Questioning outside vendor ban
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2014
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Questioning outside vendor ban
David M. McCarthy
Until recently, Ridgewood has allowed outside vendors to drop off lunches at its schools for Ridgewood students. Most of the deliveries have come from three vendors in and around town. They are serving not only working parents with limited time in the morning, but also students who don’t like the food served by the incumbent food service provider, Village Fresh, as well as others who have dietary restrictions that the in-house vendor cannot meet.
As of Jan. 13, the Ridgewood Board of Education has banned outside vendors from dropping off lunches at the various schools in town. Many reasons have been given for the recent change in policy. From the superintendent’s email announcement on the matter and from what was said at Monday night’s board meeting, here are the reasons I have heard: student safety/limiting access to the building; illegal parking by food delivery people; governmental guidelines concerning the nutritional content of lunch; too much disruption for school staff; outside deliveries may violate an exclusive provision in the Village Fresh’s contract; and due to a minimum profit provision in the Village Fresh contract, the popularity of the outside vendors may end up forcing Ridgewood to pay Village Fresh a make-whole fee if not enough kids buy their lunch at school.
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I smell a restraint of trade lawsuit brewing.
Restraint of trade? No one has the right to deliver and distribute their products on school property. Where would it end?
My son would love to see a hot dog cart outside the school. Can someone just wheel one up to the door by the Little Theater?
The contract with food service is probably common, promising a exclusivity and possibly providing some money to the school. We have contracts for a reason. Maybe all contracts are restraint of trade since both side are expected to live up to the agreement that they sign.
The problem is that parents love the convenience of ordering and paying online. Let so eone else sort it out.
The delis and bagel stores and not selling health food so please do not pretend that they are providing better food. Kids would probably like to see Mickey D’s in the cafeteria.
Upon contract renewal parents should request a Food Court in the cafeterias rather than one food service. That is what they really want. Too busy to make lunch they are willing to pay for junk food.
Get up 15 minutes early and make lunch or better yet, get the kids up 15 minutes early and have them make lunch. Sometimes parents seem like the kids.
Affluenza
How about the whiney business owners open early enough to allow lunch pickup on the way to school? This sense of entitlement all around is just maddening….
How about moms try to be a mom and make their kids a lunch instead of worrying about their tennis appt.
#6 or dads or kids for that matter. Why can’t the kids make their own lunches? I cannot fathom how the advocates of delivery service justify the use of school office resources to deliver their brats lunches when that resources is already stretched thin. I resent the use of the resource for the benefit of a few selfish, lazy parents.
Get off your arses and make lunch. Plain and simple.
This is not just a “mom problem”. Most kids are capable of making their own lunch. If they need supervision maybe dad can watch.
Good point. They can have the delivery boxes outside their stores in the am. Can the parents drive by or is that too much to ask? Maybe the babysitter can drive by.
Bunch of lazy, self centered idiots.
We really do not need this unnecessary commotion at the schools. It is not a hardship to bring lunch or to buy from food service.
For the other 16 meals in the week the parents can spoil their kids in private.
The biggest problem with ignorant people is their inability to keep it a secret.
Depressing – and unfortunately not really surprising – that this issue gets more attention from Villagers than our out-of-control property taxes !?
People complain about the schools being open on election day because of security concerns, yet they justify strangers going in and out on a daily basis to deliver bagels. Parents, stop being so self important, make your kids lunch, or have them order at school. If they don’t get exactly what they want, they’ll live. This is a potential security breach putting all students at risk.