Changing a Meal Template
A meal template is the set of menu categories a meal is built on. It defines the sections you plan a menu around, like Entrée, Sides, Vegetables, Fruit, and Milk, plus the rule for how many items are chosen from each. When you build a menu plan, you choose which meal template it uses.
This is not the public menu template. The public menu template controls how the family and community menu looks, meaning its layout, colors, fonts, and announcements, and it is covered in Public Menu Set Up. Editing it does not change the categories on your meals. A meal template is also separate from a POS template, which is the checkout setup assigned to a terminal.
What's on a meal template
A meal template is made up of a few things. These are what you can ask us to set up or change:
The meal: Breakfast, Lunch, or Snack.
The program it's claimed under. This is separate from the meal. The same meal can run under different programs. For example, Breakfast can be claimed under the School Breakfast Program (SBP) or CACFP, and Lunch is usually the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The program sets which meal pattern and compliance rules apply.
Offer versus Serve. Whether the meal runs as Offer versus Serve, where students may decline some of the offered components, or Serve, where every required component is served.
The grade group and meal pattern it follows, for example K-5, 6-8, or 9-12.
The categories it contains and the order they appear in, for example Entrée, Sides, Vegetables, Fruit, Milk.
The selection rule for each category, meaning how many items must be chosen from it:
Choose one (required): one item must be picked from this category.
Choose two (required): two items must be picked.
Optional, none or one: the category can be skipped or have one item.
Entrée category: marks the category as the entrée. One entrée is chosen across all entrée categories.
The label and color used to organize each category on the menu.
Can you edit a meal template yourself?
Not yet. The categories and selection rules that make up a meal template are set up and maintained by the Gaia team, and there isn't a self-service editor for them today. Here's what you can do on your own:
Choose which meal template a menu uses. When you create or edit a menu plan, open the Menu Plan Settings and toggle on the meal template you want the plan to use (see Create a New Menu Plan). This picks one of your district's existing templates. It does not change the categories inside it.
Request a new or changed meal template. To add a meal template, or to change the categories or selection rules on one, email your Customer Success Manager (CSM) using the form below.
How to request a new or changed meal template
Copy the form below into an email to your Customer Success Manager and fill in the parts in brackets. The more specific you are about the program, Offer versus Serve, and the categories and their rules, the faster we can set it up.
Subject: Meal template request, [District name]
Hi [CSM name],
We'd like to [set up a new meal template / change an existing meal template]. Details:
• District: [district name]
Thanks!
|
As more of these settings become user-facing in Gaia, we'll update this article. Until then, meal template changes go through your CSM.