Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices

This guide takes you through the third step in setting up a meal in Arbor, adding prices to your provisions so that the right students are charged the correct amounts, or not at all.

Please note: This step requires the Finance: Administer permission on your profile. 

If you do not intend to charge for meals in Arbor at all, skip this step and move on to Setting Up Meals - Step 4 - Scheduling Meal Sittings.

This guide is the fourth in a series of eight. The other guides in this series are:

• Setting Up Meals - Introduction
• Setting Up Meals - Step 1 - Adding a Meal
• Setting Up Meals - Step 2 - Adding Provisions
• Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices
• Setting Up Meals - Step 4 - Scheduling Meal Sittings
• Setting Up Meals - Step 5 - Managing Attendees
• Setting Up Meals - Optional - Regular Meal Choices
• Setting Up Meals - Frequently Asked Questions and Further Reading

Provision prices 

The prices you set during this part of the setup determine how much a student gets charged each time the provision is marked down for them on your meal register. In other words, the price you set here determines the invoice associated with a meal choice.

While it is possible to change meal prices later, this can be tricky depending on the situation, so ensure you double-check your choices during this step before proceeding to scheduling sittings in the next step.

Students are always charged the best available price. Free School Meal Students (FSM), for example, are not charged as long as you have set a price of £0 for FSM students, even if their year group has a separate price.

When adding meal provision prices, it is essential to add your prices in this order:

1. Add prices for FSM students first
2. Next (if applicable), add prices for Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) for Year 1, Year 2 and Reception students.
3. Then, add prices for other Year Groups with a unique price.
4. Only then should you use the 'All Other Students/Staff' option to cover all students who pay the standard price.

Adding 'All Students' first prevents you from setting UFSM and FSM as separate price categories, since those students are also included in 'All Students'.

If 'All Students' is first added but not used, you can delete it by clicking the red 'Delete Price Category' button to start with the FSM and UFSM categories instead.

Adding prices to your provisions

To get started with adding meal prices:

• Go to School > Meals > [on the left-hand side] Setup.
• Click on Prices, the third option under your meal's heading.
• Click on the Provision you want to add a price for
  
  
• On the page that opens, click the green +Add button above the Prices table.
• On the slide-over:
  • Use the Price category name box to give your price a name (this is the name that shows in the Prices table once added, so make sure you use a distinguishable name)
  • Set the price you wish to set for your category.
    • For free price categories (such as FSM), ensure that £0 is entered in the Price (inc. VAT) box. This field is required; leaving it empty will prevent saving.
    • For paid categories, enter the price you wish to charge students per meal
  • Set the VAT rate you want to use - typically Exempt for student price categories
  • Select whether the price Applies To Students or Staff
  • Use the Specific Groups to specify which students/staff your price applies to. Remember to use 'All Students' or 'All Other Students' only after you have set prices for all your other groups. The options you might choose from are:
    • Free School Meals Students - used to set a price for all students who are marked as FSM eligible on their profile, regardless of their year group.
    • UFSM - There is no specific option for Universal Free School Meals, so select Year 1, Year 2 and Reception in the dropdown to set a price of £0 for UFSM students.
    • Specific year groups - You may want to charge different amounts for different year groups; use the names of the listed year groups to do this.
    • All Students/All Other Students - use this option to set a blanket price for any students who do not already have a defined price

    • All Staff - Use this option when setting a price for staff who take meals.

      
       

  • Use the From and Until boxes to define the dates between which your price category applies.
  • Click "Set price" to return to the Meal Provision Prices table, or click "Set Price & Add Another" to add another price category.

Repeat the steps for each price category you need, and for each provision you want to set prices for.

To get back to your list of provisions, use the grey Back button on the top-left corner or head to School > Meals > [on the left-hand side] Setup and click on Prices.

Provisions you do not intend to charge for (like 'Absent' or 'A packed meal that the student has brought with them') can be skipped - not setting any price ensures students do not get charged if the provision is selected, even if you have not set a price of £0.

Editing prices

You may need to make minor tweaks to your price categories once you have set them up. In most cases, this is possible; however, if you find yourself completely stuck and have not yet started using your price categories to charge students, it may be better to delete your price categories and start from the beginning (see the next section for help with deleting prices).

For instance, if you need to change the group(s) to which a price category applies, you can only do this by deleting and re-adding the category.

To edit a price category:

• Go to School > Meals > [on the left-hand side] Setup.
• Click on Prices, the third option under your meal's heading.
• Click on the Provision you want to edit the price for
• Click on the price category name you wish to edit in the table
• Make your edits on the slide over. You can:
  • Change the name of a price by clicking Category Name, editing the name in the box and pressing Save Changes
  • The price is updated by clicking the orange "Update Meal Prices" button, then clicking "Edit" on the top right, changing the price in the table, clicking "Update Meal Prices," and then confirming this on the pop-up.
  • Set a price category as inactive (so it can no longer be used) by using the Set Price Category as Inactive button
  • Add a future price change (for example, for the start of a new financial year). Do this by:
    • Clicking Update Meal Prices
    • Changing the end date for the Existing Price in the top table so that this reflects the last day the old price should be active
    • Set a Start Date for your new price in the New Prices table - this date will be the day following the end of your old price.
    • Set an End Date for your new price - this date will be the original end date of your Existing Price (i.e. the one you just replaced)
    • Enter the new price in the Price column
    • Click the green Add meal price change button

Deleting prices

You may need to delete a price category if there is an error. If you have not started using the price category on a register yet, this is possible.

To delete a price category:

• Go to School > Meals > [on the left-hand side] Setup.
• Click on Prices, the third option under your meal's heading.
• Click on the Provision you want to delete a price for
• Click on the Price Category you want to delete
• Click the red Delete Price Category button
• Confirm the deletion on the pop-up

Once you are happy with your meal prices, please proceed to Step 4 of the setup to start scheduling your meal and move on to the following guide in this series for further guidance: Setting Up Meals - Step 4 - Scheduling Meal Sittings