Within the school food sector in the UK, the last ten years in particular has seen rising demands for, and growth in the installation of cashless catering systems school meal provision. Many local authorities, private catering providers and individual schools within England, Scotland and Wales have introduced, or would like to introduce, a technology based cashless catering system or systems.

Cashless Catering System uses information technology, which removes the handling of cash at the point of sale and speeds up the food service. Schools can choose a system that meets their specific requirements with a pupil recognition system of their choice. From the research conducted the perceived constraints about installing a cashless catering system:-

• The initial costs of installing the system with all the current budgetary constraints.
• Who is going to fund the cashless system and which budget is the money coming from.
• How to assess the benefits of installing a cashless system and which system to choose.
• Lack of information about cashless systems
• Possibility of disruption if the systems isn’t reliable or doesn’t work properly

Developing a specification

Cashless catering systems have to be viewed as a long term investment. They require careful selection of the appropriate system to match each Local Authority and school’s individual need.
From the research conducted the perceived benefits of having a cashless catering system for:-
Pupils:-

• Reduces queuing time by speeding up delivery at the point of sale
• Removes stigma for free meal pupils by protecting their anonymity at the point of sale
• Removes cash from pupils pockets so reduces the opportunity for bullying or theft
• It’s easy to use

Parents:-

• Can pay by cheque or notes directly to the school administrator or catering manager which ensure the money is used to purchase a school lunch or breakfast/brunch.
• Can pay on-line and access information about their child’s account
• Can pay by direct debit through the Local Authority or school portal
• Can request a report on the eating habits of their child.
• Can set a daily spend limit.

Schools and Caterers:-

• Cashless systems can deal with large volumes of customers within the fixed time constraints of the school day.
• Can help schools to reschedule their lunch time arrangements to gain maximum efficiency from the installation a cashless system
• Increases school meal uptake and raises additional income which could fund the purchase of the cashless system.
• Cashless suppliers will advise, configure and install a system and support with training, backup and after sales service from engineers and give on-line support.
• Reduces the opportunity for bullying and theft by removing cash from school.
• Enables nutritional reporting.
• Can integrate and with link with other management systems.