Digital Transformation in School Lunch

Like with many businesses, schools have moved many day-to-day operations online. Lunch programs are following the same trend. Sending students to school with paper order forms and cash is no longer the most effective way to conduct a school lunch program. Many administrators have already switched to a school lunch online model. Bringing school lunch online allows both parents and foodservice providers to utilize the same online system for any school lunch needs. Most households are already used to using online systems to shop online. Bringing school lunch online seamlessly integrates school lunch into the regular cadence of online orders.

How Does it Work?

Parents can utilize the online system to browse menus. These menus are easy to load and contain nutrition and allergy information to help parents best choose the best hot lunch for their children’s specific needs. Both on the mobile app and website, parents can place orders for lunch items throughout the week and may secure credit card payments. By ordering online and ahead of time, all the students will have to do is state their name or ID number to receive their lunch once they arrive at school. Parents will not need to worry about their children misplacing cash or paper order forms, as their lunch choice will already be ready and paid for when they arrive at school.

Foodservice providers will login to the same website or mobile app to manage lunch orders. They will view orders using the site and use automatically generated reports to plan for future lunches. Managers can update menus or send notifications to parents as updates to the school lunch program arises. Reports can also be generated for accounting records and to accommodate for classroom-based distribution. Using reports for classroom-based distribution allows lunch managers to provide school lunch while maintaining social distance guidelines more effectively. Foodservice providers who manage lunch at multiple schools can utilize the same online system for all schools, simplifying their process and reducing menial tasks.

An online system can also go beyond traditional school lunch orders. It can also be used for yearbook sales, afterschool fundraisers, and more. HotLunch.com has developed their system based on decades of feedback from parents and foodservice providers. The goal is to meet the demands of school lunch providers and parents alike. Learn more by visiting hotlunch.com.