Munch-a-Lunch

MARIA SPITALE

For those parents who find it hard to get creative with their kids’ lunches, there is a new tool available that you won’t find in your kitchen that will help get the job done faster.

A North Vancouver entrepreneur has made it possible for schools to put together delicious noontime meals in five minutes.

“Every parent breathes a big sigh when it comes to making lunches,” says Barbara Talbot, founder of MunchaLunch, an online hot lunch ordering system for elementary, middle and high school students. “I think we all look forward to a break from it.”

If your child’s school is a participating member of the program, you can simply visit your school’s website and find the link for MunchaLunch.

Schools decide which local food suppliers they wish to use, and put the menus and pricing online for ordering. Schools usually offer plenty of choices including wraps, sandwiches, pizza, hamburgers, and pasta. There are also healthy snacks and drinks that can be offered to supplement these meals such as oatmeal cookies, fruit salad, and milk.

“There are easy steps to follow,” advises Talbot. “Register an account, add your children, and begin ordering.”

To help schools even more, there is a Fundraising module included in the program which enables schools to set up everything from online donations to spring plants for sale.

“Proceeds from lunch programs go directly back to the school PAC to help fund much-needed school programs and equipment,” explains Talbot. “Munch helps schools maximize these proceeds.”

Traditionally, school lunch programs are paper-based systems that are labour intensive for both the school lunch coordinators and the parents themselves, says Talbot.

“Ordering and paying online eliminates the need for paper order forms and avoids calculation errors,” she said. “Instead of lunch coordinators spending hours with paper forms, they can now generate all reports at the click of a button.”

There are currently over 700 schools from across Canada on board with MunchaLunch. According to Talbot, the plan is to attract even more schools to the program to make school lunch programs and fundraising easy and seamless to administer!

For more information on MunchaLunch, visit munchalunch.com or call 604-288-2446.