Pre-booking of meals
Customers and parents book a meal or items for a coming session, paid at once from the wallet or online. They can cancel with a full refund before the booking cut-off, and each outlet decides what happens to a booking nobody collects.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- The canteen does not know how many veg biryanis to make for tomorrow's lunch.
- Children forget their lunch money, and parents cannot pay for a meal ahead.
- Food made for people who said they would come is thrown away, and nobody pays for it.
How it works
- Tick Pre-booking on the outlet's Selling tab and choose the no-show rule on the Pre-booking tab.
- A customer or parent books on the portal or in the SmartMy Feast app. They choose the outlet, the day, the meal and how many of each item. The cashier can also book at the counter.
- The booking is paid at once, from the wallet or online, and the slip with a QR code can be printed.
- Each morning the day's list goes to those you name, such as the managers or the class teacher.
- At the counter the cashier scans the slip or the customer's card on the Bookings tab and hands over the food.
- When the session ends, a booking nobody collected follows the outlet's rule: charged, refunded, or charged in part.
Everything it does
Bookings
- For a session the outlet serves, before the session's booking cut-off (3 hours before lunch and dinner to start with)
- Paid from the wallet or a customer account; on the portal and in the app also online, or partly with loyalty points
- Prices, subsidy and taxes as at the counter for the customer type
- States: Booked, Collected, No-show (charged), Released (refunded), Cancelled
- Cancel before the cut-off: the money goes back where it came from
- Each booking has a number and a slip code in a QR code; the slip shows outlet, name, meal, day and items
No-show rule per outlet
- Charge anyway (to start with), Release (refund), or Charge a part
- No-show Charge %: 50 to start with
- Checked every hour once the session is over
Who is told
- Told of a Booking: per group of meals, the Outlet Managers, the Class Teacher (with SmartMy Campus) and any users you add
- With no line at all, the outlet managers are told for every meal
- A customer's own booking is only on the list; a booking made by someone else, such as a parent, is sent to those named
- Day's Bookings Sent at: the hour each morning the day's list goes out; 0 means not sent
- Meals Booked for a Day: a printable list per outlet and date, by class where SmartMy Campus is used
Who uses it
Customer or parentBooks, pays and cancels on the portal or in the app, and prints the slip.
CashierTakes a booking for someone at the counter and hands over booked food by scanning the slip.
Outlet managerSets the no-show rule and reads the day's list.
Class teacher or school officeGets the day's list for their class or for everyone.
Where you use it
- The diner portal: Book a meal, the slip and Cancel
- The SmartMy Feast app: Meals > Bookings (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- The SmartMy Feast Counter app: Bookings tab, to collect and to take a new booking. Needs the network. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Web: Food Service > Selling > Meals and Plans > Pre-bookings and Meals Booked for a Day; the outlet's Pre-booking tab
What you control
Settings
- Pre-booking on the outlet: off
- Booking No-show: Charge anyway; No-show Charge %: 50
- Booking cut-off per session: 10 hours for breakfast, 3 for lunch and dinner, 2 for snacks
- Day's Bookings Sent at: 0 (not sent)
Notifications
- Food Booked for a Customer: to those named on the outlet when someone else books for a customer. In the app and by email, WhatsApp and SMS from your message credits, app push once the apps are in the stores. Sent at once
- Food: Meals Booked for the Day: to the same people each morning at the outlet's hour; in the app and by email; sent at once
Works with
SmartMy CampusThe class teacher can be told of bookings, and the day's list is grouped by class (Growth).
Questions
Can a parent book lunch for tomorrow from the office?
Yes. On the portal or in the app, from the child's wallet or online. The school can be told of each booking made by a parent.What if the child is absent and does not collect it?
The outlet's rule applies when the session ends: charged in full, refunded, or charged a part such as 50 %.Until when can a booking be cancelled?
Until the session's booking cut-off. The money goes back at once.Does the kitchen see the bookings?
Yes. The day's list can be printed per outlet, and confirmed bookings count in the kitchen's forecast in Scale.Related features
PAYINGPrepaid walletEach customer has a food wallet. It is topped up at the counter or in the office, in Growth also online, and spent at every counter by scanning the card. Every change is an entry that is never edited, only reversed, and a low balance raises an alert.PORTAL AND APPSDiner web portal with online top-upStudents, staff, residents and parents open one Food page in any browser. They answer meals, vote, rate, book a meal, print its slip, see two weeks of menus and top up the wallet online.PORTAL AND APPSSmartMy Feast app for dinersThe SmartMy Feast app for iPhone and Android holds the diner's QR card for the counter. It also has today's meals to answer, two weeks of menus, the wallet, bookings with their slips, meal plans and history. Parents switch between their children.MEAL PLANNING AND ENGAGEMENTAre you eating? Headcount before the cut-offPlan members say Eating or Not eating for each meal before its cut-off, on the portal or in the app. At the cut-off the members' count is frozen, walk-ins are added from the last four weeks, and the kitchen cooks for that number.PORTAL AND APPSParents manage children's meals and limitsParents see each child's wallet, meals and bookings on the portal and in the SmartMy Feast app. They top up, book a meal, answer for the child, report allergies and set daily and weekly spending limits that the counter enforces.SET-UPOutlets, counters and meal sessionsSet up each mess, canteen, tuck shop or cafe as an outlet with its own counters, open days, meal sessions, selling methods and payment modes. Serving times and cut-offs can differ by outlet and by weekday.
See it with your own menu.
Tell us how many outlets you run and how people pay today. We will show you a day in your mess or canteen on SmartMy Feast.