Food Delivery to Residence

Ordering food delivery to residence? Follow these tips to ensure your order arrives smoothly and to help reduce waste and wildlife visits.

Tips for smoother deliveries

  • Provide accurate location and delivery instructions: Include your building name, commonsblock location and any helpful landmarks when placing your order—to help your driver navigate campus more easily and get you your food quickly.
  • Always meet your driver: You must always meet your driver (either at your building or commonsblock) and pick up your food delivery immediately—to avoid attracting wildlife and pests, spoiled and wasted food, strong odours or messy spills.
  • If you have an ongoing grocery or meal subscription: Pick up deliveries promptly and remember to pause your subscription when you’re away.

Why prompt pickups matter

When food is delivered to the wrong location or left uncollected, it creates problems for everyone:

  • Mess and unpleasant odours
  • Food waste
  • Wildlife and pests (raccoons and seagulls love abandoned orders)
  • Frustrated residents and delivery drivers

Sustainability and climate

Food delivery services are convenient but come with environmental costs: 

  • Significant packaging waste
  • Carbon emissions, especially from off-campus restaurants
  • Single-use plastics and containers

Reduce your delivery orders to support UBC Student Housing’s sustainability and climate action goals. Learn more about what you can do to Live Green in residence.

Ways to reduce your impact

  • Plan ahead and stock your kitchen—keep easy meals and late-night snacks on hand so you’re not tempted to order delivery
  • Shop for groceries on campus—try the Food Hub Market, Gage Market or other on-campus stores
  • Order less frequently and combine orders with roommates when you do
  • Choose restaurants closer to campus
  • Use your residence dining hall or cook in your unit
  • Support restaurants with sustainable packaging

What we’re doing

We’re working to improve food delivery across all residence areas.

Current pilot program: We’re testing new signage and procedures at Marine Drive and Walter Gage to manage deliveries more effectively, enhance commonsblock delivery areas and help drivers more easily navigate residence complexes.

Next steps: Based on what works, we’ll expand improvements to other residence areas.