Orders for student meals arrive overnight from parents who have ordered online. The system allows ordering up to a fortnight ahead. Instead of volunteers collecting paper bags, money and orders in the morning, they simply have to press the print button.

Once parents place an order, the money is already on the way to the school’s nominated bank account. No more taking of cash at lunch or recess and working out change. All that needs to happen is for canteen staff to hand out the pre-packed orders.

School Shop Online can provide daily aggregated reporting for total orders. A history of orders per day and season can be accumulated to make re-ordering and stock control more efficient.

This is a user pays system where parents pay a very small surcharge to order items online but ultimately they are still likely to be saving compared to the traditional method of handing over cash to their child in the hope it will be spent on healthy food.(see Parent’s Benefits). Parent Associations and/or Canteen Coordinators in conjunction with the school can set the total percentage of surcharge to be paid. This surcharge then goes partly to maintain the system (usually 5 or 6%) and the balance over and above this is paid to the P&C, school and/or canteen as revenue. This revenue sharing model allows parent associations and canteens to be partners with parents to improve the health of children, save parents some money and assist in school security. It also provides funds that over time to purchase such items as air conditioning, sporting equipment and computers.

With this system, parents select the items from the school’s canteen menu and their payment goes to the school's bank account. To balance the books all that is required, is to print a report which will automatically match orders delivered, money taken and the bank account balance.

When parents order and nominate the specific meal items, the canteen can implement better planning. With less cash handling, queues are shorter and meal delivery times are faster. By knowing orders ahead of time, canteens also have time to implement contingency plans for meal delivery and need not ‘run out’ of healthy choices.

Meals can be ordered through other outlets in the communityIf a school chooses to offer evening or breakfast meals, it need not open its tuckshop to deliver those meals. A school or canteen may nominate a local restaurant to receive the orders for those meals and the restaurant's menu may be displayed on the school’s website. This way a school can gain further commissions while supporting their local community and offering a greater range of meals.

A school or parent association can trial the system with a few selected parents and we will provide a ficticious credit card number for participants to place orders. The School Shop Online team will assist you in every step of the way.

Queensland QLD, New South Wales NSW, Victoria Vic, Tasmania TAS, South Australia SA, Western Australia WA, Northern Territory NT, Australian Capital Territory ACT, and across Private, Catholic, Independent and public schools. If your school is in Australia you can implement our service.

Bullying in schools and indeed across society unfortunately seems to be on the rise. You can play a part in reducing bullying in schools by taking cash out of the playground and hence any temptation students may have to force others to hand over their lunch money.