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 900 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.
