Rotating menu cycles and festival days
Write a rotating menu once, for a week, a fortnight or any number of days, and the daily menus build themselves for each outlet. Mark festival menus, extra dishes and days when a meal is not served.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- The mess manager types the next week's menu every Saturday from a notebook.
- The festival dinner is announced on WhatsApp and the counter still sells the usual menu.
- On a holiday the kitchen cooks lunch for 300 because nobody marked it as closed.
- Meal plan members are charged for meals on days the mess was shut.
How it works
- Go to Food Service > Menus > Menu Cycles and create a cycle for the outlet, such as a 7-day or 14-day mess menu.
- Set Day 1 (pick a Monday for a weekly menu), the dates it is valid and the sessions it covers.
- On Items by Day, add the items of each day and session.
- Daily menus for the next 7 days are made by themselves and kept up to date. Check them under Food Service > Menus > Daily Menus and publish.
- For a festival or a holiday, add a Day Override under Food Service > Menus. Replace the menu, add or remove items, or mark the session Not served.
- The counter, the portal, the app, the menu board and the weekly menu email all read the published daily menus.
Everything it does
Menu cycles
- Cycle Length (days): 7 to start with; at least 1
- Day 1: the date the rotation starts; the cycle repeats from there
- Valid from and Valid until, optional; "valid from" cannot be after "valid until"
- Sessions: the sessions it covers; empty means the sessions in its lines
- Items by Day: day number, session and item; the day numbers run from 1 to the length
- When two cycles cover the same day and session, the first in order wins
- Publish at Once: the daily menus made from this cycle are published at once
Daily menus
- One menu per outlet, date and session, made only on open days and served sessions
- Prepared for the outlet's days ahead (7 to start with) by a daily job, and again whenever a cycle or an override changes
- Draft or Published; Publish Menus Automatically on the outlet publishes new ones by themselves
- A menu changed by hand is marked Edited by Hand and kept; Rebuild from Cycle goes back to the cycle
- Prepare Menus Now on the outlet rebuilds at once
Day overrides
- For one date, for some outlets (empty: every outlet of the Entity) and some sessions (empty: every session)
- Replace the menu, Add items, Remove items, or Not served
- Several overrides on one day are applied in turn
- A Not served day closes the meal on the daily menu with the override's name as the reason
With meal plans
- A meal plan leaves Not served days out of its meals, or, if Holidays Included is ticked, counts and credits them
Who uses it
Kitchen Manager / ChefWrites the cycles, checks and publishes the daily menus, adds festival days.
Mess manager or wardenMarks holidays as Not served so plans and the headcount follow.
Diner and parentSee the published menus on the portal and in the app.
Where you use it
- Web: Food Service > Menus > Menu Cycles, Day Overrides and Daily Menus
- The SmartMy Feast Manager app (Scale): Menus > Daily Menus and the week's menu (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- The diner portal: the menu for the next 14 days. The SmartMy Feast app: Meals > Menu. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- The menu board and order-ready screen show the published menu (Growth)
What you control
Settings
- Cycle Length: 7 days; Publish at Once: off
- Menus Prepared (days ahead): 7
- Publish Menus Automatically: off
Questions
Our mess menu repeats every two weeks. Can it run by itself?
Yes. Make a 14-day cycle with Day 1 on a Monday. The daily menus are prepared 7 days ahead and kept up to date.Can we change one day without breaking the cycle?
Yes. Change that daily menu by hand. It is kept as you left it until you press Rebuild from Cycle.How do we mark a holiday when the mess is closed?
Add a Day Override with Not served for the date and sessions. The menu shows the meal as not served, and meal plans leave it out or credit it, as each plan says.Is this in Starter?
Starter has the fixed menu per session. Rotating cycles and day overrides are in Growth.Do parents see the menu?
Yes, with Growth. Published menus are on the portal for 14 days and in the app, and the weekly menu can be emailed to members and parents.Related features
SET-UPItems with diet, allergens and combos, and a fixed menuEach item carries its diet, allergens, calories and spice level, the outlets that sell it and its category. Give each session a fixed menu, mark tea and drinks as sold all day, and strike out a dish that ran out.SELLINGMeal plans with opt-outs and creditSell a meal plan for a day, a week, a month, a term or a year, covering the sessions and weekdays you choose. A member who says "not eating" before the cut-off gets that meal back as wallet credit, a refund at the end or an extra day. Joining late is charged only for the meals left.MEAL PLANNING AND ENGAGEMENTWeekly menu email and meal messages to parentsEach week, on the day you choose, plan members and their parents get the next week's menu by email. A short note goes on WhatsApp and in the app. Where the outlet switches it on, parents also hear each time their child is served a meal.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.TABLE SERVICE AND KITCHENMenu board and order-ready screenA TV in the dining hall shows the meal's menu with prices, photos and offers. It also shows the order numbers being prepared and ready, with a chime. It opens at a secret web address or in the SmartMy Feast Display app.KITCHEN PRODUCTIONRecipes, forecasts and production plansWrite each dish as a recipe with its yield, preparation loss and cost. Each meal gets a forecast of how many will eat and what to cook. The kitchen's day becomes a production plan with the raw materials it needs. Any shortfall goes to the store in one click.
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.