- Accessing the Portal App
-
Placing Orders Through the App
- What menu items are available to order?
- Can products that I manually create in Touch Admin be ordered in the Portal App?
- When placing an order and there are multiple dining areas that support Portal, do you select the dining area before you choose the date, meal and time?
- Do orders automatically get fired to the kitchen (similar to advanced ordering)?
- Can staff take pickup and delivery orders called in from a resident?
- Can users make modifications to an existing order?
- What happens when an order is never picked up or missed for delivery?
- How long before changes that I make to my menu are seen in the Portal app?
- Payments
-
Configuring the Portal App
- Can food items be hidden to prevent them from being ordered?
- Are order times required (i.e., service interval increments or "waves")?
- Do orders placed on the Portal app appear in MealSuite Core to help drive accurate production, such as the case with Advance Ordering?
- Do staff who want to use the Portal app require a profile in the MealSuite Core system?
- How do I add a delivery fee?
- What if I have automatic discounts configured?
- Reporting
Accessing the Portal App
Where can I download the app?
The MealSuite Portal app is available to download from the Apple Store and the Google Play Store
Can I access the Portal app through a web browser?
Yes; you can access the Portal app through a web browser via the following link: https://portal.mealsuite.com.
Accessing the Portal app through a browser allows it to be displayed on a larger device that anyone in your community can access.
Can residents create their own custom PIN codes so they are easier to remember?
Yes. See Allowing a Resident to Create Their Own PIN.
Where can I find the resident's current PIN?
The current PIN for a resident can be seen in the Portal PIN Code field of the POS diner profile. A POS diner profile is accessed via the Touch Admin software; see Opening a POS Diner Profile.
What if a resident forgets their PIN?
The current PIN for a resident can be retrieved from their POS diner profile; see Opening a POS Diner Profile. The PIN is located in the Portal PIN Code field.
If required to reset the PIN for a resident, then this can be done by creating a new PIN for a resident (see Creating a New PIN for a Resident) or having the resident create their own PIN (see Allowing a Resident to Create Their Own PIN).
Placing Orders Through the App
What menu items are available to order?
At this time, only menu items of the regular diet type and regular texture type are available to order. Extended substitute items are not available to order, nor are personal menu items or substitutes.
Can products that I manually create in Touch Admin be ordered in the Portal App?
Yes. Products that you manually create in Touch Admin can be ordered in the Portal App. If you are not seeing the product available to order in the Portal App, refer to the following article: Troubleshooting Why a Product/Service is Not Appearing on the POS.
When placing an order and there are multiple dining areas that support Portal, do you select the dining area before you choose the date, meal and time?
Yes; there is an option for the resident to select the dining location before ordering.
Do orders automatically get fired to the kitchen (similar to advanced ordering)?
When a user places an order they will also select the date and time for pickup or delivery. The order will fire to the kitchen ahead of the selected time based on the Advanced Ordering - Prep Timings settings for the KMS station.
Can staff take pickup and delivery orders called in from a resident?
Yes; staff can place pickup and delivery orders via the To Go Orders screen from either a POS dining room location or POS quick service location. See the following articles:
- POS Dining Room - Managing To Go Orders (Pickup and Delivery)
- POS Quick Service Location - Managing To Go Orders (Pickup and Delivery)
Can users make modifications to an existing order?
No. An order, once placed, cannot be modified. However, an order can be cancelled, and a new order made.
What happens when an order is never picked up or missed for delivery?
It will remain on the To Go Orders screen until the POS operator closes the ticket.
How long before changes that I make to my menu are seen in the Portal app?
Changes that you make to a menu will trigger to the Portal app when the menu is closed.
After closing the menu, it should not take more than 20 minutes for the change to be reflected.
To "force" the changes to be applied before the 20-minute mark, please contact MealSuite support for them to manually trigger the update.
Payments
How is payment handled?
For pickup orders, items covered by meal plans are automatically covered. Remaining items can be charged to the room or paid for upon pickup via the payment tender types supported for the POS station. Note that if your facility uses Stripe as its payment service provider, then residents can pay for their orders with their credit card number in the Portal app.
For delivery orders, items covered by meal plans are automatically covered. Remaining items are charged to the room.
If taking a pickup or delivery order over phone, can the resident provide a credit card number for manual entry?
For a Lane/3000 or iPP320 PIN Pad, yes.
To allow credit card numbers to be manually entered on a Stripe reader, please reach out to MealSuite Support. If you are MealSuite Support, please enable the option Allow manual card transactions on pin-pad when permitted in the POS Location settings.
Once the option has been enabled, the means to manually enter a credit card number in a Stripe reader is as follows:
- After selecting Credit Card as the payment option, select the Manual Credit Card Entry check box, and select the Stripe Payment terminal.
- Tap Make Payment, and the Stripe Credit Card Transaction window appear for you to enter the credit card number and other details.
Note: When manually entering a credit card number, the Stripe transaction fee will be higher than when made with the physical card. See the following Stripe proprietary article for more information: https://stripe.com/en-ca/resources/more/what-are-card-not-present-transactions#cnp-transaction-processing-fees-and-costs.
Can residents add to their meal plan funds through the app?
No; just view their balance, history, and reset date.
Configuring the Portal App
Can food items be hidden to prevent them from being ordered?
Yes. You can configure the Portal app to not display a category, which will therefore hide its assigned items from view. See Hiding a Category from the Portal App.
Are order times required (i.e., service interval increments or "waves")?
Yes; this is required for to be able to schedule orders for future days or meals. Contact MealSuite Support for any changes you may need to your service interval increments.
Do orders placed on the Portal app appear in MealSuite Core to help drive accurate production, such as the case with Advance Ordering?
No; there is no tie to core production (similar to POS).
Do staff who want to use the Portal app require a profile in the MealSuite Core system?
No. Staff do not require profiles in the MealSuite Core system to use the Portal app. For staff to use the portal app, they do require to be set up with a diner profile in the system. To add a staff diner profile in the system, see Entering Staff Member as a Diner in the POS System/Portal App.
How do I add a delivery fee?
Please reach out to MealSuite Support to have a delivery fee automatically added to orders.
If you are MealSuite Support, click here for instructions on adding a delivery fee.
What if I have automatic discounts configured?
If automatic discounts are configured (see Configuring Discounts in the POS), then those discounts are automatically applied to the applicable item.
If an ordered item is discounted, it presents with the Discount tag that indicates the amount being discounted.
If a declining balance meal plan is also associated with the item, then the discount will be applied. For a points meal plan or unlimited meal plan, the discount will not be applied.
Reporting
What reports are available to view transaction activity done in the Portal App?
- Payment Transactions Report (run from Touch Admin) - provides a breakdown of transactions by payment type, POS locations, and date range.
- Sales Activity Report (run from Touch Admin) - provides an output of all ticket line items where the tickets have been paid and closed out, and is sortable by POS location and categories.
- Bill to Room Report (run from Touch Admin) - provides an output of all bill-to-room transactions and their associated amount.
- Taxes Report (run from Touch Admin) - provides an output of all taxes and their associated amount.
- Meal Plan Balance Report (run from Touch Admin) - provides an output of a diner's meal plan usage by meal period (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and day for a calendar month, including starting/ending balance.
- Order History Report (run from Touch Admin) - displays order information for a specific resident or staff member. The report contains the following: