ezlunch news

Duncan Tolmie interviews the CEO and Founder of EzLunch and Kindo, the lunch ordering and administration system in over 300 NZ schools. Sandra Finlay talks about the back-bone of her business, how to create a culture of community, her greatest legacy and more!

Click the link to hear the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/258809/1009040

“The convenience thing is huge now, and we need it without it being a compromise.”

'Convenience without compromise' is how Sandra Finlay describes her simple but brilliant tuckshop makeover for the 21st century. Frustrated by the unhealthy, traditional stodge being sold at her children's school, Finlay made up her mind - with no online background - that she was going to streamline the entire process by putting it on the internet and making it healthy.

And so her company EZ Lunch was born. Schools sign up for the programme, which sees local cafés and caterers make school lunches from a set menu. If parents want their children to get lunch from the service, they organise it all online. No fuss, no mess, and no having to root around for spare change to put in an envelope.

And the best part? The menu was approved by the Heart Foundation, based on Finlay's ideals of additive-free and colour-free food. "When my son first started school, their tuck shop wasn't anything that was particularly useful to me, as a parent who wanted to make sure the food that was going to my children was good food. We might use it once a term as a treat, but it wasn't useful for those emergency days when the bread's gone mouldy and you've run out of fruit."

Finlay, a mum of three, with one daughter who has intolerances to certain foods, decided parents needed a bit more assistance when it came to what they were getting from existing school systems, and started doing some research.

"We looked at exactly how many schools were in New Zealand, what sort of sales we could get through tuckshops, the use of technology in Kiwi households... All that kind of stuff that could try and give us an idea of what sort of sales we could expect, and therefore what kind of prices we could charge."

She admits a lot of the initial calculations were 'wrong when we got in there', but that was the start of EZ Lunch, which launched in 2011, two years after she came up with the initial idea.

“It was based around all the learning I had for my own children," Finlay recalls. “I still clearly remember standing in the middle of the supermarket, when I found out my daughter had food intolerances and just feeling overwhelmed by everything I picked up. It's an awful feeling to think you've been feeding these things to your children and you had no idea."

Taking NEXT behind the scenes in Dellows Kitchen, in Auckland's Herne Bay, we get to see EZ Lunch in action.

The cooks at Dellows have created fresh, individually packaged meals for local schools - lunchboxes filled with butter chicken, macaroni and cheese and sushi are piled up, each labelled with a child's name and room number. The system is now

available at 75-80 schools around New Zealand in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Christchurch.

"We have just reached the point where we're having schools ring us, which is fabulous," Finlay enthuses. "They see it happening in their neighbouring schools and think that it could work well for them. The convenience thing is huge now, and we need it without it being a compromise."

Her enterprise saw her win the Best Food & Beverage award at the Fly Buys Mumtrepreneur awards, which Finlay says made her family extremely proud - her daughter Kate picked her when asked to do a school project on an inspirational person, even though Finlay tried to sway her towards Sir Edmund Hillary or Helen Keller.

But she maintains that growing her own business came, at first, out of needing a job that would work around - rather than against - her role as a mother.

"Working full-time for another company wasn't ever 'The an option; there are just too many school holidays. It makes it really difficult for working mothers. I liked convenience the idea of doing something for myself, so if I do have to drop everything and go pick my daughter up from thing is huge school, I can.

"And that's been the same with everyone I've now, and we contracted - they're parents who would love to earn a need it without bit of extra money and have maybe 15 hours of spare time a week. There's a lot of talent out there - you don't it being a have to write off an entire sector of the population just because they have another role in life as well.” 

Ezlunch is launching a school lunch service in the Waikato headed up by Cambridge mother of two, Melissa Teesdale. The company has served over 60,000 school lunches to Kiwi kids since its launch nearly two years ago by providing a link between schools and a network of local cafés. Busy parents need convenience, without compromising health; the real gain for parents lies in the convenience, according to Ms Teesdale. "Orders can be made online or by text as late as 9am on the day of delivery and the meals are delivered to schools for around the same price as coffee and a slice."

All ezlunch cafés prepare school lunches from fresh whole ingredients each day. “Convenience and healthy food don't often go together," said Melissa. “The reason that ezlunch has been so successful is that parent's don't have to compromise one to get the other. This is a really easy way for parents to make sure their children eat well at school.” The company's family focus means that all the proprietary software has been developed to efficiently handle families with multiple children and even multiple schools. Parents can order for all of their children in one page, quickly and efficiently.

The business was originally started by entrepreneur and parent Sandra Finlay, who developed the online school lunch ordering system as a direct response to her own difficulties finding convenient healthy food for her children. Two years on, with the help of some smart technology and partnership with a network of café's and catering businesses, Sandra's vision has turned into a successful business.

Sausage rolls and donuts are off the menu for school kids using an online lunch ordering system. Ezlunch has replaced junk food lunches in 26 schools Auckland wide since it was established in February last year. Mairangi Bay mum and Ezlunch director Sandra Finlay says around 7000 children are now ordering their lunches from her online menus. Mrs Finlay says she wanted to support super busy parents by providing healthy lunches, without the effort. Mrs Finlay says she became aware of food additives when her eldest son developed a dairy intolerance and wanted a way of providing effortless, risk-free lunches. "It's a bit shocking what's in our food. Why is there MSG and gluten in sausages? They're supposed to be meat. "I just figured we're in New Zealand, everything is clean and green and I suppose I was very trusting," she says. The mum of three was concerned to see other kids' lunchboxes filled with packets of "non-food". "Often both parents are working and it's tempting to send kids off to school with convenient rubbish," she says.

Once the school tuck shop shut down after government criteria for healthy school food, Mrs Finlay says parents were left with no choice. Thus Ezlunch was born, giving parents the ability to order lunches online or via text, using a prepaid account. Each school has a different menu compiled by Mrs Finlay and a local supplier with help from the Heart Foundation. Vegetarians, kids allergic to peanuts or with intolerances to gluten or dairy can have lunch combos delivered straight to school. Sushi is the number one seller, Mrs Finlay says, but "healthy pies" and mini-chocolate muffins are also a winner. Sunnybrae Primary was quick to jump on board with a growing number of schools, including 10 from the North Shore.

Sunnybrae Primary office administrator Oriel Charmley says around 20 students out of a total 350 order with Ezlunch each day. "I would say more parents will use it as time goes on. "The children do like the food. It's been good for those who can't have nuts or eggs," she says. The school hasn't had a tuck shop for 10 years and has rarely had issues with students' lunches, Ms Charmley says. "At the end of the day schools don't have the right to tell parents what to put in their lunchboxes." Plans to extend the service to disadvantaged school kids are in the pipeline, Mrs Finlay says. "Once we're established I will certainly find out who to work with to get some good food to them. "It's about access to computers as well as cost, so that is something we will need to look at getting around," she says.

Here at ezlunch, we believe that feeding students isn't just about filling their bellies; it's about nourishing their minds and fostering healthy habits that will last a lifetime. That's why we're thrilled to share some interesting trends and feedback from our 2023 annual survey, highlighting what ezlunch does well.

The main recurring theme that stood out is the flexibility and convenience ezlunch provides in the busy lives of our caregivers. 

With our online ordering system available 24/7, ezlunch allows caregivers to effortlessly plan and manage their children's meals, saving precious time. And when those delicious, healthy meals are delivered directly to the school,  it's also supporting local cafes, caterers, and suppliers. It’s a win/win!

However, one interesting theme that stood out for us was that many caregivers said they appreciated the opportunity ezlunch provides to teach their kids about financial responsibility. These caregivers are allowing their children to put their pocket money towards lunch orders and ezlunch is empowering these students to make their own choices, to understand the concept of budgeting, and appreciate the value of their hard-earned money.

Picture this: Your child earns their pocket money, or you assign them a weekly lunch allowance, and they eagerly ask you to log into the family myKindo account to place their order for the week. As they select from the nutritious options available, they're not just making a meal choice; they're making a financial decision. They learn to weigh their options, consider the prices, and make responsible choices within their budget. It's a valuable lesson that extends far beyond the school lunch table.

This is such a great concept, and one we will be taking with us as we continue to develop and improve our service. 

We understand the importance of fuelling young minds for success. By providing nutritious meals that help kids thrive and engage in their learning, we're not just delivering food; we're nourishing the future generation. 

So, as we reflect on the feedback from our valued customers, we're reminded of the impact ezlunch has beyond just providing meals. We're nurturing financial literacy, supporting local communities, and empowering children to make healthy choices—all while making life a little easier for caregivers. 

It's a mission we're proud to pursue every day!

Lana – Marketing, Mum 

Schools $55,000 better off offering lunches with school payments

In the common struggle for funding for those extra items such as more teacher aides and enticing learning programmes, NZ-based school payments system Kindo has come up with an innovative solution.

“We’ve found that schools requesting fees and donations on Kindo collect, on average, $55,000 more when they offer ezlunch (lunch delivery sales) on the platform too,” says Sandra Finlay, founder.

Finlay is convinced it’s to do with the 25% of school payments that are made in conjunction with school shop purchases… families are finding it easier to see what’s being requested and act while they’re on Kindo for other purchases.

According to Finlay, they’ve been hearing anecdotal evidence, but now the schools using both Kindo Payables (launched in 2019) and their ezlunch service are numerous meaning we have been able to analyse the data accurately. “We’re definitely hearing evidence of increased donations, reduced outstanding debts and money trickling in all the time where it never used to.”

Uptake of Kindo Payables has been rapid and schools are reporting positive impacts on both timing and volume of funding coming in, compared to use of other online school payment systems that don’t offer the ‘all-in-one’ shopping with school payments.

Ezlunch is highly effective as it’s often a drawcard for families to visit Kindo weekly. Schools also report using Kindo for trip permission forms, uniform, sports registrations and fundraisers can be effective at getting school payments made.

“It just makes sense. Giving busy families one place to transact with the school, that’s accessible, clear, and easy to use, and that they have reason to access often, is going to make an impact on school income.” And that, she says, is mission accomplished.

We are excited to have launched the new look ezlunch website today. It feels like a fresh start. Something a bit fun while many of our team, schools and families are still locked down at home.

More than that, it’s finally retiring the last of our original website, built as we were bursting with excitement to be launching the first healthy online lunch platform in NZ back in 2010. I was so proud of our look then! How things have moved on!

Most of our families were on computers at home, using Internet Explorer, and now we have phone apps and Google for everything.

My kids have grown with it – from nappies for the youngest to now university for the oldest, they were the inspiration behind ezlunch and it has been an indelible part of all of our lives.

We celebrated our first ten schools, our first one hundred, our first million items sold. Now we have Kindo school payments, and ezlunch, with 430 schools across NZ and millions of items sold. No excuse for paper forms and raiding money boxes now!

With all that change, it was time to update and a great chance to start showing some personality and fun for our younger school eaters.

We hope our little characters and new look bring a sparkle to your day, as we continue delivering fresh-made lunches for many years to come!

Sandra. Founder, CEO, Mum.

School lunches transform foodservice business model 

Two Auckland foodservice businesses have built resilience into their business models and boosted revenue by teaming up with online school lunch service ezlunch. The unconventional partnership has allowed both businesses, a sushi shop and a café, to weather the impact of 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns, coming back even more strongly to exceed previous sales. These businesses are two of the 90 food service businesses working with ezlunch across the country – and the company is looking to bring more suppliers on board in 2021.

Ezlunch offers schools across the country a wide variety of healthy hot and cold school lunches and after school snacks by matching each school up with local cafés or food suppliers. Parents order online before 9am for meals to be delivered directly to the school before 12pm.  Bob Han at Go Deli café explained that most orders come in between 8am and 8.30am, with parents ordering on their mobiles just before school drop off.

Located in Mairangi Bay on Auckland’s North Shore, Go Deli was the first supplier to sign up with ezlunch ten years ago.  Now Bob and his team deliver lunches to 52 schools, making between 1200 - 1500 meals every morning and sending them off on seven delivery routes. “We haven’t sent out a late delivery yet,” said Bob.

Since working with ezlunch, turnover has increased by 600%.  Bob has taken on ten members of staff and built a new kitchen for Go Deli Catering run by Maggi Foldi.  The catering business is 90% dedicated to filling ezlunch orders. “We work closely with the Heart Foundation to get accreditation, which means that our menus are assessed each year. This is really important to schools. We also use 100% recyclable packaging.”

Additional delivery and packaging costs mean that ezlunch sales have lower margins when compared with walk-in sales in the café, but the revenue is more stable and there’s less food wastage - and ezlunch proved to be a lifeline during last year’s lockdowns.  “Business dropped off when schools were closed but as soon as the children went back, orders picked up immediately and went on to exceed previous sales,” said Bob. “We were surprised, but it shows that parents prioritise their children when it comes to spending.” 

Greg Taylor noticed the same uptick in ezlunch sales post-lockdown at his Whangaparaoa sushi business with a massive 50% increase in sales.  Greg set up Sushi4U with his wife in 2013 as a conventional walk-in shop. He started a regular delivery once a week to one local school in 2016 but it was all analogue. “We collected a box with the orders, counted the coins and made sure everything added up – it was very laborious and there was lots of room for error,” said Greg.  When ezlunch took on the school in 2016, they approached Sushi4U to become a supplier five days a week, supported by an online ordering system and helpdesk team. “We were a little apprehensive about the 9am cut off and 12pm delivery but we were proved wrong,” said Greg. 

Sushi4U now supplies 11 schools, and the business is 99% ezlunch. In February 2019 Greg made the decision to close the shop to walk-in business and focus on catering. “It’s really busy, high paced work to get lunches out to our schools but we’re now earning more during in the 40-week school year than in the 51-weeks we previously worked.  It’s an early start but we’re finished by 12.30pm.”

Monday is a slower day for lunch orders so that allows time for ordering and background work like putting up themed menus for Easter, Halloween or Christmas or promoting any specials on the ezlunch system.  “It’s really easy to use and gives us the flexibility to limit sales of certain items or mark items as sold out if necessary. The system also allows us to limit orders if they’re coming in too quickly. That helps us make sure we meet delivery deadlines – we’ve only had to do that two or three times in six years. Ezlunch is great to work with. If there’s a problem the helpdesk staff are always friendly, they really promote our business. It’s a great arrangement for us.”

If you’re interested in talking to ezlunch about becoming an ezlunch supplier, call 09 869 5200

Contactless payments & trouble-free food

Food at school has become a hot topic with the upcoming launch of an expanded national school lunch scheme. Combine that with the challenges of COVID-19 that have pushed schools rapidly online for both payments and refunds and you’ll see why Principals Today decided to take a closer look at New Zealand’s first online ‘one stop shop’ for schools. We track the development of Kindo from an online school lunch solution to a comprehensive school payments system used by 330 schools, handling over 800,000 items per year.

12 years ago, Sandra Finlay came up with the concept of a new kind of school software that enabled parents to order healthy school lunches by connecting schools to fresh food suppliers. ezlunch launched in 2010 and subsequent investment in development saw the software become increasingly intuitive and capable of simplifying other school transactions. In consultation with schools, the system underpinning ezlunch was launched as Kindo in 2013.

Kindo offers a cost-effective way for schools to collect donations and attendance dues, sell uniforms and stationery, manage school trip and camp payments, sports subscriptions, permission forms, and fundraisers. Kindo was the first system to integrate with eTAP and now Edge, Linc-ed Hero and Kamar, delivering a ‘single source of truth’ to keep student details in sync while reducing payment administration. 

Vauxhall School located on Auckland’s North Shore and Paparoa Street School on the outskirts of Christchurch have followed different paths to the same decision, taking all school payments online using Kindo. Vauxhall School has 273 students on the roll and has been offering ezlunch to students twice a week for eight years. The primary is a feeder school for nearby Belmont Intermediate and Takapuna Grammar, and all three schools use the Kindo platform for student payments. Community familiarity with the system made it easy for Vauxhall School to expand beyond ezlunch to introduce Kindo in late 2019. 

Shannon McNaughton is both school administrator and parent, so experiences Kindo from both sides of the fence.  “It’s awesome, so easy. Before we started using Kindo for student payments, we had to print off EFTPOS receipts to be photocopied, coded, and filed.  We were using the finance component from our current Student Management System and every time someone paid, I had to go into each item manually. 

“Kindo has done away with all that – it’s a big time saving.  With Kindo Payables, all items are coded from the start, reports are summarised, and all we have to do is input the totals into Xero.”

On ezlunch days, Shannon gets a list of orders and the lunches arrive, labelled and ready to distribute.  “We also use Kindo to run regular fundraisers like Jesters Pie days,” she explains. “It takes me less than five minutes to set up an event on Kindo and send out a link in our newsletter – over 80% of students participated last term with zero parent help required.”

When asked what she would say to other schools, Shannon McNaughton does not hesitate: “Just get it – from a paperwork and admin perspective Kindo takes away all the pressure.”

Kindo and ezlunch were introduced at Paparoa Street School at the beginning of 2020.  With no prior knowledge of either service, the school invested time to bring the PTA, office staff, Accounts and Principal, Pene Abbie, together for an initial meeting.  The school was already using a local lunch provider and wanted to take everything into a single system, so Kindo quickly adopted Little Lunches as an ezlunch supplier. 

PTA Chairperson, Niki Franklin took on school lunches as part of her role this year and directly manages ezlunch.  “ezlunch is very flexible and Kindo offers lots of other opportunities for the PTA to set up ticket sales and fundraisers,” she said. “We’re excited by the simplicity. We ran a free sausage sizzle with registrations on Kindo to get parents up and running on the system.  It all worked very well.

“No-one has cash anymore so it’s great to be able to operate in a way that suits our community. The best thing about Kindo is the ease of adding items to sell, whether it’s a fundraising event or a product.”

Camille Lamond, office administrator at Paparoa Primary found Kindo ‘relatively straightforward’: “I was a little nervous at first, but we’ve already got most of our parents using Kindo. Kindo Payables is easy. You can send out invoice items to an individual class or year and set up groups for particular payments like sports team transport.  It has really cut down the fiddly admin side of my work.”  With her newly discovered free time, Camille has been able to embark on some personal development and is enjoying working in new areas. 

Leaving the last word to the two Principals, Pene Abbie, Principal at Paparoa Street Primary said the most important benefit has been parents’ ease of access to payments: “The clear win for us has been our parents’ ability to obtain the things they need for their children within the school environment and the individualisation enabled by Kindo.  We saw an initial impact on the collection of donations and other payments — COVID has changed that but the potential is definitely there.”

Gary Lawrence from Vauxhall School commented: “We’re pleased that we’ve gone down the path of having all payments and fees in one place. Kindo makes it easy to raise funds through community events — this means we can reinvest those funds back into the classroom, providing more learning assistant hours.”

Duncan Tolmie interviews the CEO and Founder of EzLunch and Kindo, the lunch ordering and administration system in over 300 NZ schools. Sandra Finlay talks about the back-bone of her business, how to create a culture of community, her greatest legacy and more!

Click the link to hear the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/258809/1009040

“The convenience thing is huge now, and we need it without it being a compromise.”

'Convenience without compromise' is how Sandra Finlay describes her simple but brilliant tuckshop makeover for the 21st century. Frustrated by the unhealthy, traditional stodge being sold at her children's school, Finlay made up her mind - with no online background - that she was going to streamline the entire process by putting it on the internet and making it healthy.

And so her company EZ Lunch was born. Schools sign up for the programme, which sees local cafés and caterers make school lunches from a set menu. If parents want their children to get lunch from the service, they organise it all online. No fuss, no mess, and no having to root around for spare change to put in an envelope.

And the best part? The menu was approved by the Heart Foundation, based on Finlay's ideals of additive-free and colour-free food. "When my son first started school, their tuck shop wasn't anything that was particularly useful to me, as a parent who wanted to make sure the food that was going to my children was good food. We might use it once a term as a treat, but it wasn't useful for those emergency days when the bread's gone mouldy and you've run out of fruit."

Finlay, a mum of three, with one daughter who has intolerances to certain foods, decided parents needed a bit more assistance when it came to what they were getting from existing school systems, and started doing some research.

"We looked at exactly how many schools were in New Zealand, what sort of sales we could get through tuckshops, the use of technology in Kiwi households... All that kind of stuff that could try and give us an idea of what sort of sales we could expect, and therefore what kind of prices we could charge."

She admits a lot of the initial calculations were 'wrong when we got in there', but that was the start of EZ Lunch, which launched in 2011, two years after she came up with the initial idea.

“It was based around all the learning I had for my own children," Finlay recalls. “I still clearly remember standing in the middle of the supermarket, when I found out my daughter had food intolerances and just feeling overwhelmed by everything I picked up. It's an awful feeling to think you've been feeding these things to your children and you had no idea."

Taking NEXT behind the scenes in Dellows Kitchen, in Auckland's Herne Bay, we get to see EZ Lunch in action.

The cooks at Dellows have created fresh, individually packaged meals for local schools - lunchboxes filled with butter chicken, macaroni and cheese and sushi are piled up, each labelled with a child's name and room number. The system is now

available at 75-80 schools around New Zealand in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Christchurch.

"We have just reached the point where we're having schools ring us, which is fabulous," Finlay enthuses. "They see it happening in their neighbouring schools and think that it could work well for them. The convenience thing is huge now, and we need it without it being a compromise."

Her enterprise saw her win the Best Food & Beverage award at the Fly Buys Mumtrepreneur awards, which Finlay says made her family extremely proud - her daughter Kate picked her when asked to do a school project on an inspirational person, even though Finlay tried to sway her towards Sir Edmund Hillary or Helen Keller.

But she maintains that growing her own business came, at first, out of needing a job that would work around - rather than against - her role as a mother.

"Working full-time for another company wasn't ever 'The an option; there are just too many school holidays. It makes it really difficult for working mothers. I liked convenience the idea of doing something for myself, so if I do have to drop everything and go pick my daughter up from thing is huge school, I can.

"And that's been the same with everyone I've now, and we contracted - they're parents who would love to earn a need it without bit of extra money and have maybe 15 hours of spare time a week. There's a lot of talent out there - you don't it being a have to write off an entire sector of the population just because they have another role in life as well.” 

Ezlunch is launching a school lunch service in the Waikato headed up by Cambridge mother of two, Melissa Teesdale. The company has served over 60,000 school lunches to Kiwi kids since its launch nearly two years ago by providing a link between schools and a network of local cafés. Busy parents need convenience, without compromising health; the real gain for parents lies in the convenience, according to Ms Teesdale. "Orders can be made online or by text as late as 9am on the day of delivery and the meals are delivered to schools for around the same price as coffee and a slice."

All ezlunch cafés prepare school lunches from fresh whole ingredients each day. “Convenience and healthy food don't often go together," said Melissa. “The reason that ezlunch has been so successful is that parent's don't have to compromise one to get the other. This is a really easy way for parents to make sure their children eat well at school.” The company's family focus means that all the proprietary software has been developed to efficiently handle families with multiple children and even multiple schools. Parents can order for all of their children in one page, quickly and efficiently.

The business was originally started by entrepreneur and parent Sandra Finlay, who developed the online school lunch ordering system as a direct response to her own difficulties finding convenient healthy food for her children. Two years on, with the help of some smart technology and partnership with a network of café's and catering businesses, Sandra's vision has turned into a successful business.

Sausage rolls and donuts are off the menu for school kids using an online lunch ordering system. Ezlunch has replaced junk food lunches in 26 schools Auckland wide since it was established in February last year. Mairangi Bay mum and Ezlunch director Sandra Finlay says around 7000 children are now ordering their lunches from her online menus. Mrs Finlay says she wanted to support super busy parents by providing healthy lunches, without the effort. Mrs Finlay says she became aware of food additives when her eldest son developed a dairy intolerance and wanted a way of providing effortless, risk-free lunches. "It's a bit shocking what's in our food. Why is there MSG and gluten in sausages? They're supposed to be meat. "I just figured we're in New Zealand, everything is clean and green and I suppose I was very trusting," she says. The mum of three was concerned to see other kids' lunchboxes filled with packets of "non-food". "Often both parents are working and it's tempting to send kids off to school with convenient rubbish," she says.

Once the school tuck shop shut down after government criteria for healthy school food, Mrs Finlay says parents were left with no choice. Thus Ezlunch was born, giving parents the ability to order lunches online or via text, using a prepaid account. Each school has a different menu compiled by Mrs Finlay and a local supplier with help from the Heart Foundation. Vegetarians, kids allergic to peanuts or with intolerances to gluten or dairy can have lunch combos delivered straight to school. Sushi is the number one seller, Mrs Finlay says, but "healthy pies" and mini-chocolate muffins are also a winner. Sunnybrae Primary was quick to jump on board with a growing number of schools, including 10 from the North Shore.

Sunnybrae Primary office administrator Oriel Charmley says around 20 students out of a total 350 order with Ezlunch each day. "I would say more parents will use it as time goes on. "The children do like the food. It's been good for those who can't have nuts or eggs," she says. The school hasn't had a tuck shop for 10 years and has rarely had issues with students' lunches, Ms Charmley says. "At the end of the day schools don't have the right to tell parents what to put in their lunchboxes." Plans to extend the service to disadvantaged school kids are in the pipeline, Mrs Finlay says. "Once we're established I will certainly find out who to work with to get some good food to them. "It's about access to computers as well as cost, so that is something we will need to look at getting around," she says.