Adding and Configuring Dining Areas

• About Dining Areas
  • How Do I Assign People to a Dining Area?
• Opening the Dining Areas Screen
  • Seeing the Menu Service Locations a Dining Area is Assigned To
  • When a Residence Area is Enabled as a Dining Area
• Opening a Dining Area
• Adding a Dining Area
• Entering Start and End Times for Meal Services (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
  • Entering Exceptions to Standard Meal Time Hours
• Adding Tables and Seats
  • Sorting Tables in a Dining Area
• Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area 
  • Configure Advanced Ordering Settings for a Meal Delivery Area in the Touch Admin Site
• Sorting Dining Areas
• Changing Name of a Dining Area
• Changing the Menu Service Location (MSL) of a Dining Area
• Deleting a Dining Area
• FAQs
  • Can you restrict a dining area to only serve meals on specific days?
  • What does the Table Side Select check box do (in the Ordering Settings tab)?
  • What does the Advanced Ordering check box do (in the Ordering Settings tab)?

About Dining Areas

In the system, you assign resident and patient profiles to a dining area or a residence area enabled as a dining area for in-room service.

A dining area in turn is assigned to a menu service location (MSL), which in turn determines the menus that are available to the dining area. 

How Do I Assign People to a Dining Area?

Assigning people to a dining area is done via the People module in MealSuite. For instructions, see Assigning Dining Areas, Tables and Seats to Person.

Opening the Dining Areas Screen

1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Tools & Setup > Facility Builder. The Facility Builder screen appears.
2. Select the Dining Areas tab. The Dining Areas screen appears, listing existing dining areas and residence areas enabled as a dining areas for in-room service.
   
   

Seeing the Menu Service Location a Dining Area is Assigned To

When you open the Dining Areas screen (as per above steps), the menu service location(s) that a dining area is assigned to is displayed in the Menu Service Location column. The menu service location determines the menu that will be available for the dining area (see above for more information). To change the menu service location of a dining area, see Changing the Menu Service Location (MSL) of a Dining Area below. 

When a Residence Area is Enabled as a Dining Area

Note that when a residence area is enabled as a dining area (to allow meal delivery to rooms), it appears on the Dining Areas screen with a bed icon () in the Type column. 

Opening a Dining Area

1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Tools & Setup > Facility Builder. The Facility Builder screen appears.
2. Select the Dining Areas tab. The Dining Areas screen appears, listing existing dining areas and residence areas enabled as a dining areas for in-room service.
   
   
    
3. To open a dining area, click the dining area name in the Dining Area column. The dining area slide-out panel appears with the General Settings tab automatically selected. 
   
   

Adding a Dining Area

1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Tools & Setup > Facility Builder. The Facility Builder screen appears.
2. Select the Dining Areas tab. The existing dining areas are listed. 
   
   
    
3. Click the Add Area button. The Create Dining Area slide-out panel appears. 
   
   
    
4. In the Dining Area Name field, enter the name of the dining area.
5. From the Menu Service Location field, select the menu service location (MSL) to assign the dining area to. The MSL determines the menus that are available to the dining area. If your MealSuite account only uses one MSL (i.e., the default MSL), then select it.
   
    
6. Complete the sections on the slide-out panel as per the instructions below:
   • Entering Start and End Times for Meal Services (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
   • Adding Tables and Seats
     • Sorting Tables in a Dining Area
   • Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area

Entering Start and End Times for Meal Services (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)

1. Open the dining area.
2. Click the Ordering Settings tab.
3. In the grid in the Active Meal Times section (screenshot below), select the check boxes for the meal periods (breakfast, lunch, dinner) that the dining area supports and enter the start and end times for each selected meal period. 
   
   
    
4. Click Save at the top right of the slide-out panel to apply your changes.

Entering Exceptions to Standard Meal Time Hours

If there is an exception to a standard meal time, in which a meal is served outside of the regular hours, then complete the following steps:

1. Select the Add exceptions check box. The screen refreshes the Exception Meal Times section.
   
   
    
2. From the Day field, select the day or days in which the exception applies.
3. Select the check boxes of the meal periods (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) that will have an exception.
4. Enter the start and end times of the selected meal period exceptions.
5. Click Save at the top right of the slide-out panel to apply your changes.
6. To add another exception, click the Add exception link and repeat steps 2 to 5 above.

Adding Tables and Seats

1. Open the dining area.
2. Ensure the General Settings tab is selected.
3. In the Table Configuration Grid section (screenshot below) is where you enter the tables and seats for the dining area. Each row consists of the following fields:
   • Table - enter the table number or name.
   • Shape - select the shape of the table.
   • Seats - select the number of seats for the table.

At a minimum, one table row needs to be entered for a dining area. When you click the Add Row link, the system will automatically populate the next sequential number in the Table field. Ensure to click Save at the top right of the slide-out panel to apply your changes. Also note that another means to add tables is via the Bulk Add button, which displays the Bulk Add Tables pop-up (below) for you to enter the numbers of tables, shape, and number of seats for each table.

Sorting Tables in a Dining Area

You can sort the tables in a dining area, which is reflected in the people reports that are used to deliver meals to residents in a dining area (see Setting the Delivery Sequence for People Reports). To sort tables in a dining area, complete the following steps:

1. Open the dining area.
2. Ensure the General Settings tab is selected.
3. In the Table Configuration Grid section, hold the = icon of a table to be sorted, and drag and drop it to the appropriate spot in the table order. Repeat until you have your desired table sort order. 

Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area

If the dining area is to support orders coming from residents with the advanced ordering service type (either from the Touch app or the Portal app), or paid pickup and delivery orders from a POS station or the Portal app, then service interval increments (i.e., waves) need to be entered for the dining area to allow staff to manage in a staggered manner the number of orders being received. 

Service interval increments translate into pickup/delivery times on the front-end ordering apps (Touch app, POS, and Portal app), as per example screenshots below. 

Example scenario: Assume that a wave is set for 15 minutes for breakfast, with 2 meals served per wave. If the 9:30 to 9:45 AM wave receives two orders, then the 9:30 to 9:45 wave is not available as an option when the user is placing an order from a front-end app. 

 To configure the dining area to support service interval increments, complete the following steps:

1. Open the dining area.
2. Click the Ordering Settings tab.
3. Select the Advanced Ordering check box (first screenshot below). The slide-out panel refreshes with the Ordering Settings - Advanced Ordering & POS section (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   
    
4. In the Service interval increment row, select the service interval increment length for each meal period (Breakfast. Lunch, Dinner). For example, 15 minutes.
5. In the Meal Served per Interval row, select how many meals will be served per wave for a meal period (Breakfast. Lunch, Dinner). For example, 2 meals for a wave.
6. Click Save to apply your changes.

Configure Advanced Ordering Settings for a Meal Delivery Area in the Touch Admin Site

A dining area that exists in the MealSuite core system is represented as a meal delivery area in Touch Admin. There are certain advanced ordering settings that are applied to a meal delivery area in Touch Admin. See Configuring AO Settings in Touch Admin for instructions to do so. 

Sorting Dining Areas

The sort order of dining areas is reflected on the people reports that are used to deliver meals to residents in a dining area (see Setting the Delivery Sequence for People Reports), and also the dining area columns on a Kitchen Production Sheet, the Instant Ordering setup screen in the Touch app, and the Kitchen Production Sheet in the Touch app. To sort the dining areas, complete the following steps:

1. Open the dining areas screen.
2. Hold the = icon of a dining area to be sorted, and drag and drop it to the appropriate spot in the dining area order. Repeat until you have your desired dining are sort order. 
   
   

Changing the Name of a Dining Area

To change the name of a dining area:

1. Open the dining area.
2. Ensure the General Settings tab is selected.
3. In the Dining Area Name field, change the name of the dining are as needed.
4. Click Save to apply your changes.

Changing the Menu Service Location (MSL) of a Dining Area

To change the menu service location (MSL) of a dining area, including a residence area enabled as a dining area for in-room service, complete the following steps:

1. Open the dining area.
2. Ensure the General Settings tab is selected.
3. From the Menu Service Location field, select the menu service location of the dining area. 
   
   
    
4. Click Save to apply the changes. 

Deleting a Dining Area

If no residents/patients are assigned to a dining area (including residents/patients whose profiles are archived in the system), then a dining area can be deleted. To delete a dining area:

1. Open the dining areas screen.
2. For the dining area to be deleted, click its delete icon () in the Actions column.
3. Click the Delete button to the confirmation message that appears. The dining area is deleted.
   
   Note 1: If residents/patients are assigned to the dining area (including archived profiles), a message appears stating that the dining area cannot be deleted, and that you must first reassign those people to a different dining area.
   Note 2: Another means to delete the dining area is to open the dining area by clicking its link, and then clicking the Delete button.
   Note 3: A residence area that is enabled as a dining area does not present with the delete icon, and therefore cannot be deleted from the Dining Areas screen. This is to prevent the accidental deletion of residence areas. If it is required to delete a residence area, then this can be done via the Residences Builder tab (Tools & Setup > Facility Builder > Residences Builder tab). For more information see Deleting a Campus, Building or Area. Alternatively, instead of deleting the residence area, you can disable it as a dining area; to do so see Disabling a Residence Area as a Dining Area.

FAQs

Can you restrict a dining area to only serve meals on specific days?

No. You can enter an exception to the standard meal times hours for specific days (explained above), but you cannot restrict the dining area from serving on specific days. 

Also note that for individual resident/patient profiles, you can set up no meal service for selected or all meal periods (breakfast, lunch, dinner) for selected or all days of the week. For example, no meal service at all for Saturday, and no breakfast on Sunday. See Setting Up “No Meal Service” for a Meal Period (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner). 

What does the Table Side Select check box do (in the Ordering Settings tab)?

For a regular dining area in which resident/patient profiles are assigned, the Table Side Select check box (in the Ordering Settings tab) does not serve a function. It does not need to be selected to allow resident/patient profiles with the Table Select service type to be able to place orders. 

The Table Side Select check box is required to be selected for a dining area with a manual census (i.e., in which no resident/patient profiles are assigned). For more information, see Configuring a Dining Area with a Manual Census.

What does the Advanced Ordering check box do (in the Ordering Settings tab)?

The Advanced Ordering check box (in the Ordering Settings tab) simply displays the Advance Ordering & POS section on the screen to allow you to enter service interval increments (i.e., waves) for the dining area, which translate into pickup/delivery times on the front-end ordering apps (Touch app, POS, and Portal app). See Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area above for more information. 

The ability for resident/patient profiles with the Advanced Ordering service type to be able to place advanced orders (either in Touch app or Portal app) is independent of the Advanced Ordering check box being selected for a dining area.