The report provides a simple, accurate summary of dinner numbers and dietary requirements, helping catering teams prepare dinners safely and efficiently.
The report can be used to:
- View expected dinner numbers.
- See dietary requirements and medical conditions that may affect food choices.
- Group information by Year Group or Tutor Group.
- Include additional student details when required.
Important Pre-requisites:
- Check Dinner Registers have been completed.
- Confirm Dinner Numbers – see How to Confirm and Save Dinner Numbers.
- For dietary requirements and allergies to appear correctly in the report, they must be recorded as Medical Conditions within Bromcom. Theses are set up using Lookup Tables see How to edit Lookup Tables.
For further guidance on the Dinner Module see here.
Access: The minimum permissions required to run the Kitchen Statistics Report are found in the Dinner Module of Config>Setup>Roles & Permissions.
From the left Menu, go to Reports>Dinner>Kitchen Statistics.
The Kitchen Statistics report offers multiple optional parameters;
- From Date and To Date – Set these to look between a specific Start and End Date
- Year Groups – If running the Report for Students, use this to Filter to a specific Year Group.
- Student Meal Types – If running the Report for Students, use this to Filter to specific Student Meal Types.
- Staff Meal Types – If running the Report for Staff, use this to Filter to specific Staff Meal Types.
Next, select whether you wish to include any Custom Meal Notes (if using Custom Meals) as well as Dietary Needs/Medical Conditions.
Select the required Medical/Dietary Condition Type from the list.
Finally, using the next set of tick boxes to do the following;
- Include Student Details and Staff Details
- Include Student and Staff Meal Choices
- Show FSM for Students
- Hide Dietary Needs/Medical Conditions for Student Details from within the Student Details area of the report.
Once you are happy with your selections, click Preview.
Below shows the report generated with Totals for each Meal Type/Group selected, along with how many of those Meals are free and paid for.
It includes any Staff Meals/Custom Meals if you are using the system for that.
The final section displays any Students that have Dietary/Medical Conditions (dependent on what Condition Type you select in the parameter screen).
Below shows the final section/pages of the report if you have selected to show Student Details and Staff Details.
Students will be sorted into their Tutor Groups in this section and their Medical/Dietary Conditions (if any) will also show here, Staff will be displayed alphabetically.
You will also see a Total of each Meal Type at the bottom of the table.
The Kitchen Statistics report shows a summary of meals taken, including:
- Total meals taken
- Paid meals
- Free School Meal (FSM)
How FSM is calculated
The FSM column counts: The number of students who are marked as FSM eligible and have been assigned any meal type during the reporting period.
Important:
- FSM is based on student eligibility only
- FSM is counted regardless of the type of meal recorded
This means FSM will increase if a student is:
- FSM eligible
- Assigned any meal type (including non-school meals)
Examples of meal types that WILL still count toward FSM:
- Packed lunch
- Home meal
- Absent
- Any other meal type
Why FSM Counts may appear incorrect
FSM counts may appear higher than expected because:
- The report does not differentiate between school meals and non-school meals
- FSM reflects who had a meal recorded, not who took a school meal
How paid meals are calculated
The Paid column counts meals where a charge applies to the student for the selected meal type.
Important update: A meal will ONLY be counted as Paid if:
- The meal type has a charge greater than £0
- AND the student is not FSM (FSM students are not counted as Paid)
Meals will NOT be counted as Paid if:
- The meal type has no charge / a charge of £0
- The student if FSM eligible
Why Paid counts may be lower than expected
You may notice fewer meals in the Paid column if:
- A meal type has no charge or £0 configured
- Certain year groups are excluded from charges e.g. Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Universal free meals.
In these cases:
- Meals still appear in Total Meals
- But will NOT appear in Paid
Getting Accurate Reporting
To analyse school meal uptake, filter your report to include only: school-provided meal types e.g. School Meal, Vegetarian, Halal.
To avoid misleading figures – exclude:
- Packed lunch
- Home meal
- Absent
- Any non-school-provided meal types
Important Notes on Meal Setup
- All meal types are treated equally in this report
- The system does not automatically exclude non-school meals
- The accuracy of the report depends on:
- How meal types are configured
- Which meal types are selected when running the report
Summary
FSM:
- Represents FSM-eligible students with any recorded meal
- Includes non-school meals
Paid:
- Represents meals with a charge greater than £0
- Excludes free meals and £0 charges
Total:
- Represents all recorded meals
- Includes everything
Important – Universal Free School Meals
Currently, the Kitchen Statistics report does not include a separate UIFSM (Universal Infant Free School Meals) category. As a result, pupils in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 are treated the same as pupils in all other year groups, with the standard Paid and FSM calculation rules being applied. This means UIFSM-eligible pupils are not identified or reported separately, so a student in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 takes a meal that would typically have a charge associated to it, that student will appear as having had a paid meal rather than a Free School Meal, unless that student has specifically been recorded as being FSM eligible on their student record in Bromcom.