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Sydney teens take over school canteen and turn it into a successful business

By Heidi Krause|

The humble school canteen has changed a lot over the years.

When Sydney teenagers Jamie Holdcroft and Daniel van Heerde discovered their Bondi canteen was forced to close after the COVID-19 lockdown last year, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

Speaking to Deb Knight on 2GB, the enterprising Reddam House students, now in Year 11, revealed how they ?poured their time, energy and money into the business venture and are now turning over a tidy profit.

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Deb Knight spoke to Sydney teens Daniel and Jamie Holdcroft who took over the school canteen when they found it shut after lockdown last year.
Deb Knight spoke to Sydney teens Daniel and Jamie Holdcroft who took over the school canteen when they found it shut after lockdown last year. (Supplied / 2GB)

"We saw why the other canteen didn't work," Jamie and Daniel explained. "It wasn't a community-based canteen. It was run by adults and there was no connection between them and the customers, so we decided to give it a go."

The 16-year-olds surveyed their peers on their preferred menus and invested about $1000 of their own money into the business.

"We did a variety of email surveys before we started up, and quizzed people about what they wanted. That had never been done before."

Another problem with previous commercial providers who had failed, is that students at the senior school are free to leave the grounds and buy food from any of the local eateries.

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Gozleme is one of their most popular items
Gozleme is one of their most popular items. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

One of the most surprising and most popular items on the new menu is the Turkish stuffed flatbread, gozleme.

"We did a lot of work to bring them in," they admit. "We buy them frozen and came up with the creative solution of a foldable toaster to ensure they are nice and crispy."

While gozleme is one of the most expensive items on the menu, setting students back $8 a pop, there are plenty of more affordable options including sausage rolls, pies, toasties and even kombucha.?

"Zooper Doopers are also very popular, but we don't serve them all the time as they are a bit unhealthy."

Meanwhile, Mango Tea proved to be a costly mistake, as it was difficult for the teens to make themselves and has since been ditched from the menu forever.

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The teens attend Reddam House school in Sydney
The teens attend Reddam House school in Sydney (Facebook)

According to the Business Studies students, their principal was initially quite sceptical about the boys' ability to successfully run the canteen.

"He's very proud of us now and very supportive... but we had to submit a lot of documents to meet health and safety standards. But he did always say, that even if we fail it's still a good business lesson. And he let us do it all ourselves."

All the profits go to the ambitious students, unless they hire other students to help out.

"We are taking what we use in the classroom? and applying it in real life," they declare proudly. "I'm really glad we could do this at our school. It's such a great community we have created."

"Our school motto is 'We shall give back' and so it's great to be able to provide a service and give back," they conclude.

"We are ?thrilled we were able to help our peers. It's win, win, win."

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