Overview

This is a type of customer receives a number of meals based on criteria for a certain period. Typically means that they pay a lump sum that entitles them to eat at a location (Often all you can eat / Buffet style) for a predefined period of time or number of meals. Example: 3 meals per day, from Sept 2 – Jan 1. – After Jan1, they are no longer eligible and if they do not eat all their meals they loose them. This is often a government controlled meal plan system often used in schools. The Premise behind this is that the student would be purchasing food in a large amount (effectively making it groceries and thus no tax is required on the purchase) in which the cafeteria / establishment will hold onto and server them a bit each day. When the period expires the food is considered to go bad and thus no refunds, or remaining food can be obtained from this after.

A Discount is used to reduce the price of the item / items sold to 0 Dollars, showing that the gross amount sold would be the value of the meals however net values would be $0.
The Meal Plan button must be pressed in order to trigger the deduction of the meal plans available.
Meal plans can also be used to allow a maximum number of meal plans to be used as well. For example you are able to eat 3 a day, however a total of 100 is aloud during the time period.
This Type is very similar to Points Declining as well, however allows more strict restrictions on when the meals can be used.

The Meal Plan Interface can be found in the Meal Plan tab in the Customer DB interface.

Info Tab

All fields

Field Name	Information
Meal Plan Name	Name of Meal Plan Setup
Description	Please provide description of Meal Plan setup specifications here.

Meal Plan Rules & Meal Plan Rules More

The fields below are related to the Meal Plan scheduling setup to allow for correct allocations to be setup per account holder.

All fields

Please note the scheduling parameters below can be used in combination with one another to produce different results.

Field Name	Information
Max Per Day	Sets X meals to be allocated on a daily basis.
Max Per X (Monday, Tuesday, Wedensday, etc.)	Sets X meals to be allocated on specific days of week.
Time Interval X	Allows for time based meal allocations (eg. 1 Meal at Lunch and 1 Meal at Dinner) Start Time and Duration indicate start and end times. Duration is the End Time specifications in minutes from Start Time
Weekday / Weekend	Set X meals to be allocated per weekday / weekend regardless of day of week.
Max Per Week	Set X meals to be allocated on a weekly basis
Start of Week	Set the day of the week to reset meal allocations on for weekly meal allocations. 1 = Monday 2 = Tuesday etc.
Monthly Type	Fixed = Meal allocations for monthly periods do not consider how many days the month has. Dynamic = Meal allocations for monthly periods will change based on #days in month (eg. Jan, Feb, Mar, May, Jul, Aug, Oct, Dec) Dynamic setups will add an extra day (or subtract) if the given month is longer than 30 days or less.
Max Per Month	Sets X meals to be allocated on a monthly basis. Reset of meals on 1st of month.
Daily Per Month	Determines #meals to be allocated on a monthly basis. (eg. A value of 1 equals 30 meals a month depending on month) Dependent on the Monthly Type setting to determine how many meals are allocated. Reset of meals on 1st of month.
Start of Month	For yearly allocations, determines the month that the yearly period resets. Meals always reset on 1st of month. 1 = Jan 1st 2 = Feb 1st
Max Per Year	Sets X meals to be allocated on a yearly basis.
Max Per Period	Sets X meals that can be used at a certain frequency. Use the Duration parameter to determine frequency. This is commonly used to prevent spamming of meal uses (eg. Students trying to get their friends free meals)
Allow Meal Plan Only during the Period Below Max Per Period X	Allows for custom meal eligible periods to be set based on a custom date based on a custom start and end time. Meals are allocated per eligible period.

Commonly Used Fields

Max Per Day: Sets X meals allocated to be used in a day.
Max Per Week: This field (found under the Meal Plan Rules More tab, Figure 2) will limit the meal allowance to this max per week. It requires setting what the first day of the week be set in the field bellow where 1 is Sunday, 2 is Monday and so on.
Allow Meal Plan only during the periods below: Enabling this checkbox (found under the Meal Plan Rules More tab, Figure 2) restricts the meal plan to be active only during the specified period(s) (defined in the Period field). Outside of the specified period(s), the meal plan will not be available to the customer.
Period: This field (found under Meal Plan Rules More tab, Figure 2) will limit the meal allowance to a specific date range. allows for extensions or for new periods to be added to the same account.

^{Figure 2. Meal Plan Rules More tab.}

Apply to Setup

Alternative ways to setup meal plans. These methods are not normally used by implementations as the Discount method is utilized instead.

All fields

Field Name	Information
Maximum number of items per meal	Indicates the maximum amount of items in a transaction that can be eligible for Meal Plan usage.
Each Tagged Item Counts as a Meal	Each separate item in the transaction constitutes a single Meal Plan usage
Each Transaction Qualifies as a Meal and Perform the Following	Base functionality when a Meal is Redeemed: Zero Out All Items - All items zeroed out in transaction Zero Out All Selected Items - All items affected by the Meal Plan usage is zeroed out redeemed by the Meal Plan use. Zero out all Items except Selected Tags - All items not eligible for meal plan are zeroed out. Items eligible for meal plan will remain priced. Do Nothing

Field Name

Information

Maximum number of items per meal

Indicates the maximum amount of items in a transaction that can be eligible for Meal Plan usage.

Each Tagged Item Counts as a Meal

Each separate item in the transaction constitutes a single Meal Plan usage

Each Transaction Qualifies as a Meal and Perform the Following

Base functionality when a Meal is Redeemed:

Zero Out All Items - All items zeroed out in transaction

Zero Out All Selected Items - All items affected by the Meal Plan usage is zeroed out redeemed by the Meal Plan use.

Zero out all Items except Selected Tags - All items not eligible for meal plan are zeroed out. Items eligible for meal plan will remain priced.

Do Nothing

Other

Use Apply Discount to discount items to zero to complete the transaction, or other appropriate amounts if creating not standard meal plans. By default, as soon as one discount is found, the transaction will be complete. If you use the Price Modifier Interfacelink "MEALPLAN_CONTINUE_DISCOUNT", the system will continue to look for other discounts to apply. See Price Modifiers - BackOffice Setup for more information.

Limitations of Meal Allowance Meal Plans

Limited Reporting: reporting to track its use can only be done by tracking the use of the discount associated with the meal plan.
Manual adjustments: Can only be done such as to increase the balance but not decrease it.
Carry over between periods: There is not capability of the system to carry over the allowance from a previous period.

Points Declining Meal Plans

Traditionally Points accounts are used for loyalty programs where points are accumulated for making purchases in our system. they can then redeem those points for other meals. Please see the Loyalty points balance section to see how requirements to have points accounts.

In this case we recommend to incorporating the points module to keep track of allowance in the form of a points required discount while still using the meal plan restrictions to ensure the using of those points is only available during certain periods.

Create a discount that requires 1 point be applicable.
associate it with the meal plan allowance.
Track points instead of meal allowance.

Benefits of Points Tracking Instead of Meal Plan Allowance Tracking:

Points can be purchased on the pos by making a menu item provide points on purchase (ex:10 meals for 50.00$ =>provides 50 points to the points account)
Reports showing present account points balance is available.
can still be tracked by number of discounts used in addition.

Sample Meal Plan Questions to Determine Your Needs

Meal Plan Name	Meal Plan	Rules/ Dates	Points System	Declining balance	Taxable	Discount	Can be Reloaded @ Cashier	How First Bought	Customer Expiry	Notes
400 + 10 Meals	400	1 Per meal 7 day week Term: Sept 2 - - Apr 30	no	10 $ = 1 $ a meal	yes	No	No	Not done Via Volanté	Apr 30 2015	1 per Meal
310 + 10 Meals	310	1 Per meal 7 day week Term: Sept 2 - - Apr 30	No	10 $ = 1 $ a meal	yes	No	No	Not done Via Volanté	Apr 30 2015	1 per Meal
12 Pack Meals + Guest	NA	NA	No	12 $ = 1 $ a meal	yes	No	No	Not done Via Volanté	Apr 30 2015	In any Quantity
Non Resident	NA	NA	Full time get 15, pt get 10 meals?	NA	NA	No	No	Not done Via Volanté	Apr 30 2015	In any Quantity

Browser not supported