Online lunch orders a snack

Finding enough volunteers to keep the canteen running is a challenge for schools of all sizes.

In devising a solution for Killarney Heights Public School, two enterprising parents have also paved the way for canteens to become more profitable and for lunch orders to be healthier, cash-free and parent friendly.

Canteen coordinator Janet Miller and commercial web developer Abder Bloul created the online School Canteen Menu Processing System, aptly shortened to SCaMPS.

A pre-pay system, it allows parents to order school lunches through the internet, view the current menu, check their account balance and make direct payments at any time.

“A healthy menu requires more hands on deck,” Mrs Miller said.

“There were some days last year when the shortage of volunteers meant the canteen would have closed if not for SCaMPS.” The system has been designed to help canteens work faster and more efficiently, reducing the number of volunteers required to produce healthy, fresh menu options.

“We used to spend the first hour or so of each day sorting lunch orders and counting money.

Now we walk straight in and start preparing the food,” Mrs Miller said.

The school implemented some “SCaMPS orders only” days last year, in response to a lack of volunteers.

“On a day when only one volunteer was available, we were still able to prepare 50 lunches before 12.15pm,” Mrs Miller said.

Killarney Heights Public principal Jessica Wiltshire said that ordering and paying for lunches online has made life easier for the school.

“It has eliminated our administration of lunch orders.

We no longer have children coming to the office in tears because something’s gone wrong and they’ve missed out on lunch,” Mrs Wiltshire said.

After two terms of operation, more than half the families at Killarney Heights Public School are ordering online, with this year’s goal set at 90 per cent.

A five-week, 50-family pilot at the school found the greater convenience of the online system resulted in increased orders.

Even Year 1 students considered the technology easy to use and children were more likely to order foods such as salads when they viewed the site’s menu photos.

Mrs Miller believes increased turnover and decreased food wastage will improve canteen profitability.

“Eventually we’d like to offer it to all schools on a subscription basis, perhaps charging families 10 cents per order.

Our priority is to help canteens run smoothly and profitably, not to take money from them.” The SCaMPS developers are currently looking for other schools to participate in trialling the system, to ensure it is easily adaptable to all canteens’ needs.

The system requires that the canteen has access to a computer with internet capability and a printer.

Schools interested in participating in the trial can contact Janet Miller, E: janet@scamps.com.au