Category Archives: Cafeteria Software

Questions and Answers related to School Lunch Software Program for school cafeteria?

The on-going coronavirus pandemic has forced schools to make major changes in the way they operate. And one of the biggest changes that will have to be made is in their lunchroom procedures. School lunches cannot look the way they looked just a year earlier — many accommodations have to be made. Before selecting a solution for your school cafeteria, there are many questions in front of selection committee’s, and these are genuine questions, school administrators, staff must look for best feature software which will fulfil all requirement and answer all the questions..lets discuss in detail all such question and their appropriate answer with EduTrak Food Service Software. Effective and automated cafeteria management through a POS system means increased savings for schools, districts, and taxpayers. Ideal for school cafeterias, colleges and universities, hospitals and commercial building cafeterias.

Do Your Students need school lunch software in your school cafeteria?

For schools that have returned to in-person classes, no longer can students be crowded in a long lunch line while they wait to get their food. Self-service stations are no longer appropriate, and students need to maintain at least six feet of distance once they sit down to eat. Yes, Student need lunch software so that they can access hot lunch within prescribed time without any hurdle, in the covid era. School lunch software a digital tools that is safe, secure, easy-to-use, and currently available for transforming school cafeteria operations. Technology has the power to transform everything we do, especially how we work and how we learn–and it can have a tremendous impact in the school cafeteria and its functioning. It’s creating benefits for communication, accessibility, and collaboration.

Using cafeteria management System one  can benefit from integrated nutritional software solutions. Tracking, reporting, and the power of one click dashboards provide control to the entire process, and schools view status of inventory, purchases, consumption, budget allocation, and more. Parents and students are informed for menus, payments etc.,  Schools are enabled to provide truly nutritious meals students want to eat and enjoy.

How does school lunch cashier system will accept payment?

This system also provides a convenient and secure way for parents to pre-pay for their children’s meals. Similar to payment wallet like paypal or  other payment apps, parents can pre-load a debit account for school purchases, including lunches. Students need not to worry for lunch money, and parents don’t have to worry about making sure they have enough cash on hand to pay for their child’s lunch each day.The cost of the lunch is deducted from the account. Parents receive a notification to reload the account, when the account gets low, Parents can reload the lunch account from anywhere and at any time with Internet access, and schools benefit in a variety of ways, including safe and immediate electronic transfers of money, deposits, and transparent, up-to-date financial reporting. Online payments are one of the best ways to speed up the lunch ordering process.

Does School Lunch Cashier system is secured?

Students can keep their lunch money safe and secure - Students no longer need to keep track of their cash or worry about keeping it safe in their pockets and bookbags.   We appreciate to you for EPayTrak’ secure, friendly solutions can transform everything parent-payment-related in your school . Lunch Portal is secure and uses industry-standard data encryption. You are in full control of your account and can make a payment at any time that is convenient for you. Transactions are handled and processed electronically, where information and money transfers are encrypted. Our POS systems accept credit and debit cards, while others can process transactions via an account, like PayPal® or GooglePay®.  In addition to choosing a system that is flexible, you also want to choose one that’s secure. Our Lunch cashier system uses a payment processor that’s PCI compliant. Multiple Deployment Options (Cloud, VM, Server or Combo), Easy to Learn, Easy to Use, Continuously Evolving Features and Functionality.

Does School cafeteria system process lunch lines quickly?

POS systems ensure lunch lines run significantly faster, you can Eliminating long cafeteria lines by using School cafeteria system in your campus cafeteria, School Cafeteria software is designed for quickly serving lunch lines, so that student can have plenty of time for having their hot and fresh lunches. Students can grab quickly, check out, and go, without having to wait in long cafeteria lines.  students need not to wait for lunch and cafeteria staff to count crumpled-up dollar bills and loose change. 

Does lunch cashier system is cloud based?

Cloud application benefit is anywhere, anytime on any device–all you need is Internet access. Whether at a desk, on-the-go, or in the school cafeteria, students and staff can access the Cloud for all their dietary and information needs. District agents can access the data they need to compare cafeterias from any location, including school visits, direct from a phone, tablet, or laptop. Cloud-based technology is safe and secure via encryption and password management technology. Takes only minutes to install and connects securely to the cloud for automatic updates, sync and backup. Controlled access protects the security of your internal network.

Does School Lunch Cashier System support in distributing government benefits?

Our point-of-sale (POS) system speeds up meal service, anonymizes students with free or reduced lunch and streamlines cafeteria management.The school lunch software and cafeteria POS system that makes connecting administration, parents and federal programs easier. Yes, School Lunch Cashier System allows in distributing government benefits, school apply for lunch benefits and on approval schools provides government benefits for students in lunch serving. School administrators and the school board become work proactively of budgetary accounts. Automated POS systems save time and increase participation and profit.

Do i have control over the amount spent in the cafeteria?

 Parents predetermine whether a child can use the money/account for lunch (Meal) only or for lunch and ala  carte  purchases  (general).  Ala  carte  purchases  can  be  milk,  snacks,  ice  cream,  etc,  the  parent  determines  if  the  money  is  put  in  meal  or  a  general  account.  An  account  balance  and  record  of  money  submitted and spent can be obtained easily. Computerized point-of-sale (POS) machine software that allows parents to place restrictions on their child’s school meal accounts is available. Parents could restrict specific foods (eg, chips), identify specific days the child can purchase extra foods, or set monetary limits. This descriptive study examines the use of parental restrictions on student cafeteria POS accounts in a convenience.

Do we need server for Lunch cashier system?

Simplify food service with a fast, powerful and secure POS system that supports contactless check-outs and has everything your school needs to run your cafeteria. EduTrak have bot options server based and cloud based, schools can access software on web browser and need not to install any other software. School can access it on mobile, IPAD, desktop, laptop or POS.

Do we have to buy additional hardware with school lunch software?

No, You need not to buy any additional hardware, you can use it on desktop or laptop, if you want to run it on POS then only you have to but a POS device.

Do you want to manage meal programs at multiple schools from single account?

Managers can easily administer multiple schools or campuses from a central portal. We have integration with powerschool and you can easily integrate with any SIS, so you can easily manage multiple district schools, or schools from single account.

Do you want your school student’s Parents can pay for all children from single account?

When you implement a school lunch ordering system, parents can access their child’s account through an online portal. Parents can pay for all kids in a single account . This online portal makes it easier and more convenient for everyone involved. And it’s easy to add money to their child’s online lunch account. Plus, they can set up automatic payment reminders when the account balance gets low.

Can Parents monitor student accounts?

Once kids are in school, many parents start to feel like they don’t really know what’s going on. That’s why one of the biggest benefits of a school lunch ordering system is the added transparency it provides parents. Parents can log into the online portal and quickly see what kinds of meals their child is eating on a daily basis. They can also access a list of their transaction history, and add spending limits to their child’s account.

Plus, many kids have dietary restrictions due to allergies and cultural or religious preferences. Pa

What are the advantages of this system?

The  major  advantage  for  the  parents  is  that  they  can  deposit  money  in  their  child’s  account,  in  any  amount,  ahead  of  time  and  not  have  to  be  concerned  with  the  hassle  of  coming  up  with  the  correct  change each morning. They can also rest assured that the money they send to the cafeteria is used only for purchasing food. A student does not have to have any cash with them to enjoy all the selections in the lunch program; they just need a balance in their debit account. The account is only debited when meals and/or snack food items are purchased. Remaining balances will be carried forward to the following year. For the students, the cafeteria line moves faster if all the meals are prepaid. This gives the students more time to enjoy their meal

We believe we have created the ultimate school cafeteria software package and we would be happy to offer you a free demonstration of the features and benefits our system has to offer school districts of all sizes.

Advantage of Cafeteria Management software in Your School

In the covid era schools are facing difficulty in managing staff, distributing benefits and helping students in learning. Manual processing is very difficult these days. Technological innovations have entirely redesigned the administrations by making their business processes highly integrated, and more modernized. These developments have eased School in running their tasks smoothly and performing well than ever before. School lunch software program are widely accepted and running in most of America’s Schools.

School are accepting and adopting software for each and every operations in schools, so why not for School Cafeteria? There is no difference in the cafeteria management software as well. There are some key basics of managing the cafeteria such as ordering, menu management, shift management, billing, etc.  If you are not having an automatic system to manage your cafeteria you have to deal with the manual work for all of these tasks.

Doing these task manually involves lots of time and less accuracy also involves more employees in the process. Manual work is tremendously time-consuming, and it it cost ever month on school billing, while once you adopt school lunch pos system, it cost you once a year for license cost with support for whole year . All these things become a hassle for organizations. In this scenario, the Cafeteria Management software can do a favor. 

Lunch cashier System provides one stop integrated solution to manage school meal programs. Wordware school cafeteria system benefits charter and private schools of all sizes from prep level to senior high school and beyond. Our school lunch systems can be used by School districts, Charter schools, Private schools or Caterers.  All schools face a variety of challenges relating to the organized administration of everything from menu planning to lunch distribution, lunch billing, payment collection, reporting, and effective communication between administrators,  students, and parents.

Wordware, Inc., is proud to offer what we truly believe to be the best school cafeteria management software available in Minnesota and throughout the United States. Our incredibly cost effective and user-friendly system offers wide-reaching capabilities to menu designing, fast serving lines and easy and secure payment processing, one click payment portal, report to parents and state facilities.

Wordware, Inc., Lunch cashier System for school cafeteria was created by a team of experienced professionals, offering insight into what is needed for a streamlined and comprehensive approach to operating a school.We provides free demo for school lunch pos system so that you can know all about process and modules in school lunch pos system.

School lunch program software facilitates end-to-end process including, school cafeteria sales,  Free & Reduced eligibility applications across all states, schools have flexibility around menus and payments. Lunch Cashier System for school meal management in cafeterias can also be integrated with all popular SIS platforms for unified data updates.

Wordware Lunch Cashier System one of your single-source Nutrition Services solution for school’s Nutrition Services Department. It is not easy task of cafeteria payment collection, it takes several hardware components and software modules working together to get the job done efficiently and accurately, Wordware provides the same with server based and cloud based option for your school’s Nutrition Services Department as economic option to automate your school cafeteria section.

Schools can run our system on any smart device like, ipad, android tablet, POS, computer or laptop which have browser running. With the cloud, you can access your program anywhere there’s an internet connection.

Let’s understand the basics of computerized functionalities of Cafeteria Management Solution for all the handling. 

Free and Reduced eligibility applications – Manage Free & Reduced meal application eligibility process. Fully automated audit reports for State.

Menu Management – Schools can Manage menus online using school lunch software, Schedule menu publishing, notifications & cutoff dates. Edit menu as needed.

Order Management – Collect & submit meal orders to food provider. Manage menu change notifications.

Payments & Meal Distribution – Accept secure payments online. Mobile app to manage lunch balances.

Automated Reports – Extensive reports including Eligibility, Orders, Payments, Lunch transactions, Audit etc.

For Caterers

Schools Management – Link multiple school accounts to single caterer account

Menu Management – Manage menus for multiple schools

Dashboard and Reporting – Extensive reports to facilitate orders across multiple schools

Demand and Forecast – Forecast meal demand on a weekly or monthly basis

Payments – Accept secure payments online

For Parents

Manage Student Profiles – Manage multiple students from a single secured dashboard. Easy secured login.

View and submit meal orders – Submit meal orders from any device. Manage food allergies.

Payments & Balances – Pay online and view available balances. Receive low balance notifications

Receive Notifications – Receive notifications from school for Menu upload & Menu changes, Cutoff times etc.

Eligibility Application – Check and apply for free and reduced lunch eligibility

For the smooth execution of all the above operations, you will need a best  school cafeteria software management software that is responsive, takes care of your data security and makes all your work simpler. School lunch software easily collect payment in online mode from multiple sources, like internetbabnking, credit cards or debit cards.

Lunch Cashier System is a cloud-based system that will be the best for your cafeteria regardless of the type and size of the cafeteria. LCS1000 is one of the best school food service management software in America. If you are looking for a free demo of school lunch software Contact us for more information.  Our support rep was very detailed and very pleasant. At the start of school she is just the person you need on the other end of the phone. Thank you!

Cafeteria POS: Your Schools Need Point of Sale Systems, Wordware’s LCS 1000 Mayflower is best choice.

“Do you need a POS system for your cafeteria?”

This is a question many school administrators have asked recently as they review their technology budgets. The answer to the question is probably “yes,” because school cafeteria POS systems offer a variety of advantages not afforded by traditional electronic cash registers. Let’s take a look at some of these benefits.

 Cafeteria POS systems speed up service

Students at K-12 schools typically have a very short window of time in which to purchase and eat their lunch, while those enrolled at colleges and universities are often on tight schedules between classes. With such features as custom screen layouts, quick card processing (“smart cards” for K-12 students and meal cards and/or credit and debit cards at the secondary level), and packaged commands, school cafeteria POS systems keep lines moving, ensuring that students consistently enjoy as much time as possible to consume their food.

Cafeteria POS systems improve inventory management

Cafeterias cater to hundreds or even thousands of students daily, meaning that they must manage a very sizeable inventory of perishable and non-perishable food and beverage items. They must ensure that they have sufficient quantities of ingredients and food on hand at all times, and that these items haven’t expired. Some schools must also follow federal guidelines that dictate which items they can and cannot serve, and to whom.

A cafeteria POS system with an inventory management module makes it easier for schools to rise to these challenges. Cafeteria administrators and other appropriate personnel can calculate food costs by recipe and, through usage reports, get a firm handle on inventory in stock. This permits shortages and overages to be addressed proactively, eliminating waste and ensuring that food is used by its expiration date.

The inventory management component of the cafeteria POS system can also be programmed to generate orders only when item levels have been depleted to a certain threshold, and to prevent the processing of orders that don’t meet certain parameters. Consequently, cafeterias are assured of having the right quantities of the right ingredients at the appropriate time. Waste is minimized, and adherence to all purchasing guidelines becomes the norm.

Cafeteria POS systems make for happier parents and students

Busy parents can forget to give their children lunch money. Occasionally, they can even find themselves ready to send their children to school, only to discover that they have no cash for lunch. By contrast, in schools with cafeteria POS systems, parents can simply load money onto students’ prepaid cards once a month (or in some districts, once a week). Parents are happy because there is no need to scramble for coins and bills every day, and children are happy because they no longer need to skip lunch or borrow money from a friend.

Additionally, some cafeteria POS systems give parents an extra measure of control over which food items their children can and cannot buy in the school cafeteria. In these cases, student profiles are maintained in a database and, because of an interface with the POS, cashiers cannot process the purchase of any item a parent has deemed “forbidden.” This system allows parents to do payment for the entire family through one student.  Wordare, Inc. provides e-Funds For Schools to allow families to choose a couple of different online payment options for student lunch accounts. Parents may choose to have payments automatically withdrawn electronically from your checking account or charged to your credit card. There is a convenience fee for using this program.

 

The benefits of cafeteria POS systems far outweigh the initial cost, making them a worthwhile investment for any school, K-12 or secondary.

Why do I need a LCS account?

Our easy to use features make managing your family’s school lunch accounts easy! Don’t have a family account yet?

Create a free account for your family today to take advantage of our online services.

Click here to begin our quick and easy registration

Why do I need a LCS account?

Our easy to use features make managing your family’s school lunch accounts easy!

And more!

 

About Wordware

Wordware, Inc., founded in 1983 and headquartered in Mendota Heights, MN, provides software applications for cafeteria business. Wordware’s  LCS mayflower system is expandable to concessions, school store and could be integrated with Student information system, which makes perfect advance solution for your school. Wordware Inc, Lunch payment system is a simple and secure way for schools to connect, transact and manage all their school payments solutions. POS system that will simplify order-taking, offer detailed sales and inventory tracking, and make managing your employees and customers a breeze.

Wordware partner with Efunds, Convenient Payments, EduTrak Software, FEEZEE For Schools accepts payments at any time for unlimited school services from multiple payment platforms. The convenience and flexibility of e-Funds For Schools will help to eliminate last minute check writing hassles and improve efficiencies with your student lunch account. Plus, you will no longer need to worry that your children could lose or forget the money intended for deposit in the school lunch program.

Contact
 Us.

Corporate Headquarters:
Wordware, Inc. 2526 Northland Dr:
Mendota Heights, MN 55120;
Email: sales@wordwareinc.com
www.wordwareinc.com
call us at (800) 955-2649

Segregated Charter Schools Evoke Separate But Equal Era in U.S.

John Hechinger
December 22, 2011 — 10:31 AM IST
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Hmong Charter School
Students run under a mural depicting ancient Hmong leader Chi You and the Hmong flight from Vietnam during gym class at the Hmong College Prep Academy on Dec. 14, 2011 in St Paul, Minn. Photographer: Craig Lassig/Bloomberg
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At Dugsi Academy, a public school in St. Paul, Minnesota, girls wearing traditional Muslim headscarves and flowing ankle-length skirts study Arabic and Somali. The charter school educates “East African children in the Twin Cities,” its website says. Every student is black.

At Twin Cities German Immersion School, another St. Paul charter, children gather under a map of “Deutschland,” study with interns from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and learn to dance the waltz. Ninety percent of its students are white.

Six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down “separate but equal” schools for blacks and whites, segregation is growing because of charter schools, privately run public schools that educate 1.8 million U.S. children. While charter-school leaders say programs targeting ethnic groups enrich education, they are isolating low-achievers and damaging diversity, said Myron Orfield, a lawyer and demographer.

“It feels like the Deep South in the days of Jim Crow segregation,” said Orfield, who directs the University of Minnesota Law School’s Institute on Race & Poverty. “When you see an all-white school and an all-black school in the same neighborhood in this day and age, it’s shocking.”

Charter schools are more segregated than traditional public schools, according to a 2010 report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. Researchers studied 40 states, the District of Columbia, and 39 metropolitan areas. In particular, higher percentages of charter-school students attend what the report called “racially isolated” schools, where 90 percent or more students are from disadvantaged minority groups.
Charter-School Birthplace

In Minnesota, the birthplace of the U.S. charter-school movement, the divide is more than black and white.

St. Paul’s Hmong College Prep Academy, 99 percent Asian-American in the past school year, immerses students “in the rich heritage that defines Hmong culture.” Its Academia Cesar Chavez School — 93 percent Hispanic — promises bilingual education “by advocating Latino cultural values in an environment of familia and community.” Minneapolis’s Four Directions Charter School, 94 percent Native American, black and Hispanic, promotes “lifelong learning for American Indian students.”

Charter schools, which select children through lotteries, are open to all who apply, said Abdulkadir Osman, Dugsi’s executive director.

“Some people call it segregation,” Osman said. “This is the parent’s choice. They can go anywhere they want. We are offering families something unique.”
Nobody ‘Forced’

That’s a “significant difference” between Minnesota charters and segregated schools in the 1950s South, said Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at Macalester College in St. Paul.

“Nobody is being forced to go to these schools,” said Nathan, who helped write Minnesota’s 1991 charter-school law.

Ever since Horace Mann crusaded for free universal education in the 19th century, public schools have been hailed as the U.S. institutions that bring together people of disparate backgrounds.

The atomization of charter schools coincides with growing U.S. diversity. Americans of other races will outnumber whites by 2042, the Census Bureau projects.

Even after a divided Supreme Court in 2007 ruled that schools couldn’t consider race in making pupil assignments to integrate schools, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy urged districts to find other ways to fight “de facto resegregation” and “racial isolation.”

“The nation’s schools strive to teach that our strength comes from people of different races, creeds, and cultures uniting in commitment to the freedom of all,” Kennedy wrote.
Diverse Workplaces

Citing Kennedy’s words, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder this month called for schools — including charters — to combat growing segregation.

Along with breeding “educational inequity,” racially-divided schools deny children the experiences they need to succeed in an increasingly diverse workplace, Duncan said in announcing voluntary guidelines for schools.

Charter schools may specialize in serving a single culture as long as they have open admissions, and there’s no evidence of discrimination, said Russlynn Ali, assistant education secretary for civil rights.

The education department is encouraging charter schools to promote diversity. Charters could expand recruiting and consider lotteries that give extra weight to disadvantaged groups, such as families living in low-income neighborhoods or children who speak English as a second language, Ali said in a phone interview.
Immigrant Magnet

Minnesota, 85 percent white, is a case study of the nation’s growing diversity. Since the 1970s, Minneapolis and St. Paul have become a magnet for Hmong refugees, who fought alongside Americans in the Vietnam War. In the 1990s, Somalis sought refuge from civil war.

St. Paul, where the nation’s first charter school opened in 1992, is 16 percent black, 10 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Asian-American, according to the U.S Census Bureau.

Charter schools should be similarly diverse, recommended a 1988 report that provided the groundwork for Minnesota’s charter-school law.

“We envision the creation of schools which, by design, would invite a dynamic mix of students by race and ability levels,” the Citizens League, a St. Paul-based nonprofit public-policy group, wrote in the report.
‘Great Failure’

Instead, in the 2009-2010 school year, three quarters of the Minneapolis and St. Paul region’s 127 charter schools were “highly segregated,” according to the University of Minnesota Law School’s race institute. Forty-four percent of schools were 80 percent or more non-white, and 32 percent, mostly white.

“It’s been a great failure that the most segregated schools in Minnesota are charter schools,” said Mindy Greiling, a state representative who lobbied for the charter-school law when she was a member of a suburban school board in the 1980s. “It breaks my heart.”

Segregation is typical nationwide. Seventy percent of black charter-school students across the country attended “racially isolated” schools, twice as many as the share in traditional public schools, according to the report from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

Half of all Latino charter-school students went to these intensely segregated schools, the study found. In the West and the South, the two most racially diverse regions of the country, “charters serve as havens for white flight from public schools,” the report said.
Hmong Roots

They also serve as havens for minority students who need extra help, said leaders of Minnesota charter schools.

Christianna Hang, founder of Hmong College Prep Academy, said she designed the school so children, mostly first-generation Americans, didn’t feel adrift in public schools as she did when she arrived in the U.S. in 1980.

In the Hmong academy’s central hallway, a tapestry depicts families living in Laos, fleeing the Vietnam War and arriving in America. The school’s roughly 700 students, in grades kindergarten through 12th grade, learn Hmong.

“I came here for my parents as much as for me,” said Mai Chee Xiong, a 17-year-old senior. “I was very Americanized. I wanted to be able to speak with them in our language, and I wanted to understand my roots.”

In the 2009-2010 school year, 26 percent of Hmong Academy students met or exceeded standards on state math exams, while 30 percent did so in reading. About half passed those tests in the St. Paul Public School District.
Harvard Banners

To raise expectations, classrooms adopt colleges, hanging banners from Harvard University, Yale University and Dartmouth College over their doors.

“If we don’t do something to help these kids, they will get lost,” Hang said. “If they drop out of school, they will never become productive citizens, and there’s no way they will achieve the American dream.”

Dugsi Academy, the school for East Africans, and Twin Cities German Immersion School make for some of St. Paul’s sharpest contrasts.

Until this school year, the two schools were neighbors, across a busy commercial thoroughfare in a racially diverse neighborhood. At different times of the day, the kids used a city playground in front of the German school for recess. Dugsi has since moved three miles away, across a highway from the Hmong academy.

The German Immersion School is a bright, airy former factory with exposed brick and high ceilings.
Fluent German

“Eva, was ist das?” kindergarten teacher Elena Heindl asked one morning earlier this month as she pointed a red flashlight to letters, eliciting the name of each one in German.

To succeed at the school, students must be fluent in German to enroll, unless they enter before second or third grade, Julie Elias, a parent, told prospective families on a tour this month.

“You can’t just move into the neighborhood if you want to go to our school,” Elias said. The school is legally required to take anyone picked in its lottery, though it counsels parents against enrolling in older grades without German knowledge, said Annika Fjelstad, its director.

The school, which includes many families with one parent who speaks German or that have German relatives, holds special events at the Germanic-American Institute in a $1.3 million St. Paul house with a ballroom. Children like to call the institute “our school’s mansion,” said Chris Weimholt, another parent giving the tour.
No Buses

In the 2009-2010 school year, 87 percent of children at the German school passed state math tests and 84 percent did so in reading, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. Fifteen percent qualify for the federal free or reduced lunch program, compared with 71 percent in St. Paul. The school doesn’t offer bus transportation, so most parents drive, often carpooling, Elias said.

The language requirement and lack of transportation prevents poor families from attending, said Greiling, the state legislator, who has toured the school.

“A regular public school could never have that kind of bar,” she said. “It seems an odd thing that this would be legal.”

The German program doesn’t have buses because they would cost $100,000 a year, too heavy a burden for an expanding school of 274 that wants to maintain classes of 20 students, Fjelstad said. An immersion school can’t take kids who aren’t fluent after early grades, she said.

In February, the school formed an “inclusivity” task force to find ways to make the school more reflective of the community, Fjelstad said. The school will try to improve recruiting through its relationship with community organizations, such as a neighboring YMCA, she said.
International View

The school offers a different kind of diversity, said Weimholt, a nurse whose grandfather emigrated from Germany after World War I. “It doesn’t look diverse by skin color. But families straddle two different continents. The school truly has an international perspective.”

So does Dugsi Academy. Children learn Arabic and Somali along with English and traditional academic subjects. A caller last month heard no English on a school voice mail.

One morning in late November, a sixth-grade social-studies class discussed immigration with 28-year-old Khaleefah Abdallah, who himself fled Somalia 12 years ago. The boys wore jeans and sweatshirts. The girls sported hijabs, or traditional Muslim head coverings with skirts or long pants.
‘Melting Pot’

Abdallah asked his class about the idea of the American “melting pot:” immigrants assimilating into U.S. culture. He suggested another metaphor, a “salad bowl,” where people from different backgrounds mix while retaining their own identity.

“I agree with the salad bowl,” Fadumo Ahmed, 12, dressed in a black hijab and sneakers with pink laces, told the class. “We all come from different places, but we still want to keep our culture.”

Students shared stories of the challenge of co-existing in mainstream America.

Ahmed Hassan, 12, complained about a boy on a city playground who made fun of the long traditional robe he wore one Friday.

“He told me it looked like a skirt,” Hassan said. Abdallah told the class that, under the U.S. constitution, Americans have the freedom to express themselves through their clothing.
Test Scores

Dugsi, a low-slung red-brick building in an office park, has about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Almost all qualify for federal free or reduced lunches, according to the state. Only 19 percent passed state math exams in the 2009-2010 school year, while 40 percent did so in reading.

The school’s test scores reflect families’ backgrounds. said Osman, the Dugsi director and a former employee of the U.S. Embassy in Somalia, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1993. Parents work as cab drivers, nurses and grocers, Osman said. Many had no formal schooling.

It would be better if one day Somali students could go to school with children from other backgrounds, Osman said.

“That’s the beauty of America — Latinos, Caucasians, African-Americans and Native Americans, all together in the same building, eating lunch and in the same classrooms,” Osman said. “It would be something wonderful. That’s what I’m thinking of for my own kids and grandchildren.”

Food Processors and Ingredient Suppliers Study School Lunch Programs for Innovative Ideas

Processors and ingredient suppliers need to collaborate in creating meals that are nutritious and desirable for this picky and often overweight demographic.

By Mark Anthony, Ph.D., Technical Editor

School lunch nutrition programs come in as many forms and approaches as there are school districts. But one constant is that budgets are always tight. However, processors who participate in the efforts to better feed our children can find satisfaction in not only doing the right thing but in creating products for a significantly large demographic. Case in point: The New York school system alone serves more than 1 million meals per day.

“Schools meals are expected to be universally acceptable to all students, so we have push back from both ends of the spectrum,” says Twyla Leigh, nutritionist for Collier County Public Schools in Naples, Fla. “They’re either ‘too healthy’ or not organic/vegan/scratch-cooking enough.”

Leigh admits school nutrition professionals realize that “one size does not fit all” and continue to seek out manufacturers of better tasting, healthy options, even as they are “challenged with labor issues, food safety concerns and balanced budgets.”

“School nutrition programs are expected to be self-supporting, paying for all food, labor, uniforms, equipment, water, electricity, gas, trash pick-up, payroll and human resource services.”

That according to Leigh and colleagues Terri Whitacre, director of school food and nutrition services for the Charlotte County Public School System in Punta Gorda, Fla., and Stacey Wykoski, foodservice director for the Jenison/Hudsonville School Food Service group in Jenison, Mich.

The three provide recommendations that manufacturers “should avoid MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, nitrates and items that are known to be issues in the food supply.” They also believe that GMOs are going to be a “big topic” moving forward. “Manufacturers also need to take the lead in better food labels: sugar listed on a label should refer to added sugars, not natural and added combined,” they note.

Food allergens also will become more challenging with the increase in children who have food intolerances or allergies, says Leigh. “Gluten and peanuts are big issues with school-age children. Being involved with national ingredient and food label access, even with scanners and a more usable way to obtain this information, to link it to the school menus would be a huge victory for manufacturers, school nutrition and the children.”

Waste not

There are huge challenges facing any program designed to feed wholesome, desirable meals five days per week to hundreds of kids at a time in three or more 30 minute blocs around the noon hour. The biggest, perhaps, is an endless schoolyard tug-of-war between the cost of production and the staggering cost of plate waste.

Infinity Retail Café Renovation and Expansion at Aurora Medical Center Kenosha in Kenosha, Wis.

A small linear retail location barely met the needs of visitors and staff at Aurora Medical Center Kenosha for many years. But an ever-expanding outpatient population paired with the hospital’s expansion to 73 inpatient beds eventually rendered the existing space insufficient.

Aurora-Kenosha-Cafeteria-and-Servery-1The mobile cash register station can be moved to the end of the hot food station. This allows the entire retail area to remain open and staffed with one person during weekends and evenings when transactions are low. Photo courtesy of Zimmerman Architectural Studios, Milwaukee, Wis.“The café was outdated, selections were limited due to café design and equipment necessity, customer flow was congested and café seating was limited,” says Bruce Parker, system retail and catering manager, Aurora System food and nutrition services. “We wanted a café with a fresh new look and to expand the space to disperse retail customers more evenly. And we wanted to create a retail experience that would help drive higher revenues and increase customer satisfaction.”

Finding the space to expand and meet goals of what was named Infinity Café proved challenging for the project team. “The coffee shop had a linear shape with only one service line, and back access only to bakery and cold cases,” says Christine Guyott, FCSI, RD, principal at Robert Rippe & Associates, the project’s foodservice design consultant. “Therefore, the space didn’t allow staff to change to self-serve options in low-volume traffic periods. Additional space was critically needed to make this into a right-size retail café.”

However, the project could not add any additional space to the building, so the design team used a former seating space to enlarge the servery to 1,235 square feet. The café also includes a 1,500-square-foot seating area that can accommodate 88 people. A corridor divides the seating area in half, yet allows natural light to penetrate into both areas. A new café feature is a private dining room.

Five Stations and Versatile Equipment

Aurora-Kenosha-Cafeteria-and-Servery-2Creative planning, such as shaping the salad bar to fit in a limited amount of space, opens up space for multiple menu options. Photo courtesy of Zimmerman Architectural StudiosThe larger space allows for increased and better traffic flow, giving customers much more room to see menu options, which also increased substantially. For example, a grill station with a flattop features a new gourmet burger concept called Hungry Burgers as well as daily specials. The entrée station contains an exhibition action station featuring healthy entrées and salads made to order.

Another popular new feature, the display cooking station, necessitated adding an exhaust hood onto the existing building. “This was the biggest challenge so we added it toward the back where it could be the most easily accommodated,” Guyott says.

A new sub concept named First Edition Grinders adds to menu items available in a deli area that also features specials made to order. Naan Za, a new gourmet pizza concept, features naan pizza crust with a variety of toppings.

The hot food and deli stations back up to the kitchen. The positioning allows staff to easily replenish the stations’ food items via a pass-through hot/cold unit from the adjacent kitchen. Refrigeration sits beneath the grill, flattop and charbroiler providing staff with easy access to ingredients during production. Refrigerated prep tables at the hot station and sandwich station also contribute to staff easily moving cold food prep from the kitchen into this space during down times.

Aurora medical center dining-RoomCustomers can choose among 88 dining seats, including single countertop seats overlooking the exterior courtyard, 2-tops for more privacy, banquettes of 2 or 4 for flexibility, a large table for group settings and several 4-tops. Photo courtesy of Aurora Medical Center Kenosha; photography by Bruce ParkerStaff working at the hot food and deli stations use high speed ovens as an alternative to fryers, versatile hot and cold wells, pass-through hot/cold units, open-air merchandising units, shaped steam pan inserts and serving casserole pans.

“Space was still limited so there was a focus on the use of lineal countertop space for merchandising,” Guyott says. “We designed a uniquely shaped salad bar that customers access for salad on the front side and snacks on the back side.” Customers can select from 40 rotating and occasionally themed menu items at the salad bar, which contains color-coated aluminum inserts.

The café also features a dessert station and cold and hot beverages.

Another labor-saving solution puts the cash register station on wheels so staff can move it to the end of the hot food station. “This allows the entire retail area to remain open and staffed with one person during weekends and evenings when transactions are low,” Guyott says.

The renovation generated a 33 percent increase in retail revenue during the past year. “Traffic is up in part by the addition of a new cashless employee-debit system and the acceptance of credit card transactions in the café,” Parker says. With the realization that staffing resources will continue to be crucial to support the new café, he adds, “This renovation project demonstrates that with sound planning and great project partners, an investment like this is bound to pay dividends both in increased revenue and customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

Facts of Note

  • Size of Hospital: 73 beds
  • Daily retail meal transactions: 360 average; up to 450 peak
  • Average check: $4.14
  • Hours of operation: 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday
  • Staffing: 2 until 10:30 a.m.; 3 from 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.; 4 for lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.; 3 until 2:30 p.m.; 2 until 3 p.m.; and 1 from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
  • Website: www.aurorahealthcare.org

Innovators

  • At Aurora Kenosha: Lisa Schairer, director of support services; Bruce Parker, corporate retail and catering manager, Aurora System food and nutrition service; Margaret Muske, site leader
  • Foodservice design: Robert Rippe & Associates, Minneapolis; Christine Guyott, FCSI, RD, principal; Joy Enge, RD, senior equipment specialist; and Amy Fick, senior project manager.
  • Architect: Zimmerman Architectural Studios, Milwaukee
  • Equipment dealer: Boelter Companies, Milwaukee

New Jersey School Breakfast and Lunch Program

Program Description

The School Breakfast Program (SBP) provides cash assistance to states to operate nonprofit breakfast programs in schools and residential childcare institutions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition service administers the SBP at the Federal level. State education agencies administer the SBP at the state level, and local school food authorities operate the program in schools.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day.

General Program Requirements

For this benefit program, you must be a resident of the state of New Jersey.

Income eligibility guidelines are used to determine eligibility for free and reduced priced meals or free milk.

If you are earning at or below current Income Eligibility Guidelines, we encourage you to contact your school to fill out a school meal application. The school or local education agency will process your application and issue an eligibility determination.

If you are receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, your child automatically qualifies for free school meals. If you are eligible for unemployment compensation, you might also be eligible for free or reduced price school meals.

Because many programs offer services to families that may qualify them under other local criteria, we strongly recommend you contact the program in your community for more information and guidance.

Your Next Steps

The following information will lead you to the next steps to apply for this program.

Application Process

Schools send school meal applications home at the beginning of each school year. However, you may apply for school meals at any time throughout the school year by submitting a household application directly to your school. Your school will provide you with an application upon request.

Contact your state’s agency to participate.

Program Contact Information

For additional information, please visit the New Jersey School Nutrition Programs page.
Or visit the following websites:
USDA’s National School Breakfast Program
USDA’s School Lunch Program

 

Wordware’s Cafeteria Accounting Software will Increase Your Revenue & Reduce Operating Cost

Every business requires utmost management skills Cafeteria sector also. From managing the reservations, to allotting tables to customers, manage wait list , to keeping eye on timely delivery of orders, each aspect needs to be managed up to perfection. There will be major customer dissatisfaction in any kind of delay or not proper service. A simple way to avoid such errors is to use a Cafeteria Accounting Software.

There are so many service provider in the field of food industry who provides Cafeteria Accounting Software. We have partner with various top industry leaders like FEE ZEEAffinety Solutions, EduTrak Software, rSchool Today, Efunds, and Convenient Payments.

These softwares have been in the market for quite long time. Cafeteria owners hesitated in adopting new technologies; however, with time they could understand that such software can increase efficiency and the output on efforts few years ago. Billing, food reservations, order handling and delivery to the food, all these are now handled by the software systems.

However, good Cafeteria Accounting Software like Lunch Cashier System, go much beyond the operation management functionalities and provide in-depth data & reports for the top management. Below are 7 features that can help you increase your organization’s profitability and become the catalyst for its growth.

  1. Web Based Solutions- All of our solutions are web based or have a web based option. This makes the LCS line of products usable on virtually any HTML5 capable device. You do not need to worry about troublesome installations or user access problems. LCS runs on MAC, Windows, Linux, Android and old and new equipment. Depending on your deployments selections, you may be able to run the system from home.
  1. Forecasting with Quick and Easy setup. No program installations required! – As Cafeteria sales depend on many external factors like weekends, school exams, weather conditions and even sporting events, it becomes increasing important to forecast the sales. Automated forecasts produced every week/month along with charts in the software would show your progress, real time history, sales progress and multiple department forecasts.
  1. a)       The LCS 1000 can be setup after breakfast and it will be ready to serve before lunch! That’s the efficiency that this new appliance has to offer to your institution.
  1. b)       We have removed the need to install or transfer data from one office computer to another. No more time spent transferring programs from an old computer to a new one. No time consuming installations. No more problems with compatibility from one version of a Windows to another.
  1. c)       This box plugs into your network and is set up like any other server, then it is ready to go. No further involvement from a school technician is required. Wordware’s friendly technical support staff will take over answering all questions and concerns, plus addressing the initial importing of the schools current information into the new system. You will lose absolutely no data and the process takes only minutes.
  1. d)       No servers set up in your school? That’s just fine! The LCS 1000 works in a normal server environment, or can just be staged in the cafeteria alone, connected to one computer that wants to do it all, or as many computers as you need to get it all done. The perfect answer for any school, large or small.
  1. Automated Backups – “Valuable” doesn’t even begin to describe your lunch accounting information, and losing any of it is not an option. With this in mind, we are including the peace of mind that only automatic backups can bring and then taking it a step further. Not only will the LCS 1000 back up it’s information every day, but it will also upload it to the Wordware Inc cloud servers as an extra level of protection. Your data will be safely stored in multiple locations, ensuring that you always have the ability to recover from any change in a matter of moments, so you always have a backup plan. Bottleneck of any Cafeteria is its seating capacity. Efficient management of tables thus becomes a necessity. A Cloud Based Cafeteria Management Software can aid in carrying out this activity and also manage advance reservations.
  1. Data Bridge – Our unique data bridge was developed to easily pull your student and family information from your SIS into Wordware so both systems contain the same information. No dual entry or manual effort is needed.
  1. Reporting– After rentals and labour, food costs are typically the largest expense for any Cafeterias. The food cost reporting of the Cafeteria management software can show you the actual vs predicted cost and the accompanying difference. This is done by researching on the cost variation in the same item offered by different stores along with a list of top and bottom pricing. These features become increasingly important in multi branch organizations. Reporting and Charts. We understand that food service reporting is critical to the administration and success of your schools. Not only does Wordware provide and extensive offering of reports in the software for cash sales reporting, free and reduced, line reports, etc. Wordware will work with you to make sure you are getting the information you need from your software.
  1. Product planning to decrease and nullify food waste – Wasted food is another critical cost center for a Cafeteria. The product planning report will give you a real-time measure of the amount of food that is wasted thereby contributes to lowering the waste generated.
  1. Labour Cost reports – The labour cost report is another critical aid you will get from the Cafeteria management software. It has the detailed information on your staffing and even goes up to the hourly, daily and monthly man hour utilization. With this report, your staff scheduling can be improved.

These are only a few ways in which a Cafeteria management software can aid you. The benefits of using one such software are multiple. If you aren’t using these functionalities of your Cafeteria management software, you immediately need work with your team, and study these reports and if you current software doesn’t provide such in depth reports, you many need to upgrade your software. Wordware’s Lunch cashier software has been implemented in . school cafeterias, college and universities, hospital settings and commercial building cafeterias in all over USA.

You can also talk to one of our Cafeteriamanagement software analyst for any assistance you will require Call: (800) 934-2621.