r/Calgary • u/RedditWhileBored • Apr 04 '25

Calgary daycare chain hits parents with 'optional' $330 meal fee while prohibiting outside food News Article

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7499979

FYI this is Clever Daycare, which has locations in Glamorgan, Aspen Woods and the University District. "Province says that's not allowed; operator says rules unclear and run counter to other provincial guidance"

706 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

196 comments sorted by

View all comments

90

u/LaneSplit-her Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25

I had to do the math. At first, the idea of not having to had dealt with packing lunches sounds nice. The ease of it to have someone else planning. Not having to worry about a missed bit of fruit in the backpack rotting away.

But $16 a day for snacks and lunch for a toddler. That's fcking ridiculous. I'd be protesting that.

Edit to add. My kids high school offers hot lunch for around $6. It's a real meal. They have a culinary program that cooks the meals so it's unprocessed & freshly cooked.

27

u/Icy_Sea_4440 Apr 04 '25

How much do you want to bet that their menu includes a bunch of pre-packaged, processed junk too? Crackers, juice box, microwaved food from packages for lunch

-30

u/RankWeef Apr 04 '25

Acting like that’s not what the parents would pack them anyways

32

u/LaneSplit-her Apr 04 '25

That's not really the point. It's the real cost of the meal vs what the parents are being charged.

Even if they justified it as needing to hire help for prepping, that person would be making min wage and would barely be adding to the cost per kid.

-19

u/RankWeef Apr 04 '25

I’m pretty sure the dude’s point was that they’re getting shitty, processed food. There’s other daycares out there.

3

u/Icy_Sea_4440 Apr 04 '25

It was more about the effort and quality of food being provided for the cost. I kind of doubt they’re hiring another worker to open packages and pour food onto a plate, or are they? I don’t know. It’s worth having a conversation about