Run the meal

Every meal moves through a short lifecycle — from setup, to taking signups, to serving, to finished. You drive it from the meal's detail page, one clear step at a time.

The lifecycle at a glance

Open a meal from the Calendar or from a signup. A strip near the top shows where it stands and the next step. Each state has a plain-language label:

Not open yet

Set up but closed to signups. The starting point for a new meal.

Taking signups

Open for members to join, up to capacity.

Finalized for kitchen

Signups are locked and the count is firm, so the kitchen can cook to it.

Serving now

The meal is being served at the door or kiosk.

Finished

The meal is over and its numbers are settled.

Move through the steps

1. Press Open for signups when you're ready for members to join.

2. When signups close, press Finalize for kitchen to lock the count.

   Use the Kitchen sheet tab to hand the kitchen a clean summary — headcount, allergen alerts, dietary breakdown, choice breakdown, and notes from signups.

3. Press Start serving at mealtime, then Close meal when it's done.

The tabs you'll use

Signups

The roster for this meal. Add a signup, confirm, cancel, or record a walk-in.

Menu

Attach or swap the menu for this meal.

Kitchen sheet

The count and dietary summary the kitchen cooks from.

Shifts

A read-only view of kitchen shifts spawned from this meal. Assignment lives in Service Hours.

Notes

Kitchen and front-of-house notes for the team.