Meal slots

Meal planning is where festivals win or lose money. Mandali plans meals per day and per slot, so your kitchen knows how many people to cook for, by dietary need.

Add a meal slot#

You need at least one day first.

1. Open Meals & RSVPs

   Select Meals & RSVPs → Add a meal.

2. Choose the day and name the meal

   For example Lunch (bhog) or Dinner. Add the serving time if you want it shown to guests.

3. Set prices

   Enter the adult and child price. Use 0 for a free meal; RSVPs are still counted.

4. Set capacity

   Enter the maximum number of people you can serve, or leave it empty for unlimited.

5. Choose dietary options

   Tick the options you will serve: vegetarian, non-vegetarian, Jain, vegan or gluten-free. Guests choose one of these when they RSVP, which gives the kitchen its split.

Pause and resume#

Select Pause to stop new RSVPs for a meal, for example when the kitchen is full, without losing the RSVPs you have. Resume reopens it.

Edit and delete#

You can edit any field of a meal slot while its season is open. Deleting a meal slot is permanent; pause it instead once people have RSVP'd.

Good practice#

• Set capacity from your caterer's quote, not from hope. You can raise it later.
• Price child meals separately; many committees charge less or nothing for under-12s.
• Offer only the options you'll actually cook. Each extra option complicates the kitchen.