hot lunch 2023/2024

Foodie Kids will return as one of our hot lunch vendors in the 2023-2024 School Year. Lunches will run every Tuesday and Thursday starting on October 3rd. Additionally, PAC will be running Pizza, Sushi and Pirate Pak Days on select Fridays this year. New vendors have been added to the Winter Term! Please see below for more details and how to order.

Your best source of information for the hot lunch programs is by joining the PAC mailing list, as information and last-minute reminders will be distributed that way. Email pac@simonfraserelementary.com to join!

Program Overview

Highlights: Foodie Kids is a hot lunch catering company that prepares, packages and delivers hot lunches to our school twice a week. This company offers 15-20 entrees to choose from daily, plus 18 sides, desserts and drinks to add on. Gluten-free and Vegetarian options are available every day. Rotating theme days include Pasta Day, Kebabs Day, Mexican Day and Asian Day. Kid favourites such as sliders, pizza, lasagna, mac & cheese, chicken strips, and grilled cheese sandwiches are available each day as part of the “Always Available” menu.

Order Deadline: Please note that the order deadline is Wednesday every week for lunches that fall in the following week. For example, place your order by Wednesday, November 15th at 11:59pm to participate in lunch on November 21st and 23rd.  See below to find out how to order.

Important to Know: CUTLERY IS NOT PROVIDED, PLEASE SEND CUTLERY TO SCHOOL WITH YOUR CHILD(REN).

Food Images: Want to see what the food looks like? Scroll down to view some images from our vendors!

PAC HOT LUNCH PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Highlights: This parent/guardian-led hot lunch program runs on select Fridays starting October 6th. Volunteers are needed to make this program run successfully, please see the volunteer section for details on how to sign up.

Vendors: Panago Pizza, Kisokoma Sushi and White Spot are among our favourite hot lunch vendors, and they will be returning as part of our select Friday hot lunch offering for the 2023-24 school year. New for the 2023-2024 Winter Term is Agra Tandoori, which will be providing us with Indian Food on Dec. 1st, and Bosa Foods, which will be providing us with pasta and Italian sandwiches on January 26th. 

We are always looking for new vendors to check out, so please reach out if you have one to share or suggest. Ordering for all dates until Spring Break is now open for ordering on Munch A Lunch. More dates will be added in February for the Spring Term. See below to find out how to order.

Volunteer: Our Friday lunch program can only run if we have parent volunteers to help out. An average hot lunch takes about 10-12 volunteers, and shifts last around 45 minutes. If you can help occasionally, please complete this form to add yourself to our volunteer list. The form also includes a link to view the dates we need volunteers for and the ability to add yourself to the schedule for the dates that are convenient for you. 

Food Images: Want to see what the food looks like? Scroll down to view some images from our vendors!

Order Deadline: Typically 4-8 days in advance, depending on the vendor. Please see the table below for the dates, themes and deadlines of upcoming PAC-led lunches.

*NEW* ORDER DEADLINE REMINDERS

New to the 2023-24 Winter Term is the ability to subscribe to 2 different calendars to remind you of the order deadlines for the various lunch days. Subscribe to one or both calendars, depending on which calendar appeals to your family by navigating to the calendars page on the PAC website:

Click HERE to subscribe to either the PAC Hot Lunch iCal (Friday Lunches) or the Foodie Kids Hot Lunch iCal (Tuesday/Thursday Lunches)

Please note: Although the ordering deadline is 11:59 each day, the calendars are set up as an appointment at 7:00pm on the cut-off day and do not have an alert/pop-up associated with them.

IMAGES FROM OUR VENDORS:

Agra Tandoori:

Foodie Kids:

Hot Lunch Financial Support Program

The Simon Fraser Elementary PAC has created a fund, accessible to families facing financial hardships, to grant every child in our school the opportunity to participate in our Friday, Parent-led Hot Lunch Program, free of charge. We believe that every child should have the opportunity to participate in this program, should the desire be there, regardless of financial situation.  

If your family would benefit from this program, we encourage you to take advantage of it. Below are the steps to register your child free of charge. Please note, if you do not have access to a device capable of connecting to the internet, please contact the Hot Lunch Coordinators or the school office for alternative registration methods.

Registration Process:

1. Set Up a Munch A Lunch Account: Visit  https://munchalunch.com/schools/SimonFraser/ to login or create an account if you don’t have one already. Ensure you save your login credentials as you will need them later.

2. Add/Edit Your Child(ren) & Teacher:  Navigate to the “My Family” menu, select “My Children,” and add your child(ren) while updating their current teacher/division for this academic year. This step is crucial as it ensures accurate delivery of meals.

3. Send an email to: hotlunch@simonfraserelementary.com with the subject line “Hot Lunch Financial Support Program” and include the following content:
   I have ___ (number of) child(ren) at Simon Fraser and would like to take advantage of your Hot Lunch Financial Support Program. I have followed the steps outlined to take advantage of this program and am writing to you to complete the process. The email address that I used to register for Munch A Lunch is ______________. Signed, __________ (Parent/Guardian first & last name as listed on your account).

4. Registration Confirmation: Upon receiving your email (Step 3), our Hot Lunch Coordinators will review and apply a credit to your account based on the number of children in your family attending Simon Fraser. You can expect a credit to allow for 1-2 lunches per month per child. Credit allocation is based on available funds and the number of students participating in the program. Please allow 3-5 days for a response due to volunteer-based coordination. Once the credit is applied, a confirmation email will be sent to you.
   

5. Order Lunch: After receiving confirmation that the credit has been applied, log back into Munch a Lunch (link provided above). Click on "Order Lunch!" and proceed to place an order for your child(ren) for as many of the Friday lunch dates that your credit will allow. As long as the order value does not exceed the applied credit, no payment will be required during checkout. If your cart total exceeds the credit, you can either: a) remove an item(s) to reduce the value in your cart to be less than or equal to the credit or b) make a payment for the difference. You must fully checkout for the order to be submitted.

6. Support: For any ordering difficulties, please contact the Hot Lunch Coordinators at hotlunch@simonfraserelementary.com. Kindly include a contact number for efficient troubleshooting.
   

7. Renewal: Credits are issued per term based on funds available and how many families have applied. To maintain access to the program, we suggest reapplying (Steps 3-5) before the start of each term as follows:

• Term 1: Reapply in September (for lunch dates in October-December)

• Term 2: Reapply in December (for lunch dates in January-March)

• Term 3: Reapply in March (for lunch dates in April-June)

We aim to ensure that every family can benefit from this program. Your feedback, questions, or suggestions are always welcome.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hot Lunch

What is Munch A Lunch?

MunchaLunch is an online ordering system that our school uses as a platform to sell lunches for our hot lunch program and tickets or items for our fundraising events. Munch a Lunch is not a lunch provider (ie, a caterer or restaurant) but a platform that allows us to sell the items we offer for purchase, process funds on credit cards and streamline our hot lunch program with easy-to-access reports and labels. The Hot Lunch Coordinators can answer most inquiries you have about your orders or your account, and those questions should be directed to hotlunch@simonfraserelementary.com, not Munch A Lunch’s support team.

Are the Hot Lunch Programs a Fundraiser for the PAC?

Yes, our hot lunch program generates much-needed funds that the PAC relies on annually to help support many types of programs, purchases and needs the school, staff and students all benefit from. It’s important to know that these programs are completely optional and are offered as a service to the parent community while contributing to our fundraising goals. We are grateful to the many families that have supported and continue to support these programs. 

Is Financial assistance available?

If your family is experiencing financial hardships and your child is unable to participate in these programs, please reach out to the school office. The PAC has funds set aside for students to participate in these programs that might not otherwise be able to, free of charge. The office can give you details on how to take advantage of this program.

Why did the prices of the menu items increase from June? Food costs have been more stable recently.

Most of our food vendors understand that we often collect orders and payments months in advance and, therefore, cannot adjust the prices of items after orders have been placed. For this reason, most of our vendors provided us with pricing in September 2022 that was valid until June 2023. The effects of the food increases we saw last year are now just being reflected on the menu and food prices our vendors are providing us today. We know that some of these increases are substantial, and we’ve all been affected by these increases. A reminder that these lunch programs are optional, and you are never required to participate in them. We do our very best to shop for the right vendor that can offer a cost-effective program that tastes great and is kind to our environment. All things we have to balance when determining who we work with.

I placed an order. How do I know it went through? If I order a few months out, will I be reminded of the days I ordered? 

If your order was placed and you followed the steps to pay for your order, you will receive an email confirmation with your order details. If, however, you placed the order and did not pay, after an hour elapses, your order will automatically be cancelled, and you will be sent an email notifying you of this, including a copy of your cancelled order. Regarding reminders of orders, Munch a Lunch automatically sends you an email reminder the day before each lunch you have an active order. So go ahead and order for multiple weeks at one time. Your future self will be impressed with how organized you are!

Are cancellations and changes allowed if something comes up or my child wants to change something we ordered for them? What if my child is sick, and I ordered lunch?

Orders can be cancelled or changed up until the order cut-off date/time by logging into your account and going to “My Account” > “View My Orders” > and proceed to “Edit” the order in question. This process will allow you to put your items back into the cart, add or remove items as necessary and re-submit the order. If the new order costs more, a payment will be required to finalize the changes within an hour. If the new order costs less, the balance will remain on your account as a credit and will be automatically applied to your next order. We, unfortunately, cannot change or cancel orders after the order deadline has passed as the order has then been submitted to the vendor, and the PAC has now paid for that item from your order. No refunds or credits are permitted after the order deadline passes. You are always welcome to come to the school to pick up your child’s lunch if they are absent due to illness.

I hear you say we should pay for multiple lunches in one transaction. What is this all about?

Everyone knows that credit cards charge fees to the vendor for the payment service they provide, and in this situation, the PAC is the vendor as we price items on Munch a Lunch and sell them for a profit to support our fundraising goals. In addition to the 2.9% processing fee, we are also charged a $0.30 transaction fee, which is substantial when it’s charged on a small order. Families can help us reduce these transaction fees by placing lunch orders for all of their children before proceeding to the payment page. The charge is triggered every time an order is paid for, not placed or submitted through Munch a Lunch. Ordering for multiple weeks at a time also further reduces these fees, adding to our fundraising bottom line. This fee is currently added to the markup of all entrees we sell. In the future, we have asked Munch a Lunch to consider adding a service fee to orders so we don’t have to add this to our markup. Instead, families would pay a small fee on their order to cover this cost, and we could adjust our markup model to pass the savings on to families. Munch a Lunch has taken our feedback on this and said this is being considered for future software updates.

I want to volunteer, but I’m not available every week, should I bother?

Yes! Many of our volunteers join us more casually and do not help out every time. The process is easy to learn, and the commitment is usually less than an hour. We’d love to have you join us whenever you are available. We need volunteers to make these programs possible, and thank you in advance for your consideration.

To sign up, please complete this FORM to add yourself to our volunteer list. The form also includes a link to view the dates we need volunteers for and the ability to add yourself to the schedule for the dates that are convenient for you.

What considerations are given when it comes to packaging of food for these programs and being environmentally responsible?

We are glad this is important to you as it’s important to us! Packaging and waste are a big consideration when we are picking a vendor to supply lunch for our school. 

Foodie Kids has a great model with nearly all packaging compostable or recyclable. Lunches are also delivered to our school in reusable thermal bags separated by hot and cold and division. This is partly why this vendor doesn’t provide cutlery, and we ask families to send this from home. We do not want to dish out plastic forks in those quantities 2 times per week, so we ask that you please send cutlery to school with your child. We keep spares on hand but hope to use those as infrequently as necessary.

When picking our vendors for the PAC-organized lunches, i.e. Pizza Day, Sushi Day and Pirate Pak Day, we always consider packaging as part of the decision to use a vendor. More often than not, our vendors use compostable or recyclable products and minimize the use of plastics in their packaging.

I’m moving schools. How do I transfer my Munch a Lunch account to our new school?

You can do this independently if you need to transfer to a new school. Please don't contact the Munch a Lunch support team for help, as you can do this task yourself by following this link: https://munchalunch.com/account (click 'Transfer My Account'). If your family wishes to transfer schools in the middle of a school year, you can self-transfer by logging in to your account and going to - My Family > Transfer School.

I have children in 2 different schools that use Munch a Lunch. Do I need to have 2 Munch a Lunch accounts or can I order from one account for 2 schools?

If you need to add a school to your account, you can do this on your own. Please do not contact the Munch a Lunch support team for assistance, as you can perform this task yourself by following this link: https://munchalunch.com/account (click 'Add Second Account').

I forgot my password. How do I recover it?

On the login page: https://munchalunch.com/login > click 'Forgot Password' > the system will send a password reset link.

How do I find out when new dates are added and available to order?

Your best source of information and current updates for the hot lunch program is by joining the PAC mailing list. Program information or changes, new dates being released and last-minute reminders will be distributed via the PAC Newsletters and emails. Click HERE to subscribe to the PAC mailing list!

Contact

Still, have a question that we haven’t answered. Reach out to the Hot Lunch Coordinators at hotlunch@simonfraserelementary.com. We’d be happy to help you out!

Warmly,

Lauren McEwen, Denisa Adizzoni & Pamela Beyer
(Hot Lunch Coordinators for the 2023-24 school year)