Configure meals for your programs and create a summary report for the kitchen.
Updated: March 16, 2025
With the Meals feature, you can configure programs with one or more meal periods, offer multiple diet options, collect information about dietary restrictions, and produce a report for your kitchen.
Some configuration options described in this article are available only with certain software subscription plans. Unsure if a feature is available for your center? Ask your friendly Retreat Guru support team.
Enable meals
You may enable/disable Meals as a global default for new programs and define which meals are included at Settings > Operations > Meals.
In the image above, meals are enabled by default for new programs. Arriving guests get Dinner. Each day during their stay, guests get Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. On their departure day, guests get only Breakfast.
New programs will automatically be configured with the options you specify for Meals in Settings.
For a specific program, you can enable/disable meals - you can override the global setting.
Go to Programs > (select a program to edit) > Registration > Advanced Options > Meals. To enable meals, check the box. To disable, uncheck the box.
In the same section at Programs > (select a program to edit) > Registration > Advanced Options > Meals, you may override the global meal configuration. In this example, the global meal period settings were modified - no lunch on Day 2 and Day 4 of this sample 5-day program.
For a specific registration, you may override the global and/or program settings.
Go to Registrations > (select a registration to edit) > Meals.
If you select Default Rules, the Meal rules for this registration will be inherited from the Program or the global settings if no custom rules have been set for the Program.
You may set this registration to No Meals or Custom Rules. If you select Custom Rules, you may choose which meals are included per day.
Configure meal types
If your menu is the same for everyone, you can just enable Meals in Settings (as described above) - you may not need to configure meal types or diet notes. You can override the enable/disable Meals setting for a specific program if needed.
If you offer menu options, you can give your guests a choice of meal (diet) types and allow them to identify dietary restrictions (diet notes) on the registration form.
You can customize the names of the meal types and diet notes to match your offerings. In the examples in this article, we've renamed the diet field Meal Type. See Create or Edit Registration Questions.
Sample meal (diet) types:
- Chef's choice (may include meat, poultry, fish)
- Vegetarian (may include eggs, dairy, honey)
Sample dietary restrictions (diet notes):
- Gluten-free
- No dairy
- Low salt
- No soy
- No peanuts or tree nuts
- Other medically severe restriction
Special fields
Two special fields (questions) are associated with Meals. The Diet field (slug = diet) and the Diet Notes field (slug = diet-notes). For examples in this article, we've renamed the diet field Meal Type.
A sample section of an online registration form is shown below.
Responses to these special fields will appear on the Meal Report. We'll talk about the Meal Report later in this article.
A special program note
A special program note field named Kitchen Notes (slug = kitchennotes) can be used to display information for the kitchen. In this example, we've renamed kitchen notes to KIT notes.
You may set a global default text for Kitchen Notes at Settings > Programs > Program Notes > Note Categories. When a new program is created, the default text is copied to the note in the program. You can make changes to this copy if you need to.
You may override the global default for a specific program. Go to Programs > (choose a program to edit) > Advanced > Program Notes to edit the Kitchen Notes.
This special program note - the Kitchen Notes - will appear on the Meal Report.
The Meal Report
The Meal Report provides a summary for a specified date range by program and meal type. The data is totaled for quick reference.
Registrations for programs with Meals enabled will appear on the Meal Report.
As described earlier in this article, you can enable Meals globally in Settings > Operations > Meals and/or on a program level at Programs > (select a program to edit) > Registration > Advanced Options > Meals.
To view the Meal Report, go to Reports > Meal Report.
Enter a date range or choose a pre-set like the next 7 days or the next 14 days.
The Come Alive program shown on the meal report shown above begins on April 12th and has been configured so that Dinner on the 12th is the first meal that participants will receive. The program ends on April 16th, and Breakfast on the 16th is the last meal that participants will receive.
Note that meals for guest Jasmine Rice have been customized (to override program settings). Jasmine will not have lunch on the 15th or dinner on the 12th, 13th, or 15th.
Report components:
- Program name - the report is organized by program for those that have Meals enabled and that occur during the reporting period.
- Totals - shown per day per meal (B = breakfast, L = lunch, D = dinner), and per diet (Chef's choice, Vegetarian, etc.) The totals are summarized per program, per day, per diet (meal type). Totals for all programs appear at the bottom of the report.
- Kitchen notes - appear for each program.
- Diet - in our sample, we renamed this field to Meal Type. The Meal Report shows the total per meal type (diet) per day per program.
- Not Specified - people who have not selected a Meal Type. Meals were enabled for the program, but the guest did not respond to the Meal Type (slug = diet) field, or that field is not being used.
- Diet notes - a * appears by meal types that include participants with diet notes (like gluten-free, no dairy, etc.) To Expand all diet notes, check the box near the top of the meal report
- Print - to produce a printable version of the meal report. Most printer setups will allow you to choose either portrait or landscape orientation and to print background graphics.
- Additional Meals - add a section for meals not connected to a registration or a program (more about Additional Meals below).
In the sample below, we have checked Expand all diet notes.
Additional Meals
You may sometimes serve meals not associated with a registration or a program. For example, you may wish to forecast walk-in diners, add a number for a non-registered group, or add an allocation for staff meals. These additional meals will be included in the Total Meals table at the bottom of the page.
You can easily add these by selecting Additional Meals. (a.k.a. bulk meals)
Add a title for these special meals, add notes for the kitchen, and enter the number of meals per meal period per day.
You may add one or more Additional Meals sections to the Meal Report.
Meals Summary in Registrations View
A legacy Meal Summary is currently available in the Registrations View.
The Meal Summary is a legacy feature and may be deprecated in the future.
Kitchen Report in Standard Reports
A legacy Kitchen Report is available in the Reports > Standard Reports.
The Kitchen Report is available for a specific day (not a date range).
The Kitchen Report is a legacy feature and may be deprecated in the future.
“First we eat, then we do everything else.” ~ M.F.K. Fisher
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