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.
Meet your driver when possible—this ensures you get your food quickly and helps drivers navigate campus more easily.
Order to your commonsblock—if you can’t meet your driver, have orders delivered to your residence commonsblock rather than individual buildings.
Pick up deliveries promptly—collect your food as soon as it arrives to avoid attracting wildlife and pests, spoiled and wasted food, strong odours and messy spills.
Do you have an ongoing grocery or meal subscription? Pick up your deliveries as soon as possible.
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.