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Michigan Schools Ban Grubhub After Too Many Pizza Deliveries for Students

Plus, soul queen Patti LaBelle is getting into frozen Chinese food business, and more news to start your day

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School staff have better things to do than handle pizza deliveries

A number of Michigan schools have had to ban students from using apps like Uber Eats and Grubhub to order delivery direct to school. The Detroit Free Press writes that some schools were seeing up to 15 deliveries per day come through the doors (pizza seems to be the most popular choice), with kids whipping out excuses like “mom forgot to add money to my lunch account.”

The schools flagged multiple issues: there’s safety, given that the apps will send strangers onto school grounds, and the fact that schools are responsible for issues of food safety and allergic reactions once the food arrives. Plus, school staff generally don’t have “handling pizza deliveries” written into their job description. There’s a glaring question that hasn’t yet been answered here: Given that users generally need a credit card to make purchases on these kinds of delivery apps, what the hell kind of parents are letting their kids order ad hoc delivery to the classroom?

And in other news...

  • The Los Angeles Times launched its new food section this morning, headed up by Lucky Peach co-founder Peter Meehan. [LA Times]
  • Buffalo Wild Wings wants to get those sweet Game of Thrones cross-promotional dollars, but it apparently doesn’t want to pay the licensing fees. So, it’s releasing the definitely not GoT-themed “Dragon Fire” wings on the same day as the show’s final season premieres: definitely a total coincidence. [FoodBeast]
  • When you think of septuagenerian soul queen Patti LaBelle, do you think of pre-prepared, frozen Chinese meals? Apparently you should, since LaBelle has teamed up with the owner of Brooklyn Chop House to release exactly that. [Page Six]
  • Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos went for ice cream at Milk Bar in New York City, possibly to celebrate his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez finalizing her divorce with her estranged ex-husband. [Page Six]
  • So, uh, if salad chain Sweetgreen loves hip hop so much, why are the vast majority of its restaurants located in very white neighborhoods? [The Nation]
  • Ikea wants you to eat only the most local leafy greens alongside your plate of meatballs, as it has started growing hydroponic lettuce in shipping containers alongside some of its Swedish stores. [Fast Company]
  • Now that Burger King has started serving the meat-free Impossible Burger, thousands of people are petitioning McDonald’s to offer something similar. [Guardian]
  • Food Network star the Pioneer Woman wants to cook for more than one species: She just released her own line of dog treats. [People]
  • Event management outfit Gather just earned an investment from Danny Meyer. [BusinessWire]
  • Cook-it-at-home meal kit companies continue to struggle: Plated just laid off 10 percent of its staff. [Bloomberg]
  • Australian-style coffee chain Bluestone Lane is stepping outside of U.S. borders for the first time: It will start slinging flat whites and avocado toast in Toronto this week. [EaterWire]
  • Now that KFC has a new, computer-generated Colonel Sanders that’s making the internet horny, peruse this slideshow of all the less-hot Colonels from decades past. [NRN]

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