In this guide we’ll look up how to set up your Meal Definitions, these are the charges for your Meal Types. When a meal is ordered for a Student/Staff if you want it to be chargeable you will need to set up your Meal Definitions.
Please note meal charges don’t need to be set up for years Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 as the system knows they are entitled to UIFSM and will not charge automatically
Access: The minimum permissions required to access Meal Definitions can be found in the Dinner module from within Config > Setup > Roles & Permissions.
See Also: How to Setup Meal Types
Go to Config > Dinner > Meal Definitions
First, use the Meal Definition drop down to select the type of Meal Definition that you would like to update. The options are Student, Staff or Custom.
Next, select the Meal Type that wish to update from the table and click Edit.
The following box will open with 2 sections
Edit Meal Category
In the Edit Meal Category section, you’ll see 2 dropdowns.
- Category 1 – Select whether the Meal Type is School Provided or Own Provided.
- Category 2 – Select whether the Meal Type will be taken In School or Out School.
Add/Edit Meal Definition
Use this section to Add or Edit a Charge for your Meal Definition.
Charge – How much you wish to charge for the Meal Type.
Associated Groups – This allows you to select the specific Groups you wish to apply the charge to.
Note: Please only select Year Groups in the Associated Groups section, otherwise the charge may not apply correctly.
Start/End Date – Date when you want these Charges to start and end. These can be added at a later date if you wish to update and possibly increase charges in the future.
Delete – This will remove the the charge all together. If this has been used your students balances will be inaccurate afterwards. It is best you End Date the record and then create a new entry.
To save please Click the Green Tick.
IMPORTANT: If you need to update a Charge for a Meal Definition it is important that you add an End Date to the current charge and then add a new one beginning the day after. If you Edit the existing charge then it will impact the balances of any Students or Staff that have been assigned this Meal Type previously.
In the following image you can see multiple charges – this is because a different amount has been added for Year 1 and Year 2.
Close when charges are complete.