School ban on students calling Uber Eats and Deliveroo to order in their lunch, safety fears

SCHOOL students have been banned from ordering in food on their smart phones for lunchtime banquets in the playground amid rising fears over safety.

An Uber Eats spokeswoman said customers must be 18 to use the app.

ELITE school students have been banned from ordering in food on their smart phones for lunchtime banquets in the playground amid rising fears over children’s safety.

But as online meal providers such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo explode in popularity some senior students are getting around the restrictions by taking deliveries at the school gates, The Saturday Telegraph has learned.

Alarm bells rang at a Sydney girls’ school when delivery drivers were found wandering around the grounds looking for hungry students who rang in an order.

Deliveries to schools was not encouraged by UberEats, a spokeswoman said.

The order-in phenomenon is also now threatening the viability of school tuck shops, which are now finding themselves competing with the global food delivery services and local pizza chains.

School canteens turning over up to $70,000 a year have been forced to improve the quality and range of lunch menus, offering burgers, curries, sushi and gourmet sandwiches — and in some cases are being forced to put prices up as a result.

Molly Phipps, who has just finished Year 12 at Ravenswood on Sydney’s north shore, said food available “at the push on a button” was extremely popular with students.

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“It is more prevalent outside of school hours but in school we have to go to the gate or to an open area (to take a delivery),” she said.

“Girls would get food delivered like pizza or burger and chips that is not so available at the school canteen.

“The difficulty is that in the school environment you have to find them (the delivery person),” she added.

Cranbrook School in Sydney’s east said all deliveries “must occur at the school gate and not on school property” due to security concerns.

“Cranbrook School … provides a wide range of delicious, healthy and affordable meal and snack options for both its day and boarding students, negating the need for them to use services such as food delivery providers for meals,” a spokeswoman said.

“Year 11 and 12 day students using school facilities to study after school hours in the evening or at weekends are permitted to arrange their own meals on site which may include using a food delivery service to obtain dinner.”

A teacher at another large private school said: “They (students) aren’t allowed to use Uber Eats, it causes chaos.”

A canteen manager who runs nine school tuckshops said “vicious” competition for contracts had forced prices up which encouraged students to order in from online providers.

“Some are charging $6 for a tub of salad that should be $4.50,” she said.

An Uber Eats spokeswoman said customers must be 18 to use the app. “We do not encourage Uber Eats deliveries to schools,” she said.