As you may have noticed, we’ve released a new version of the Lunch Ordering App which supports Online Payments. However, the original version in QuickSchools still works for schools that want to collect lunch payments via traditional means. But what are the differences between the new and old versions of the Lunch Ordering App? Here, we discuss the differences, as well as pros and cons.

Original Lunch Ordering App	Lunch Ordering with Online Payments
Fulfill then Charge	Charge then Fulfill
Integrates to Fee Tracking	Integrates to Online Payments
Tried and True	New (Still in Beta)

Fee Tracking vs. Online Payments

The original Lunch Ordering App was designed to allow parents to submit orders freely (before the cut-off date). Parents would only be charged AFTER orders were fulfilled. Once fulfilled, the school would bill the parents via the Fee Tracking module. Parents can then make payments to the school per the usual means. If changes are required after the cut-off date, administrators can edit the orders, up until the orders are fulfilled.

The key takeaway here is that the original Lunch Ordering App leverages the Fee Tracking module to collect fees AFTER lunch orders were fulfilled.

In contrast, the new Lunch Ordering App forces parents to pay for meals online (via the Parent Portal), BEFORE orders are fulfilled by the school. Since payment is taken immediately, there is no link to the Fee Tracking module (at least not at the moment). Instead, all payments appear under the “Online Payments” menu.

This method frees up the school from having to chase down parents for payments. However, taking payments upfront poses some additional challenges. For example, if an order is cancelled, the parent would receive a credit for future orders. A refund is required, the school would need to process that in their Stripe account.

In cases where parents want to prepay for meals, administrators will be able to add credit to parent accounts (This feature is coming soon).

New Features

The version of the Lunch Ordering App that uses Online Payments (instead of Fee Tracking) is considered the NEWER version, and thus has more functionality. These new features are described below:

• Meal Size
• Meals by Grade Level
• Mark-Up after a specific Cut-Off Date
• Bulk Cancel Order by Grade Level
• Bulk Cancel Meal
• Bulk Cancellation History and Undo (latest cancellation only)

These features are discussed more extensively in our User Manuals. See link below:

Online Resources

Here are some links to help you learn more about the 2 apps:

Original Lunch Ordering App	Lunch Ordering with Online Payments
User Manuals for Administrators	User Manuals for Administrators
General Introduction	User Manual for Parents
	User Manual for Teachers

Conclusion

Ultimately, the new Lunch Ordering App is the newer version, and will have more features moving forward. However, as of this writing, there are still improvements being made based on feedback from school. If you have suggestions for improvement, please let us know.

The key takeaway about the new Lunch Ordering App, is that it requires parents to pay upfront for meals. When meals are cancelled (or adjusted), the system will NOT issue a refund. Instead, a credit will appear in the users Portal, which can be applied to future purchases. Parents can still make purchases online without entering credit card information, as long as the school administrator has applied credit to the users account, in order to make purchases by credit.

As for the original Lunch Ordering App, this should be used if you want to avoid collecting payments online. Parent would then pay for meals along with other items like tuition and enrollment fees.