School tuckshops are under threat, as many south-east Queensland canteens say they're struggling to operate with rising food costs and a lack of volunteers.

Key points: School P&Cs say changing times mean some schools are being forced to close their tuckshops or adapt

School P&Cs say changing times mean some schools are being forced to close their tuckshops or adapt The school tuckshop association says its an unsurprising trend due to a lack in volunteers

The school tuckshop association says its an unsurprising trend due to a lack in volunteers Schools say if parents don't have time to volunteer there are other ways they can help, by donating food

Runcorn Heights State School on Brisbane's southside was forced to roll down its tuckshop doors earlier this year and Brisbane's Dutton Park primary school canteen has also closed.

Dutton Park P&C president Katrina Cutler said she wouldn't be surprised if more started following suit, blaming a dwindling number of parents and community members able to lend a helping hand.

"There just weren't enough volunteers to sustain a regular service and it had become a burden on a small pool to try and keep it running," Ms Cutler said.

"I can't see the pool of volunteers increasing in future. If anything, it will just decrease and more schools will have to do what we've done."

Other school tuckshops are employing staff or outsourcing operations to keep doors open. ( Facebook: Queensland Association of School Tuckshops )

P&C Queensland chief executive Kevan Goodworth said others had resorted to either reducing operating hours, employing staff, or outsourcing operations to external organisations.

"So they will bring in a private company to run the tuckshop with paid staff, with the firm keeping the profit," he said.

Which meant schools were missing out on extra income.

"So that's why some schools would just never give away their tuckshops funds, but others choose to, however, P&C's are definitely more profitable when they run their own operations," he said.

Christine Ogden from the Queensland Association of School Tuckshops said it was an unfortunate but unsurprising trend, especially amongst the smaller primary schools.

"Volunteers have become more and more scarce, while we have some tuckshops that do very well, a lot of tuckshops really struggle to get them," she said.

"It could be for a variety of reasons, it could be that both parents are working, could be lack of community engagement, there's a lot of different issues."

Working parents, busier lives

Cavendish Road State High School tuckshop convener Madonna Jardine runs a canteen for more than 1,800 students and believed the decline came down to a rise in the number of working parents.

Tuckshop convenor Madonna Jardine says more parents are working, making it harder to volunteer. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

"I think that's just how society is today," she said.

"We're all so much busier than decades ago and there are a lot more working mothers or working parents."

In recent years, the school transitioned to paying volunteers and switched to a self-service model but Ms Jardine said "without volunteers, the tuckshop would still struggle to break even".

Cavendish State High School transitioned to a self-service model. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

"We could function but we wouldn't make a profit, a lot of tuckshops don't," she said.

"All the money that the canteen raises goes back into school, so if we can keep staffing and wages down that's more money for the school to purchase what they need."

The lunchtime rush at Wellers Hill State High school. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

Carolyn Kong, who runs the Wellers Hill State School tuckshop, said rounding up volunteers had been one of the most challenging tasks in her 12 years on the job.

She often relied on grandparents or parents whose children had left the school.

"We were desperate at the end of last year so I emailed all the parents and just said to them we might have to close a day, we might have to reduce the menu or raise the prices if we don't get some help," she said.

Food prepared at the Wellers Hill State School tuckshop. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

While some busy parents may never have the option of volunteering to pack tuckshop lunches, Ms Kong said there were other ways parents could help out.

"We have one fabulous family who have been donating a box of avocados a week to us," she said.

"We had another dad who ran his own knife-sharpening business. He didn't have the time to come in and instead offered to take our knives and sharpen them for us.

"So there are all sorts of other ways that parents can creatively volunteer that can offset those costs for us.

"Last year we did 19,000 tuckshop orders, so any little bit helps."