SAND WEDGE WAR
A GOLD Coast company is pushing beach commercialisation laws to the limit with the launch of its Beach Butler service — and the council is not happy. Brad Slater and Dan Perry are offering an app where they deliver food ordered at local restaurants to beachgoers. However, a council spokesperson said the service was breaking the law.
THE beach commercialisation can of worms has been opened again after the launch of a beachbased food delivery service.
Beach Butler is an app operated service whereby beachgoers order food from local restaurants, which is then delivered on foot.
The app electronically processes the payment, meaning there is no physical cash handling.
However, Beach Butler still falls under commercial beach activity laws that forbid food vendors on beaches for litter and vehicle access safety reasons.
Beach Butler owners Brad Slater and Dan Perry said the current laws were not entirely relevant to their business.
“We understand there are laws surrounding beach commercialisation but we think there needs to be different levels within those laws,” Mr Perry said.
“We’re not building a permanent structure or tainting the beach, the commercial aspect is happening primarily through the restaurant.”
“We’re very environmentally sustainable as well,” Mr Slater said.
“We did some market research and a lot of people are concerned with the rubbish on the beach.
“So we donate per delivery to a sustainability foundation.
“The environmental element is really important to us.”
A council spokesman said: “Commercial activity such as this is illegal on our beaches so this operator would be breaking the law.”
In 2015, a Bulletin survey revealed Gold Coasters were overwhelmingly in favour of some beach commercial enterprises.
In March 2016, Mayor Tom Tate said beach food delivery would add value to the tourism industry, adding he’d like to trial the idea in Burleigh over four months.
Surfers Paradise Alliance CEO Mike Winlaw said a trial as the only way to see if beach food delivery would be problematic.
“We should be trialling and then let’s assess whether there are detrimental impacts but we have to move forward to support better services for tourism,” he said. “The littering aspect is a moot point, people can buy food and eat it on the beach. It’s the same principle.
“I don’t see any other mitigating factors that would cause concerns.”
As for Beach Butler, Mr Slater and Mr Perry said they could legally continue to operate if they met customers on the edge of the sand, however the ideal situation would be for council to reconsider the current laws to suit new-age innovation.
“Our plan b is to deliver to the edge of the sand, but we don’t want it to come to that,” Mr Perry said.