- About Scheduling Menus
- Scheduling a Menu
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FAQs
- How do I change a menu?
- Can the weekly view be changed from Sunday to Saturday?
- How do I temporarily change my menu for only one meal service (breakfast, lunch, dinner) on a specific day?
- How do I start the menu cycle on a different week (i.e., not week 1)?
- I made changes to my menu, but want to revert back. Is there a way to recover/restore a previous version of the menu?
- How long before changes that I make to my menu are seen in the Touch app, digital menu board, POS, and Portal app?
- Can two standard menus be scheduled (i.e., active) at the same time?
About Scheduling Menus
When you schedule a menu, you will select its start date. When the start date occurs, the menu becomes “active” and enters production.
About Scheduling Weekly Menus
- For a weekly menu (standard menu, snack menu, and also available menu set as a weekly menu), its menu cycle always starts on a Monday; therefore it is always recommended to have the start date be a Monday when you schedule the menu.
- When the menu becomes active it will be in week 1 of it cycle.
- If you select a start date for a weekly menu that is not a Monday, the menu will still be in week 1 of its cycle. For example, assume the date you select as the start date is a Saturday (i.e., five days into the cycle). When two days pass and it is Monday, the menu will be in week 2 of its cycle.
- When a weekly menu is active, it will continue to run as long as it remains active. For example, if the menu is a four-week cycle, then after four weeks, the menu will start again on week 1.
Scheduling Menu to Not Start on Week 1
To have the menu not start on week 1, you can enter a past Monday as the start date (i.e., backdate the start date) so as to have the current date be in the desired week. For example, assuming Thursday, May 16, is the current date, you can adjust the start date as follows to place May 16 in the desired week.
- April 22 start date = May 16 is in week 4
- April 29 start date = May 16 is in week 3
- May 6 start date = May 16 is in week 2
- May 13 start date = May 16 is in week 1
Warning: "Backdating" a menu will remove any advanced orders that have been placed and can affect your current production reports and people reports; therefore it is recommended to first generate the reports you need prior to doing the menu backdate.
About Scheduling a Single Day Menu
- For a special event menu, the start date is the day the menu will run one time.
- For an also available menu set as a single day menu, the start date is the day the menu begins to run every day.
The Menu Service Location (MSL)
When a menu is scheduled it must be assigned to a menu service location (MSL), which in turn determines the dining area (including a residence area enabled as a dining area for in-room service) the menu is associated with. A menu service location can be thought of as the “connecting piece”: a menu is assigned to the menu service location and the dining area is assigned to the menu service location.
When a person is assigned to a dining area, the menus available to that person are via the menu service location that the dining area is assigned to.
A menu service location can support a menu of each menu type (i.e., standard, snack, special event, also available), but cannot support more than one menu of the same type (e.g., cannot support more than one standard menu, cannot support more than one snack menu).
By using more then one menu service location you have the flexibility of scheduling multiple menus of the same type at the same time. For example, a facility can have a standard menu served in its long-term care dining area (via “menu service location 1”), and another standard menu served in its residence dining area (via “menu service location 2”).
A menu can also be assigned to more than one menu service location.
Scheduling a Menu
To schedule a menu, complete the following steps:
- On the menus listing screen, locate the menu you want to schedule.
- From the Start Date column, select the Not Scheduled link.
or
Click the cog wheel in the Action column and select Edit Start Date (first screenshot below). The Edit Menu slide-out panel appears with the Start Date & Forecasting tab automatically selected (second screenshot below).
Note: Another means to open the Edit Menu slide-out panel is to open the menu to the week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view and click the Edit Menu Properties button. Once opened, click the Start Date & Forecasting tab.
- From the Start Date field, select the date the menu is to start. See About Scheduling Weekly Menus above or About Scheduling a Single Day Menu above to learn more about the start date.
- From the Menu Service Location field, select the menu service location(s) to assign the menu to. If your account is only using one menu service location, then select it. For more information on menu service locations, see About Scheduling Menus (above).
- The next step is to select a forecasting option to apply to the menu. Forecasting is a calculation to determine how many servings of each menu item need to be prepared by production staff and is reflected in the production reports and forecasting worksheets. See About Forecasting for more information.
From the Forecast By field, the following options are available:
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Percentage (available if menu has choices) - the Percentage Forecast method is applied to the menu, meaning the servings number for each menu item in production will be automatically generated by the percentage assigned to the item.
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Other: Honor Forecasting Settings (available if menu has choices) - the Set Method by Meal Forecast method is applied to the menu, which honours the different forecasting (or no forecasting) applied to individual meal periods/snack times.
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Total Needed (available if menu has no choices and is non-extended (i.e., does not support therapeutic substitute recipes) ) - the Total Needed Forecast method is applied to the menu. The Total Needed forecast method is used in a cafeteria or catering environment where you are serving the general population and therefore production staff just need to know the total amount of servings to produce.
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Census - the Census Forecast method is applied to the menu, meaning the serving number for each menu item in production will be equal to the diet order census in your account. The Census Forecasting method is commonly used if your account does not have resident profiles in the system, such as would be the case with an adult daycare. Alternatively, the Census Forecasting method may be used when there are people in the system, but their assigned service types are non-select, so that the system can automatically calculate the forecasting.
Note: The Percentage Forecasting method includes items from all choices on a menu; whereas the Census Forecasting method only includes non-choice 1 items if a resident/patient's assigned diet order warrants it via the item selection logic. Therefore, if a production report is not displaying choice 2 items, then it means you applied the Census Forecasting method to the menu rather than the Percentages Forecasting method.
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Do Not Forecast - forecasting is not applied to the menu.
Note: If you are not using an AA menu as an addition to the standard menu, but rather using the AA menu to offer its items as fallback substitutes when the menu item selection logic excludes an item for a resident/patient, you will want set the AA menu to Do Not Forecast. By not forecasting the AA menu, you ensure that its non-ordered items do not appear on the forecasting worksheet and the production reports.
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Percentage (available if menu has choices) - the Percentage Forecast method is applied to the menu, meaning the servings number for each menu item in production will be automatically generated by the percentage assigned to the item.
- Click the Save button to schedule the menu.
Note: If a menu of the same type is currently active for the menu service location that you selected, a confirmation message appears asking if you want to change the active menu to the one you are currently scheduling. However, if one of the menus is a liquid menu, then this confirmation message does not apply. In the MealSuite system, a liquid menu is created as a subtype to a main menu type (standard, snack, special event, also available) so that the liquid menu can be scheduled in conjunction with its main menu type counterpart for a person who is assigned a liquid diet.
- If you return to the Menu Listing screen, the Start Date, Service Location and Status are listed (assuming the respective columns are displayed).
FAQs
How do I change a menu?
You change a menu by scheduling the new menu (see Scheduling a Menu above). Doing so will prompt you to replace the existing menu of the same type (e.g., your new standard menu replaces your existing standard menu).
Can the weekly view be changed from Sunday to Saturday?
No. At this time, the weekly view can only be from from Monday to Sunday.
How do I temporarily change my menu for only one meal service (breakfast, lunch, dinner) on a specific day?
You have the following options:
- A special event menu can be created for the meal service (breakfast, lunch or dinner) and day. Therefore, if you are serving a lunch holiday meal, you can just create a special event menu for lunch. On the day such a special event menu is active, the breakfast is served from the standard menu, lunch is served from the special event menu, and dinner is served from the standard menu. See About the Special Event Menu for more information.
- You can temporarily replace the menu items for the meal service on the date. When the service date passes, the original item will return for the future service dates. See Replacing a Menu Item for more information.
How do I start the menu cycle on a different week (i.e., not week 1)?
To have the menu start in week 2 or later in its cycle, you can enter a past Sunday as the start date (i.e., backdate the start date). See Scheduling Menu to Not Start on Week 1 above.
I made changes to my menu, but want to revert back. Is there a way to recover/restore a previous version of the menu?
No. Unfortunately at this time there is no revert function to recover/restore previous menu settings.
However, if a menu item was temporarily replaced on a date, then when the date passes, the original item will return for the future service dates.
If needing to make a change to the menu properties (name, number of weeks, number of choices, etc.), see Editing Menu Properties.
How long before changes that I make to my menu are seen in the Touch app, digital menu board, POS, and Portal app?
Changes that you make to a menu will trigger to the Touch app, digital menu board, POS, and 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.
Can two standard menus be scheduled (i.e., active) at the same time?
You can have two standard menus active at the same time as long as each menu is assigned to a different menu service location (MSL).