Food Services

Each day, before 6:00 a.m., EFS receives the prior day’s ending file for student meal balances directly from the school or through its integrated meal vendor; the ending file contains student name, account balance, grade, and building number. This data transfer is how we provide your parents with AutoPay, recurring payments, and low-meal-balance notifications.

Our real-time API retrieves student meal balances each time a parent signs into EFS and displays their current account information. Your school may select between our real-time API, the Secure File Transfer Protocol EFS Wizard, and a daily file download to automatically post payments to student lunch accounts.

With EFS, your staff will never need to worry about installing or maintaining software on its school’s network. We remove credit/debit card acceptance risk and worry by passing parents from your school’s website to our online web hosted, highly secure, payment processing system.

All PCI/DSS data is stored on the EFS network, so schools don’t have to worry about strict and costly compliance concerns.

Traditional PC-based online payments are being surpassed by parents wanting to use a mobile device. Because of this trend, EFS has created an API allowing mobile app providers to accept meal payments with little effort. For schools who do not have a provider, we offer our mobile-optimized payment interface. Parents can add the EFS logo to the home screen of their mobile device and simply tap to make a payment.

EFS offers multiple forms of payment. While credit and debit cards are still the most popular, given a choice, over 60% of parents would rather use an ACH direct debit because of its lower processing costs and ease of use. If a school is currently absorbing credit card surcharges for their parent payments, they too can see significant savings in the annual budget by accepting ACH payments.

Providing food services to other departments and organizations brings the unwanted task of tracking down its payment. AutoPay eliminates any delay in getting paid for invoices by automatically debiting a listed credit or debit card. Food service or catering requests no longer need to go through a billing cycle each time an order is delivered. Simply debit their listed card, and EFS will email payment confirmation.

EFS offers low balance notifications to parents who authorize the service. Parents can also activate a low balance option that automatically replenishes funds to their student’s meal account once it drops below a specific amount. Parents choose what amount works best for them, and they receive an email once their payment is processed. Low balance payments can be made using a credit/debit card or ACH direct debit.

Parents on a budget often find recurring payments are a great convenience. The EFS System allows payers to schedule an ACH direct debit or credit/debit card charge for a fixed amount. Quite often set for the day after payday, parents choose between weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payments. One-time, post-dated payments are available as well because parents can choose an end date for any automatic withdrawal.

EFS integrates with vendors that offer staff lunch accounts within its food service module. Our vendor integration provides online and mobile access for administrators, teachers and personnel wanting an easy, on-the-go funding option for their meal balances. Lunch payments are posted in just a few seconds after taking payment, and staff members receive confirmation via email notification.

EFS can recognize your free and reduced student settings in our POS, online and mobile payment platforms. Schools can take advantage of this development to flag other purchases available for discounted pricing. For example, the bookstore sells bottled water and flavored drinks; students with no discount pay full price while students on free or reduced lunch will have the price automatically adjusted.

EFS provides parents and guests an easy way to say thank you to that special teacher or donate toward a pay-it-forward campaign like Feed-A-Student. Designated by the donor, our fundraising module permits $10, $15 or $20 donations to the Food Services Department for a specific staff person or program. This EFS solution is great for helping to increase funds through online, mobile, and in-person contributions.

EFS makes it easy for parents to purchase snacks when their child is attending before- and after-school care. We supply your department’s choices through a drop-down menu so making food selections is a fast and user-friendly experience. Added bonus: Parents can pay for snacks at the same time they pay tuition!

Static and dynamic reports are available 24/7. Reports provide the detailed payment transaction information that Food Service Directors have come to expect. Dynamic reports allow search requests by date, school building, payment method and more. In addition to different filters, reports can be exported as a PDF or Excel file, so food services have flexibility when storing online payments.

School staff operating the EFS System can be restricted to authorized data on a need-to-know basis. While most schools use a common Food Services Department bank account, EFS provides the flexibility to have an unlimited number of deposit locations. The reconciliation process is also easy, as only the lump-sum total for ACH direct debits and credit/debit card are listed.

Promoting convenience and safety, K12 Student Wallet eliminates the need for children to carry cash for district purchases. EFS allows your parents to extend an authorized credit toward school-related items such as ticket sales, bookstore supplies, spirit wear, art material, a-la-carte snacks, and any other items your school makes available.

While students can learn from and enjoy the freedom of making purchases on campus and during school events, Mom and Dad can maintain control over permitted expenditures and spending limits. Parents will decide a maximum daily and weekly spending limit and can cancel credit authorization at any time from their EFS parent account.