A digital lunch payment system is coming to Jesuit High School by this next school year. Jesuit has been exploring options to replace our current paper system, and a big change is on its way.
The question of a new lunch card system is not new, but was highlighted when Ashley Heger provided her opinion that the current system is outdated in her October article.
Mrs. Gina Chiotti, CFO Treasurer, confirmed that Jesuit evaluated the current lunchroom situation last May and, noticing a lack of payment functionality, quickly began brainstorming solutions.
Since then she tried several demos of digital lunch systems, and School Cafe stood out as most likely to work for Jesuit. Valley Catholic, Beaverton, and Lake Oswego school districts currently use this system. Chiotti has worked with lunch programs like this as a parent.
School Cafe appears to be effective, efficient, and reasonably priced.
Chiotti predicts that testing of the program will occur in early 2024 and the system will be up and running by the 2024-2025 school year.
The system provides multiple advantages.
“It will most likely be [based] on student IDs… and parents can preload money onto the account,” Chiotti said.
Any amount can be preloaded onto the account with a small processing fee, and reminders can be set up when the account reaches a certain balance.
The ability to scan a barcode on a student ID would eliminate time spent counting tickets and hole-punching paper cards. Also, Jesuit would no longer need to have cash on campus for buying paper cards and tickets.
“It seems so much easier— particularly from a parent perspective,” Chiotti said.
Although lunch volunteers would now have to type orders into the system, she hopes it will cut down on wait times in line so that students who buy hot lunch have more time to eat.
Chiotti and her team are working hard to improve lunch time for students in hopes that a new and updated system will make the whole process smoother.
