Creating Menus

To access these settings for Weduc Meal Manager, first click your name in the top right.

Next, select the school name on the drop down.

Now, scroll down to the Meal Management Section.

Creating Menu Items

To start, we first need to create the items that will go on the menu. To do this, click on Menu Items.

Now, click Create in the top right.

This will give you a blank form to complete.

Title - This is the name of the menu item. Parents will see this.

Menu Course - This is the item type and will affect choices later.

Allergens - This is if there are any allergens in this item that parents should be aware of. For help setting these up, please click here.

Dietary - This is for any dietary requirements parents should be aware of. For help setting this up in advance with custom options, please click here.

Menu Type - This is the type of meal this will be. The system is default ready and set to contain Breakfast, Lunch, etc.

Colour - This is just a simple colour for this meal to show in on the menu.

Now, you can set any special VAT requirements and the price. By default, the system is set to 0% VAT as typically meals are for the students which are not charged with any VAT. 

If you need staff, for example, to also be able to pick this meal option, choose all the Staff Roles under VAT Roles.

Next, set the VAT Type.

Now, you just need to enter the price of the item.  We advise completing the VAT Exc. field. This will then apply this price for non VAT students and then add the VAT for all others selected automatically based on the VAT Type you selected previously..

Finally, you can add any custom images and attachments to this menu item by clicking the relevant option. These will be visible on the menu for parents.

Once done, click on Submit in the bottom right.

Repeat these steps for all other items before continuing further.

Creating the Meal Plan

The next step is to set up the Meal Plan. To start, click on Meal Plans on the left hand menu.

Now click Create in the top right.

You will now be given a small pop up with 2 choices.

1. Advanced Meal Plan - This is custom menus with your own, detailed items.
2. Simple Meal Plan - This is a basic Yes or No menu predefined by the system.

Simply select the one you require.

Advanced Meal Plan Your first step here will be to give your Menu a name.  Note: We advise putting the year or academic year as part of the title to save confusion at audit time. If you wish to apply predefined Meal Patterns to this menu, turn this toggle on. Now click Next. Now you will need to select what items are on this menu. To start, click on Add Menu Week. Next, click on the day you want to add items for. Click on the Menu Type that you selected when creating your items. This will then present a drop down, from here, select the Items you wish to add. Note: The order you select the items in, is the order they will appear in for parents. Repeat this for the rest of the week. If you need to add another weeks menu (for multi week menus only), click on Add Menu Week and repeat the above steps. When finished, click on Next.

Simple Meal Plan You will receive the below pop up. First, start by giving your menu a title. Note: We advise adding the year or academic year to the menu title for use later when it comes to audit time. Next, add in a daily cost for a school meal. Now select a Menu Type. Then select a Menu Course (ie. Main Course, Dessert, etc). Finally, turn this toggle on if you wish to apply student Meal Patterns to this menu. Click Next once happy.

Now you will need to assign the menu to the required dates. This is to help avoid parents accidentally booking during School Holidays, etc.

First, you will be presented with a blank calendar with the weeks menus on the left. (For Simple Meal Plans, you will see just one option).

Now, click and drag your mouse across the dates you wish to apply the menu too. For weekly menus, do this one week at a time.

Note: Do not worry about weekends, if you did not add items to Saturday or Sunday, even if you select those days here, no options will be available for parents to book.

The dates chosen will now show highlighted in blue. Now just select the menu you wish to add to these dates from the left by clicking Apply next to it.

This will now apply this menu to those dates.

Repeat the above for all weeks you wish to add the menu too, whether this be the month, term or the entire year.

Note: We advise doing this termly in case of any changes that have to be made to the menus due to stock issues, etc. You can come and add more to this later by looking at our guide for Editing a Meal Plan.

Now click Next.

Next you need to select who this Menu is for.

You only need to select EITHER a Role OR a Group, not both.

If the menu applies to all students, we advise selecting Student under Roles.

If it is for KS1, for example, select all of the KS1 groups under Groups.

For Staff Menus, select all Staff roles under Roles.

When finished, you can click View to see who has been targeted for this Menu.

From here, you can exclude specific individuals from the menu if required.

Once happy, click Next.

Now we need to set some of the background Settings for this menu.

Your first option is for if you wish parents/staff to be booking the meals themselves in advance. If you want this, turn this on. If not, skip this step.

If you enable this, you can then decide whether you want them to just view or be able to book.

Now you can choose whether you want the parent to see the predefined Meal Pattern for their child.

Next, you can select how far in advance parents are allowed to START booking their meals. This can either be X number of days in advance, or from a specific date. Set the option you wish to have.

Finally you can choose whether or not to allow parents to amend their meal choices and, if so, how close to the Meal Date they can do this. This can either be X number of days in advance or a set date.

Your next section allows you to set restrictions around the quantity of meals per day that can be ordered per parent. Turn this toggle on if you wish to do this. We do recommend this to avoid any issues of parents making duplicate bookings.

Here you can now set both a Minimum and a Maximum quantity for every order. If you want parents to only be able to book 1, set both the Minimum and Maximum to 1 as shown below.

Next you can choose whether or not to hide the cost on the menu and define this to everyone or just FSM/UIFSM students.

Finally, you can now choose whether you wish for the menu to be visible on the Weduc Register for administration purposes. This will not affect reports but will allow either yourself or the Teachers to have an element of override control to add meals for students on the day if required. Whether this is visible to an individual will be determined by their general Weduc permissions.

Firstly here, you can set a deadline for changes to be made. This can either be a set time on the Meal Day or Indefinitely.

Next, you can choose which Register you want the menu to be available on. Either AM, PM or a custom choice.

Once you are happy, click Next.

Your final screen will give you the opportunity to review the menu you have created before publishing it.

If you realise there is a mistake, click on Previous to go back and make the required changes.

Once you are happy with everything, click on Finish.

You will then get a small window asking if you wish to Save to Drafts or Publish this Meal Plan.