Take Your School
Lunch
Program
Online – Hot Lunch
Many schools across North America have used online
software to modernize and simplify their school lunch
program. Online systems have proven to be a more efficient
alternative to traditional school lunch management. By
eliminating cash, paper forms, and paper reports, food service
providers can work to minimize contact by utilizing an online
system to manage their school lunch program. Adopting an
online school lunch system helps schools and food service
providers more effectively manage their school lunch
program. Mundane tasks that usually take hours can be
automated, saving time and money.
Online menus help to facilitate effective communication
between schools and parents about updated food offerings.
Menus can be uploaded online for parents to access and order
from at home. These menus can include nutrition and allergy
information, making them user friendly for each household
that will access the menu. Instead of filling out paper order
forms, a school lunch software allows parents to order from
the online system or from an app. Online ordering makes it
easier for food service providers to generate reports to help
anticipate future orders.
Perfect for Parents
With an online school lunch system, parents can more
effectively order their child’s school lunch from home. Parents
can log into the school lunch system online and select their
child’s choice for school lunch from an online menu. These
online menus are designed so that they load quickly and
contain nutrition and allergy information. Visibility of
nutrition and allergy information helps parents have a more
thorough knowledge of the nutrition their child gets while they
are at school.
In a traditional school lunch program model, parents would
have to send their child to school with paper order forms and
cash for their school lunch. Now, with online school lunch
systems, parents can order and pay for their child’s lunch
ahead of time. Adopting a school lunch online system that has
an app allows for parents to order and pay for their child’s
school lunch on the go. This is helpful for busy parents and for
parents that do not have access to a computer at home. The app
interface is user friendly.
Food Service Providers Save Time
Taking school lunch programs online can help food service
providers save time on their school lunch management
process. Since all orders go through an online system, the
system can automatically generate reports to help food service
providers better anticipate how much they need to order for
the next day. These reports are entirely online and free of
human error. Food service providers can send mass emails
through the online school lunch system to those who
participate in their school lunch program. This helps them
better communicate updates to customers and request
information as needed. Many online systems can
accommodate discounted lunches, after school lunches,
fundraisers, and more. A system that accounts for different
types of lunches can allow food service providers to shift their
school lunch program entirely online. Food service providers
that manage multiple schools can use one online system,
helping them to automate and ultimately save time.
Keep Up with CDC Requirements
Implementing an online school lunch system helps schools
comply with CDC health requirements. An online school
lunch software can accommodate for classroom-based lunch
distribution models that many schools have adopted to better
maintain social distancing. By eliminating paper forms and
cash payments, the contact between food service
administrators and students are eliminated. A student can
receive their school lunch by simply stating their name or
student ID number. This efficiently cuts down on the time that
each student spends in line waiting for their lunch. Online
reporting also cuts down on the contact between staff members
when working together to plan for future orders. Today, many
organizations are adopting online models, it is time for your
school lunch program to follow suit.