Flexischools impresses with school lunches online
I don’t like making school lunches. There, I’ve said it. And now I have an easy way of not doing it.
My younger son just changed schools and his new school uses Flexischools for its online ordering. I must say I’m very impressed.
The uniform shop and the canteen are both on the system. Ordering is simple and efficient. I can place a canteen order up until mid-morning on the day – so even someone as forgetful as me has a fall-back. Thus far the system has been seamless and neat. I set up online ordering at my son’s old school a few years ago and so have some idea how complex this task can be. To have created something that appears to scale so well over many, many schools is a nice achievement.
Of course there were old-fashioned ways of doing this. But they generally involved sending in money with the kids which was both fiddly and prone to error along the way. This is dependable, cashless and easy.
My only criticism is that the interface design could do with some work. It functions, but it’s not entirely intuitive or pretty. It took me a while to work out how to repeat a lunch order for the whole week, for example.
Flexischools does also have a mobile app available. But it’s a bit rich asking customers to buy it given the company makes its money on each transaction undertaken through the system. I don’t see why they went down that road and, on principle, I’m not prepared to pay even the $2 asking price to try it out.
All in all, Flexischools is a boon for parents and for the schools involved. It’s a great idea that fulfills its promise of actually making life simpler – and it means I’m not making school lunches any more!
Hi Evan. Great to hear you’re enjoying the site. As you noted, it’s been a challenge to make one system that works across the diverse range of school activities (canteen, uniforms, events, fundraising), handle the variations within those functions, and then present one seamless experience. The areas for improvement you’ve noted are very valid – stay tuned over the next few weeks, as I think you’ll be happy with some new developments we’re releasing.
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