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Daily Activities

Serving breakfast and lunch are usually the most frequently used functions in PowerLunch. They help you to serve meals and track how much each patron spends. The instructions for serving breakfast and lunch are identical. Use the Record Sale page to enter deposits toward lunch balances.

Perform a Quicksale

A Quicksale is the fastest way to record the sale of a meal because it uses minimal keystrokes. Quicksale automatically records the proper amount to be charged to the patron's account, based on the meal prices assigned to their lunch ID numbers. The following instructions assume that you selected the Quicksale option when you set up prices. These instructions apply to both students and staff.

  1. Navigate to the PowerLunch page.
  2. Click either Serve Breakfast or Serve Lunch under Transactions, depending on which meal is being served. 
  3. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Lunch ID

    Enter the patron's lunch ID number. This can be a student or a staff member.

    Quicksale

    Select the checkbox.

  4. Click Submit to enter the sale. The transaction is recorded. The amount of the sale is automatically deducted from the patron's account.
    If enabled, an allergy alert appears if the student has an allergy.
    If set up, a warning message appears when a student's account balance gets low or becomes deficit.
    PowerLunch is ready for the next patron's ID number.

Perform a Non-Quicksale

The Quicksale option is very handy when a student purchases a standard meal, but what if someone buys an item à la carte? These instructions apply to both students and staff.

  1. Navigate to the PowerLunch page.
  2. Click either Serve Breakfast or Serve Lunch under Transactions, depending on which meal is being served. 
  3. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Lunch ID

    Enter the patron's lunch ID number. This can be a student or a staff member.

    Quicksale

    Deselect the checkbox.

  4. Click Submit
    When navigating to this page, the cursor first appears in the Cash Received field.
  5. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Lunch ID

    The lunch ID for the selected patron appears.

    Current Account Balance

    The patron's current balance appears.

    Charge One Meal

    If you want to charge one meal, select the checkbox and enter the dollar amount charged, if different than the default amount.

    If the default meal price does not appear in the Charge One Meal field, your system is configured to suppress the price of the meal on this page.

    A La Carte Items

    Enter the dollar amount of any à la carte items purchased.

    Cash Received

    Enter the dollar amount of any cash received.

    Click Don't Record Sale if you make an error in your entries. You return to the previous page.

  6. Click Record Sale. The Record Sale page appears. The sale is recorded, and the amount of the purchase is subtracted from the patron's account.
    If enabled, an allergy alert appears if the student has an allergy.
    If set up, a warning message appears when a student's account balance gets low or becomes deficit.

    PowerLunch is ready for the next patron's ID number.

Perform a Student Guest Sale

Students from other schools can visit your school and have lunch during the day. In that case, you must record the sale, but it must appear as a different type in the records.

  1. Navigate to the PowerLunch page.
  2. Click either Serve Breakfast or Serve Lunch under Transactions, depending on which meal is being served. 
  3. Click Student Guest
    When navigating to this page, the cursor first appears in the Cash Received field.
  4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Lunch ID

    The lunch ID for the selected patron appears.

    Current Account Balance

    The patron's current balance appears.

    Charge One Meal

    If you want to charge one meal, select the checkbox and enter the dollar amount charged, if different than the default amount.

    If the default meal price does not appear in the Charge One Meal field, your system is configured to suppress the price of the meal on this page.

    A La Carte Items

    Enter the dollar amount of any à la carte items purchased.

    Cash Received

    Enter the dollar amount of any cash received.

    Click Don't Record Sale if you make an error in your entries. You return to the previous page.

  5. Click Record Sale. The Record Sale page appears. The sale is recorded, and the amount of the purchase is subtracted from the patron's account.
    If enabled, an allergy alert appears if the student has an allergy.
    If set up, a warning message appears when a student's account balance gets low or becomes deficit.
    PowerLunch is ready for the next patron's ID number.

Perform an Adult Guest Sale

There are times when adults visit your school and want to eat lunch there. You must record these sales as well.

  1. Navigate to the PowerLunch page.
  2. Click either Serve Breakfast or Serve Lunch under Transactions, depending on which meal is being served. 
  3. Click Adult Guest
    When navigating to this page, the cursor first appears in the Cash Received field.
  4. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Lunch ID

    The lunch ID for the selected patron appears.

    Current Account Balance

    The patron's current balance appears.

    Charge One Meal

    If you want to charge one meal, select the checkbox and enter the dollar amount charged, if different than the default amount.

    If the default meal price does not appear in the Charge One Meal field, your system is configured to suppress the price of the meal on this page.

    A La Carte Items

    Enter the dollar amount of any à la carte items purchased.

    Cash Received

    Enter the dollar amount of any cash received.

    Click Don't Record Sale if you make an error in your entries. You return to the previous page.

  5. Click Record Sale. The Record Sale page appears. The sale is recorded, and the amount of the purchase is subtracted from the patron's account.
    If set up, a warning message appears when a student's account balance gets low or becomes deficit.
    PowerLunch is ready for the next patron's ID number.

Look Up a Teacher ID

Sometimes a staff member forgets his or her assigned lunch ID number. In this case, you must look it up because you cannot perform a transaction for a teacher without the number.

  1. Navigate to the PowerLunch page.
  2. Click either Serve Breakfast or Serve Lunch under Transactions, depending on which meal is being served. 
  3. Click Look up teacher ID
  4. Search for and select the teacher.
  5. Click Edit Information
  6. Note the teacher's Lunch ID.

Review Recent Sales

If a patron approaches you saying that he or she was not given the correct change or that there was another problem concerning the sale, you can review the ten immediate previous sales.

  1. Navigate to the PowerLunch page.
  2. Click either Serve Breakfast or Serve Lunch under Transactions, depending on which meal is being served. 
  3. Click Review Recent Sales (up to 10). The Review Sales page displays the names of the patrons, time of the sales, and amount of each sale.
  4. Click the amount of the sale to view more details about it. 
  5. Do one of the following:
    • Click Delete to delete the transaction, if necessary. 
    • Click Back to return to the Record Sale page.
      If a "Warning Page Expired" message appears, click the PowerSchool logo to return to the start page.

Enter Earned Meals

Some schools offer meals in exchange for work performed at school. Either students or adults can earn meals, but they must be recorded as such for reporting purposes. This should be done each day that someone earns a meal.

  1. Navigate to the PowerLunch page.
  2. Click Enter Earned Meals under Management. 
  3. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    School

    The selected school.

    Which meal?

    Choose the meal earned.

    # of student earned meals

    Enter the number of meals that students earned.

    #of adult earned meals

    Enter the number of meals that adults earned.

    Date

    Enter the date indicating when the meals were earned using the format mm/dd/yyyy or mm-dd-yyyy. If you do not use this format, an alert appears. If you submit the date with an incorrect format, the date field is submitted as a blank entry.

  4. Click Submit
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