If you ask 10 kids what their favourite food is, you’ll likely get 10 different answers. And if you ask their parents what they would like their kids to eat, you’ll definitely get 10 different answers. So why do schools offer so few options when it comes to school lunches?

How schools typically handle school lunches

The answer is that it is impossible for school administrators to organize and manage the huge number of lunch suppliers that would be required to provide each child with the ideal lunch. So schools compromise and typically do two things: 1) they undergo some form of selection process and select a single lunch provider, or 2) they leave it up to the parents to pack their own kids’ lunches (while perhaps peppering in a few ‘fun’ lunches every few weeks).

Now this situation works quite well for a few families. Some kids quite enjoy the menu of the chosen provider (at least for a while) and some parents have the time and energy to pack lunches every day. But for many families, this is not ideal.

Many families are left out

For example, as more and more families adopt non-traditional working situations, many parents find it extremely challenging to find the time to prepare nutritious lunches every day that their kids will eat. Many children also have specific nutritional requirements (perhaps health-related or due to religious reasons) that are not adequately addressed by the chosen lunch caterer. And typically school lunch programs require lengthy commitments. And as every parent knows, kids’ preferences can change on a dime. No one likes paying for a catered lunch that sits completely uneaten.

For parents… the feeling is one of helplessness and lack of control.

For parents in these situations, the feeling is one of helplessness and lack of control. They’d like to be able to order in, say, a fresh salad for their child, but it’s not on the program’s menu that day and they don’t have the ingredients at home to make it themselves before they go to work.

And there are really no other options. At work, they could just use one of the many meal delivery services to order themselves lunch, but they can’t do it for their kids at school due to the school’s restricted access policies. Parents don’t have enough options.

Giving parents more options

If parents can decide on a daily basis what their children are eating, they will be able to make better choices. It may be unrealistic to expecting their school to proactively offer exactly what they need, but what if there was another way? What if we turned the situation on its head and started with what parents wanted, instead of what the school is able to provide?

This is exactly what Lunchy is aiming to do. By enabling parents to buy and sell each other’s lunches, Lunchy allows parents to start taking more control over school lunch options. Parents can of course continue to subscribe to the official lunch program or make lunches themselves if it works for them, but for those that would like to explore new options, another avenue is now open to them.

By enabling parents to buy and sell each other’s lunches, Lunchy allows parents to start taking more control over school lunch options.

Imagine a thriving Lunchy community at your school where dozens of parents list their own lunch offers ranging from homemade halal meals to pizza pickups from the local pizza shop. Parents helping parents solve the lunch problem.

There is a way to make school lunches better. All it takes is a little re-imagining.