Menu Selection: How to Create a New Menu
Schools are able to create and manage their own meal selection menus. To action this you need to go to Attendance, Meals & Events > Menus
INFO
When creating a menu, remember to save regularly. Failure to save your input regularly may result in your data being lost.
To create a new selections menu click Create New Menu
- Event time and type: Choose the relevant event time and type (ie. Lunch Time and the relevant “bookable” event type
- Start date: The menu must start on a Monday
- End date: The menu must end on a Sunday
- No of cycle weeks: the number of cycle weeks in your menu rotation
Your menu will have been created. You now need to complete the displayed tabs to complete the setup of the menu. Click the option to move forward to Menu > Courses
Below is an example of how to set up a selections menu with the following settings:
- Three options for the main course (eg. meat, vegetarian and packed lunch), with
the requirement of having one main course to be selected - Side dishes for information only
- Two options for dessert, with the requirement of having one selected
On the menu courses tab, the settings need to be as shown: - Course name: For example ‘Main Course’
- Course type: Select ‘Mandatory single choice’ to force the payer to select one option to complete the order
- Number of choices: (the number of options available, eg. meat, vegetarian, packed
lunch = 3 choices)
If you have side dishes to list, please click on ‘Add a course’ - normally these would be shown for information purposes only, so set up as shown:
If you have a dessert with no selectable options, then please click on ‘Add a course’ and follow the steps as per the Side Dish steps as above (Choose on Day).
If you have a choice of desserts and require the payer to pre-order their choice, then click on ‘Add a course’ and follow the steps as per the Main Course steps above. Once you have set up the courses, proceed to Menu Choices
If you wish to add notes to a course, perhaps to indicate it is vegetarian or to supply other dietary information, click on the yellow pencil icon to add further notes. You can also indicate it is vegetarian by adding (V) after the course name in the main text box for easy identification.
NOTE
There is a maximum of 150 characters allowed in the notes box.
Once you have completed your menu for cycle one you need to do the same for any other cycles you have. Once you have finished inputting your menu choices click Menu Rotation
The cycle weeks will be set out as per your school setup. Providing you have entered your term dates onto ParentPay the menu setup will identify when your school is closed.
If you want your menu rotation to continue through the holiday periods you can untick the box to ensure the menu does not skip holiday weeks.
Click Preview & Finish
Your menu will be displayed. You can scroll through the cycles to check your menu is correct.
Once you are confident your menu has been set up correctly click Publish.
NOTE
Once your menu is published you will only be able to edit the choices (in case a menu choice changes) or extend the menu. It is therefore important that you ensure the menu is correct prior to publishing.
If you are creating menus for the first time you will receive a message asking you to contact
the ParentPay Support Team as they will need to publish the first menu only.
Any subsequent menus you will be able to publish.
Please be aware that the ParentPay support team will have set up your booking settings including the Cut Off rules, these can be viewed and amended from within the relevant Payment Item.
Should you require any further assistance or advice please do not hesitate to contact us.