Gold Coast Meter Maids push ahead with controversial beachside food delivery service

GOLD Coast meter maids are part of controversial new food delivery service that will change your beach experience.

Meter maids

GOLD Coast meter maids have gone from feeding meters to feeding hungry beachgoers, with the launch of controversial new takeaway food delivery service straight from the shops to the Surfers Paradise sand.

The app-based ‘Maid to Order’ service is up and running despite warnings from the Gold Coast City Council that it could be illegal, and threats to fine or even jail the gold bikini-clad tourism icons.

The service was launched quietly yesterday after a fiery council meeting late last year at which councillors clashed over whether Glitter Strip beaches should be commercialised.

Meter maids were warned they faced fines of $10,000 and two years jail for flouting council beach by-laws.

Councillors voted to put the issue of food and drink delivery to the beaches on ice and instead seek public consultation.

Brearna Newman and Jade Ellis on Surfers Paradise beach. Photo: Tim Marsden

But Dominic Bressan, head of mobile technology company AirService which developed the Maid to Order app, said he had decided to go ‘live’ with the service to test the legal waters.

The qualified lawyer said he did not believe a legal challenge would stand up in court.

“It’s ridiculous for crying out loud,’’ he said.

“What we’re doing is no different to a parent sending their eldest child to the shops to pick up some ice creams and drinks for the family and bring them back down the beach, but it’s just far more convenient.

“There’s no sale taking place on the beach. The meter maids are given a donation for providing a service that many people in the community want.’’

Mr Bressan said he put a formal proposal to the council last summer ‘but it just sat there’.

“We’re really happy to work with the council but if we waited for them to make a decision, we’d still be here talking about it in five years,’’ he said.

Brearna Newman and Jade Ellis on Surfers Paradise beach. Photo: Tim Marsden

Mr Bressan said the Maid to Order service would boost business for local eateries, provide convenience for tourists and locals and give the cash-strapped meter maids a new income stream.

He said food and drinks were served on many of the world’s top beaches, but the app-based delivery service was a first.

Surfers Paradise councillor and lawyer Lex Bell, who has voiced concern about the service, said the legalities were a ‘grey area’ and warned Mr Bressan he was taking a risk.

“The council officers will look at it very deeply — they are opposed to it,’’ he said.

Cr Bell said officers had determined that it would be the restaurateurs and takeaway food shop proprietors who would be breaking the law, not the meter maid delivery girls.

He said his main concern was that the Coast’s pristine beaches could be left littered with rubbish.

Theo Kostoglou, whose Greek Street Grill is one of the first restaurants to sign up to the Maid to Order service, said the Gold Coast was ‘behind the times’ when it came to allowing food on beaches.

“Surfers Paradise is a tourist destination for the whole of Australia, so it should be in line with the rest of the world where food is served and delivered to the beach,’’ he said.

“It’s better that the meter maids are taking food to the beach than forcing the patrons across the road, which is more dangerous. It also means that tourists get to enjoy the beach longer.’’

Originally published as Gold Coast Meter Maids push ahead with controversial beachside food delivery service