The school canteen guide
A till for the canteen, not school fees software
Search for school POS software and you get school management systems: fees, grades, attendance and buses. Ghalleh isn't one of them. Ghalleh is the canteen's till: what sells at the window during break, the stock of juice and sandwiches, a drawer that balances at the end of the day, and the tabs of teachers and staff who buy on account.
So it suits a canteen run by an independent operator inside a school, a private school's canteen run by the school itself, and a university cafeteria with more than one window.
A ten-minute break: buttons instead of search
At break dozens of students line up at the window, with no time to search for an item's name. Make sandwiches, juices and pastries buttons with their photos on the selling screen: the cashier taps the item and the bill is done in seconds. Packaged items with a barcode, crisps and juice boxes, scan with the phone camera or a scanner.
Most students pay cash with the exact amount. The Exact amount button on the payment screen finishes the bill with nothing to type, and the change shows on screen when a student pays more.
- Lay out the buttons like the shelf: sandwiches, pastries, juices, sweets
- Set up the items and their photos before the first school day, not in the first week
A student's prepaid balance
Some parents would rather pay an amount at the start of the month than hand over pocket money every day. In Ghalleh you add the student as a customer by name and record what the parents paid as a payment on their page, and it stays as the student's balance.
At the window the cashier picks the student's name, then Store credit at payment, and the purchase comes off the balance. When it runs low, you send the parents a statement of what was bought and what's left on WhatsApp.
Teacher and staff tabs
The teacher who takes a coffee and a sandwich every morning doesn't pay each time. Every teacher or staff member has a tab that collects their purchases and records part payments as they come in. At month end their statement goes to them on WhatsApp with dates and amounts, instead of a notebook nobody can total.
Everything the staff owe you sits in one number, so before you order next month's stock you know how much of your money is still on account.
Milk, juice and sandwiches: shelf life first
Canteen stock doesn't last: milk and dairy for days, wrapped sandwiches for a day or two. So Ghalleh asks for the expiry date first when stock arrives and shows you every morning what's nearing its date, to move it to the front or sell it at a discount in the first break.
Whatever expired or spoiled, log as waste with its reason: it leaves stock and shows in the reports at cost. After two weeks you know how many sandwiches you really need each day, and you order from the bakery by the numbers, not by guesswork.
Coins and the drawer at the end of the day
A school canteen takes lots of small amounts, and coins are what spoil the drawer count. At shift close you count the cash on screen by denomination, down to the half, quarter, ten-piastre and five-piastre coins, and Ghalleh totals it and compares it with what should be there.
If there's a difference you're notified with the name of whoever closed the shift. Over time you can tell whether it's a change mistake that keeps happening or something that needs your attention.
A university canteen, or more than one window
At a university the cafeteria may run two windows at once, or there may be several canteens on campus. Add a device for each window on the same shop and both sell from one stock, or add each canteen as a branch with its own stock, and see every branch's sales together from your phone.
Each cashier signs in with their own PIN and clocks in from their phone inside the canteen, so you know who was on each window and what each one sold.