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Meal Plans and Diners

Kevin U
  • Updated

Assigning a Meal Plan to a Diner

To assign a meal plan to a diner, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
     
  2. Click the Meal Plan tab.
     
  3. Click the Assign a New Plan button. The Assign Meal Plan pop-up appears. 
     
  4. Enter or select the following:
    • Meal Plan Policy - select the meal plan. If the desired meal plan is not available, then it indicates that the diner and meal plan do not share the same diner category (to make the diner category assignments, see Working with Diner Profiles and the appropriate creating a meal plan topic).
    • Start date - select when the plan becomes active (a past date cannot be selected). 
       
  5. Click the Assign button. The pop-up closes and the newly-assigned meal plan is listed for the diner with its balance in the Available Balance column.

    Note 1: If the meal plan was configured to be pro-rated, the adjusted balance is shown.
    Note 2: If the diner was already assigned a meal plan, then that meal plan is suspended for the diner, and the newly-assigned meal plan is made active. 
     
  6. If the meal plan is a prepaid meal plan (i.e., one-time meal plan), then the next step is to add a credit amount to the meal plan. See Applying a Credit to a Diner's Meal Plan below.

Note: A diner can only be assigned a single meal plan. If you assign a meal plan to a diner who already has a meal plan, that original meal plan will be deactivated for the diner. 

Applying a Credit to a Diner's Meal Plan

For a prepaid meal plan (i.e., one-time meal plan) that is assigned to a diner, you must manually credit the meal plan.

For a standard meal plan (i.e, one that resets), you can manually apply a credit, which is useful in case of a discrepancy or error with the points/dollar amount during a transaction, or if the diner accidentally overpaid at the time of transaction.

To manually apply a credit to a diner’s meal plan, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
     
  2. Click the Meal Plan tab.
     
  3. In the Actions column, click the gear icon and select Credit. The Credit Account to Meal Plan pop-up appears. 

    credit_meal_plan.png
     
  4. Enter the amount in the Amount field. Enter any applicable comments in the Comment field.
     
  5. Click the Credit button to close the pop-up. The updated balance is displayed in the Available Balance column. 

Applying a Debit to a Diner's Meal Plan

There is the ability to manually apply a debit to a diner’s meal plan. This is useful in case of a discrepancy or error with the points/dollar amount during a transaction, or if the diner accidentally underpaid at the time of transaction.

To manually apply a debit to a diner’s meal plan, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
     
  2. Click the Meal Plan tab.
     
  3. In the Actions column, click the gear icon and select Debit. The Debit Account to Meal Plan pop-up appears.

    debit_meal_plan.png
     
  4. Enter the amount in the Amount field. Enter any applicable comments in the Comment field.
     
  5. Click the Debit button to close the pop-up. The updated balance is displayed in the Available Balance column. 

Viewing Meal Plan Balances for Diners

To view the meal plan balance for a diner: 

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
     
  2. Click the Meal Plan tab. The current balance is listed in the Available Balance column.

Viewing Meal Plan Transactions (i.e., Activity) of a Diner

To view the transactions (i.e., activity) made on a meal plan by an individual diner, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
     
  2. Click the Meal Plan tab.
     
  3. To have the tab list any currently-suspended meal plans for the diner, select the Show Suspended Meal Plans check box. 
     
  4. Click the name of the meal plan whose activity you want to view. Or, from the Actions column, click the gear icon and select View Activity. A separate screen appears listing individual transaction records made under the meal plan. A transaction record contains the following:
     
    • Date and time of transaction
    • Transaction ID
    • Diner Name
    • Ticket ID
    • Type of transaction
    • Meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
    • POS location
    • Notes that may have been entered when the transaction occurred
    • Amount of credit or debit
    • Account balance

      meal_plan_activity_no_support_tool.png
       
  5. If required to export the onscreen information to an Excel®, you can do so via the Export to Excel button. 

Viewing the Diner Profiles a Meal Plan is Assigned To

To view the diner profiles a meal plan is assigned to:

  1. In the Touch Admin software, select People Management > Meal Plans. The Meal Plans screen appears.
     
  2. Click the Accounts button for the meal plan whose diners you want to see are assigned. The Meal Plan screen appears listing the diner profiles (aka accounts) who are assigned to the meal plan.

Deactivating/Suspending a Meal Plan for a Diner

To deactivate/suspend a meal plan for a diner, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
     
  2. Click the Meal Plan tab.
     
  3. In the Actions column, click the gear icon and select Deactivate Plan. A confirmation message appears.
     
  4. Click Deactivate to the confirmation message. 
     
  5. The plan is deactivated. To view it, select the Show Suspended Meal Plans check box. The Status column of the deactivated meal plan states Suspended. 

Disabling (i.e., Suspending) a Meal Plan in System

A meal plan can be disabled (i.e., suspended) in the system. Doing so will immediately prevent all diners who are assigned the meal plan from using that meal plan. When a meal plan is disabled, it cannot be re-enabled. 

  1. In the Touch Admin software, select People Management > Meal Plans. The Meal Plans screen appears.
     
  2. A currently-enabled meal plan appears with the Disable button. To disable the meal plan, click its Disable button. A confirmation message appears. 

    meal_plan_disable.png
     
  3. Click OK. The meal plan is suspended. 

MealSuite Support Only: Bulk Assigning Meal Plan to Multiple Diner Profiles

A MealSuite Support representative has the ability to bulk assign a meal plan to multiple diner profiles. If you are MealSuite Support, complete the following steps to do so:

  1. In the Touch Admin software, from the left navigation pane, click People Management. The Diner Management screen opens, listing the diner profiles in the account.
     
  2. Click the Bulk Assign Meal Plan/Charge Account button. The screen refreshes with check boxes beside each diner profile.
     
  3. Select the diner profiles to assign to a meal plan. 
     
  4. Click the Proceed to Assign button. The Assign Meal Plan / Charge Account pop-up appears. 

    diner_profile_bulk_assign.png
     
  5. Ensure the Meal Plan option is selected.
     
  6. From the Meal Plan Policy drop-down, select the meal plan to assign.
     
  7. From the Start Date field, select the start date for the meal plan.
     
  8. Click the Assign button, and click OK to the confirmation message that appears. 

FAQs

The meal plan option is not showing/not available for a diner (i.e., resident or staff member)?

This most likely indicates that the diner (i.e., resident or staff member) is not assigned a meal plan. For a new resident who is admitted to the system or a staff member who is entered in the system, you must manually assign them a meal plan, which is done in the Touch Admin software. See the following articles as needed:

Can a meal plan that was suspended for a diner be reassigned/reactivated? 

Yes. If a meal plan is currently suspended for a diner, then you can reactive it by simply following the standard steps to assign a meal plan.