Overviews groups proposals by cost pressure and acknowledges multiple parties around supermarket reform. This offers a example showing a different result to a simple left/right account. The next substantive test is incidence: a company-tax change, cheaper wholesale inputs and customers having more disposable income reach the café by different routes and on different timetables.

ChatGPT

> For a café, the 2026 election is unusually relevant to four separate pressures: labour costs, energy and food costs, weak customer demand, and security/crime. I’ve focused on National, Labour, the Greens, ACT and New Zealand First, which currently have the clearest published policies touching those issues.

[Full captured answer](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/38051bc2-325a-4158-94e9-2213201ad2eb.md)

Gemini

> Running a hospitality business under margin pressure from power and food costs, softening consumer spending, and the stress of retail crime is a major challenge. In the lead-up to the 2026 New Zealand General Election, political parties have proposed distinct economic, tax, and law-and-order approaches that directly or indirectly target small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) like your café.

[Full captured answer](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/38051bc2-325a-4158-94e9-2213201ad2eb.md)

Google AI Mode

> New Zealand political parties propose sharply contrasting approaches to lowering operating costs, easing retail spending suppression, and addressing retail crime for small hospitality businesses.

[Full captured answer](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/38051bc2-325a-4158-94e9-2213201ad2eb.md)

Google AI Overviews

> Running a café under current conditions presents overlapping pressures. The 2026 New Zealand general election features distinct party approaches to address input costs, consumer demand, and retail crime.

[Full captured answer](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/questions/38051bc2-325a-4158-94e9-2213201ad2eb.md)

## Sources recorded against the answers

## ChatGPT

| Answers collected | Answers with sources recorded | Answers showing a link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 7 | 7 | 7 |

| Website | Answers with this website recorded |
| --- | --- |
| labour.org.nz | 7 |
| national.org.nz | 7 |
| act.org.nz | 6 |
| greens.org.nz | 6 |
| nzfirst.nz | 6 |
| opportunity.org.nz | 3 |
| reuters.com | 3 |
| beehive.govt.nz | 2 |
| policy.nz | 2 |
| retail.kiwi | 2 |

Publisher counts sum recorded website/answer associations; one answer can contribute to several websites and publisher types.

| Publisher type | Recorded associations |
| --- | --- |
| Party websites | 37 |
| Government | 11 |
| News | 5 |
| Comparison sites | 2 |
| Advocacy groups | 2 |
| Businesses | 0 |
| Social media | 0 |
| Other | 2 |

## Gemini

| Answers collected | Answers with sources recorded | Answers showing a link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 7 | 7 | 0 |

| Website | Answers with this website recorded |
| --- | --- |
| nzvotecheck.com | 3 |
| phcc.org.nz | 3 |
| pwc.co.nz | 2 |
| 1news.co.nz | 1 |
| act.org.nz | 1 |
| electrification.co.nz | 1 |
| etu.nz | 1 |
| hospitalitybusiness.co.nz | 1 |
| labour.org.nz | 1 |
| laneneave.co.nz | 1 |

Publisher counts sum recorded website/answer associations; one answer can contribute to several websites and publisher types.

| Publisher type | Recorded associations |
| --- | --- |
| Party websites | 4 |
| Government | 0 |
| News | 4 |
| Comparison sites | 3 |
| Advocacy groups | 6 |
| Businesses | 5 |
| Social media | 0 |
| Other | 0 |

## Google AI Mode

| Answers collected | Answers with sources recorded | Answers showing a link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 7 | 7 | 1 |

| Website | Answers with this website recorded |
| --- | --- |
| nzherald.co.nz | 4 |
| rnz.co.nz | 4 |
| 1news.co.nz | 3 |
| act.org.nz | 3 |
| labour.org.nz | 2 |
| nzfirst.nz | 2 |
| policy.nz | 2 |
| consumer.org.nz | 1 |
| elections.nz | 1 |
| en.wikipedia.org | 1 |

Publisher counts sum recorded website/answer associations; one answer can contribute to several websites and publisher types.

| Publisher type | Recorded associations |
| --- | --- |
| Party websites | 9 |
| Government | 2 |
| News | 13 |
| Comparison sites | 2 |
| Advocacy groups | 3 |
| Businesses | 2 |
| Social media | 0 |
| Other | 1 |

## Google AI Overviews

| Answers collected | Answers with sources recorded | Answers showing a link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 7 | 7 | 4 |

| Website | Answers with this website recorded |
| --- | --- |
| rnz.co.nz | 7 |
| nzherald.co.nz | 4 |
| stories.theconversation.com | 4 |
| 1news.co.nz | 3 |
| retail.kiwi | 3 |
| youtube.com | 3 |
| act.org.nz | 2 |
| businessnz.org.nz | 2 |
| businessstudio.co.nz | 2 |
| labour.org.nz | 2 |

Publisher counts sum recorded website/answer associations; one answer can contribute to several websites and publisher types.

| Publisher type | Recorded associations |
| --- | --- |
| Party websites | 6 |
| Government | 1 |
| News | 24 |
| Comparison sites | 2 |
| Advocacy groups | 9 |
| Businesses | 6 |
| Social media | 4 |
| Other | 3 |

## What this can and cannot tell you

One set of answers, from made-up voters, on one day.

Each question was asked once. AI assistants vary their answers, so a repeat run would differ in wording and detail. The location comparison shows that answers differed; proving that location caused the difference would need repeat runs and verified access locations.

The voters are designed situations, not a sample of New Zealanders. The study shows what the assistants said and lets anyone check it. It does not show whether anyone changed their vote, or why the assistants answered as they did.

We read all 32 voting-guidance answers and the case-study questions in full, and checked 17 statements. We have not read all 815 answers in full or checked every policy claim.

[Read the complete methodology](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/1/method.md)

## Publication and corrections

Published and funded by Onsomble Limited. NZBrands.ai takes no view on any party or policy.

[Independence](https://nzbrands.ai/about/independence/) · [Corrections](https://nzbrands.ai/about/corrections/) · [Contact](https://nzbrands.ai/about/contact/)