Yes, that's right, it is FREE! CATERMAN delivered over the internet is free for use
by schools/colleges/universities and some hospitals! All data is kept confidential except for what you buy and how much you pay for it,
which is made available to our sponsors.
You may occasionally receive special offers from our sponsors,
and occasional unobtrusive adverts which will not impair the normal functioning of CATERMAN.
If you wish to take advantage of Free CATERMAN, you must write to us on your official school/college/university headed notepaper stating your
name, the position you hold in your organisation, and the password you wish to use (at least ten letters/numbers, no spaces).
Subject to our approval, a CATERMAN installation will be made available for your use, including an example data-set.
You and your delegates will be responsible for your system, with access to the highest password power level.
We reserve the right to transfer your system between our servers from time to time, which may necessitate access to the system moving to
a different web address (e.g from www.caterman.info to www.caterman.??? or similar), so advise that access is via your own version of the
login screen on your own server/website.
At any time, you may request the transfer of your system to an IBM Cloud installation which must be arranged through your local accredited
IBM supplier subject to our approval, whereupon all of your data will be confidential to you and no adverts will appear.
CATERMAN offers these benefits to your catering operation:-
Cashless catering is a must for all susceptible
restaurant/shop situations where bacteria can be passed from hand to hand, as handling
money is one of the prime vectors for spread of diseases such as Salmonella,
E-Coli, etc..
Combine this with requirements for healthy eating
initiatives, diet control, nutrition analysis, free meal allowances, disparate
pricing for teachers, pupils, visitors, etc. plus multiple payment methods such
as vouchers, cheque, credit/debit cards, and internet payments, plus catering
management, and you are still only seeing a part of the overall picture.
Systems providing facilities to meet these requirements
can prove expensive, with proprietary EPOS terminals and cash-to-card machines
all costing large amounts plus running and maintenance, central in-house
computer systems requiring maintenance, housekeeping, updating, and so on.
Often, particular ID swipe cards are needed adding another expense (in some
cases as much as £3.50/$6/€5 to replace a lost ID card).
CATERMAN cuts across all these problems, utilising
standard PC hardware with optional additions which are easily fitted by users
such as barcode readers, magnetic stripe card readers, RFID tag readers, touch
screens, etc. for EPOS terminals. Almost ANY existing unique ID card
already carried by your students can be used for a CATERMAN cashless catering
card, old credit cards, library cards, transport cards, etc. Why have multiple
cards for different systems? Or you can print your own very cheaply with simply
a picture of the individual plus a bar code! Tell
us about your particular requirements!
Many cashless catering account holders will have a mobile phone. CATERMAN
provides a service based on SMS text messages where an account holder can query
the account for current balance and what has been spent/paid-in on a range of dates,
or details of all transactions on a particular date. By simply sending a text with
a code letter (and a date if required) to an allocated phone number, a text message
is returned showing the required data. In the near future, we expect mobile
phones to be equipped with a RFID tag, allowing the phone to be used to identify the
account holder with no need for a card etc. As CATERMAN allows all ID methods
to co-exist on a mix and match basis, all means of identifying an account holder are
provided in the standard system.
Moving to a cashless system with a big-bang approach can sometimes be a mistake, and
cause major problems. For example, at some schools there will always be Little Johnny
arriving with a handful of coins to pay for his meal. CATERMAN allows for cash payments
(which may be phased out over a period if required), simply add a cash drawer to
the EPOS terminal/PC (many are available, ranging from stand-alone to integrated with
the EPOS terminal and/or opened from the keyboard).
For organisations not eligible for Free CATERMAN, or organisations which
choose to pay rather than use the free version, CATERMAN costs only £250/$350/€300 per annum for
each simultaneous power user (minimum 3 users), so typically a school with 1000
pupils might have up to 5 EPOS terminals plus 5 other users at any time for
£2500/$3500/€3000 per annum. Of course, outside mealtimes there can be 10
non-EPOS users. Non-power users (classed as zero-level password owners with mobile phones)
may log on to the system at a cost of an SMS text message (typically £0.05 UK, $0.10 USA, €0.07 Europe)
to enquire on their own accounts, place advance orders, inspect their nutritional averages, etc.
or use their mobile phone to text advance orders. Non-power users who have account(s) with external-access
passwords plus system access passwords with assigned PIN similarly may log on to the system at no cost.
For organisations which prefer to have their own in-house installations (necessary if SMS facilities are required),
a CATERMAN server can be
provided and installed for £6000 plus £3000 per annum support/maintenance. Access via internet with a static
IP address must be provided for support/maintenance, and for CATERMAN access by non-staff users/parents/guardians.
EPOS terminals (PCs with touch screens etc.) should be connected to the server by LAN or wireless (EPOS terminals
are not supplied). Staff users may be connected either by LAN/wireless or via the internet, but UK schools/colleges
may be subject to restrictions imposed by their current provider of internet access so that no other internet
access is allowed - in this case it is essential to consult the provider to establish what facilities are
available for external access. Additional schools/colleges may be supported on the same server at an annual
cost of £3000 each.
Non-UK schools/colleges who require in-house servers are requested to contact us with a view to arrangements
being made with a local IT supplier.
If you are going to install cashless catering, or
your existing cashless catering system needs replacing, please do your budgets
a favour by talking to us before
spending a lot of money on an obsolescent system – the future
is in lean, efficient, economical, internet-based applications. You will be amazed
at the advantages of advance ordering by your customers, cutting down queues, wastage,
counter space, and expensive staff resources!