Kids tuck into remote learning lunchboxes

FAITH Simone has reinvented what it means to be the tuck shop lady with her ingenious click and collect style canteen.

The local mum has run the Surf Coast Secondary College canteen for six years but all that came to a standstill with the move to remote learning on March 23.

“We were just saying ‘how are we going to survive, we’ve had no income since March’,”
Faith recalled.

“We put our heads together and thought ‘why don’t we offer drive through and pick up lunch boxes?”.

The Torquay Remote Learning Tuckshop began operation in the first week of August and the response to the ready-made lunch boxes was overwhelming.

“The first week was good but the second week we were run off our feet,” Faith said.

“We were shocked because we were absolutely slammed – we just didn’t expect it.

“At one point I was going to put my hands in the air and say ‘I can’t do this’.

“But we all pulled together and got through it, although everyone was absolutely buggered.”

Faith said the community support had put a positive spin on a difficult year and she could not have done it without her team of “tuckshop angels” – Kerry, Jenny, Ceri and Hadey.

Faith, a pastry chef by trade, said most menu items were made from scratch and best sellers include her brownies, choc chip cookies, homemade pizzas and sausage rolls.

“We make the meanest sausage rolls which are packed with vegies – although the kids don’t realise that,” she laughed.

“We are also including a couple of treats that we wouldn’t normally sell because the kids
deserve it.”

Families place orders by 9.30am on a Thursday and collect their lunch orders by driving through the school car park pick-up area at a designated time on Fridays.

Faith, who conveniently lives across the road from the college, is also introducing a portable oven so hot food can be transferred straight into lunch boxes.

The team is also working on a special Father’s Day offering.

Faith’s family business, H&H Corporation, provides canteen management services for more than 130 canteen sites within the education sector.

While other sites are franchised, Faith loves running the Torquay canteen, which is also where her son Taj attends school.

She said giving back to the community was important to their business and 20 cents from every order was donated to the school and 20 cents from their new cockatoo and crocodile gingerbread cookies goes to The Smith Family.

“It’s been a tough time but we have never felt so much support – it’s awesome,” she said.

“We love what we do and just want to keep our kids coming through.

“Let’s hope we can get them back to school soon.”

Discover more about Torquay Remote Learning Tuckshop by joining the Facebook page or by emailing [email protected].