---
title: Have You Started Planning for Back to School Season? Consider Turning Your Meal Program Up a Notch!
description: Most have started – thinking, planning, and organizing for the 2017-2018 school year. It's never too early to begin organizing materials, student class enrollment, back to school kick off, student registration events, and fall programs.
image: https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hubfs/Blog/turn-up-the-volume-logo.png
---

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# ![Connections Blog](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hubfs/LP_Templates/Connections-Blog/Connections-Blog-Logo-2024.svg)

Fresh insights for school leaders

# Have You Started Planning for Back to School Season? Consider Turning Your Meal Program Up a Notch!

Posted by [Renee Pisaturo](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/author/renee-pisaturo) on May 2, 2017, 11:26:27 AM

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![turn-up-the-volume-logo.png](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog/turn-up-the-volume-logo.png?width=320&name=turn-up-the-volume-logo.png)Most have started – thinking, planning, and organizing for the 2017-2018 school year. It's never too early to begin organizing materials, student class enrollment, back to school kick off, student registration events, and fall programs.

Does student lunch participation come to mind? How do you plan to get more students involved in purchasing lunch? Do you consider the short lunch period – where cafeteria staff feel rushed to transact students and make sure they have time to eat?

**Our research shows that for every student who submits cash or check payment, it can take up to 7 seconds for the transaction to complete.**

What does that mean? 50 students could add 6 minutes to each lunch period.  If those same students prepaid for their meals, more time can be spent making additional sales at your serving lines.

MySchoolBucks provides a[library](http://marketingcentral.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb_meal_pay/msb_marketing_guide_meals.html) of supporting material to help promote its service to students and parents. Utilizing these FREE resources can help get the word out to parents, increase participation and speed up your serving lines!

Promotional materials are also available for [School Store](https://www.heartlandpaymentsystems.com/school-solutions/payment-solutions/school-store) users. Promote a school event, apparel, tech fees and more! Create a custom flyer, add your own message and logo and have them sent directly to you.

To place an order or access any of these materials, be sure to visit [MySchoolBucks Marketing Central](http://marketingcentral.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb_meal_pay/msb_marketing_guide_meals.html).  

---

**So you received the materials, now what?**

- Distribute **flyers** at school registration night, use MySchoolBucks **stickers** to jot down the website or a student ID number for a parent!
- Place a **tabletop display** with **postcard announcements** at each of your school office locations
- Distribute **pencils** or **magnets** at a back to school event!
- Use the **[Social Media](http://marketingcentral.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb_meal_pay/msb_marketing_guide_meals.html#social) photos and content** to post on your district's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages
- Work with your web developer to add a **[MySchoolBucks button](http://marketingcentral.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/msb_meal_pay/msb_marketing_guide_meals.html#buttons)** to your district website with a link.

Be sure to visit the [Marketing Guide](http://books.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/books/qhks/) for more tips and tricks on how you can "Turn Up the Volume" for your meal program in the upcoming school year!

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 Topics: [School Breakfast](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/topic/school-breakfast), [School Payments](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/topic/school-payments), [Social Media](https://blog.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/topic/social-media)

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### Nutrition Technology

- [Point of Sale](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/nutrition-technology/point-of-sale)
- [Free and Reduced](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/nutrition-technology/free-and-reduced)
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- [Menu Planning](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/nutrition-technology/menu-planning)
- [Meal Orders](https://www.heartlandschoolsolutions.com/en/nutrition-technology/meal-orders)
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