Everything HR, operations and finance teams ask about running a subsidized on-site cafeteria with EZTime: how the station works, meal rules, hardware, peak-hour lines, payroll, caterer billing, biometrics and pricing.
It is a system that controls who receives a subsidized meal in an on-site cafeteria. Employees identify at a station, the system checks the meal rules and prints a voucher, and every meal is recorded for reporting, payroll and caterer reconciliation.
It is a module of the EZTime time and attendance system. A wall-mounted tablet identifies the employee, checks eligibility for the meal served at that hour and sends a voucher to a small thermal printer next to it.
Large cafeterias, manufacturing plants, industrial parks, construction projects, warehouses, logistics centers, hospitals, campuses and any workplace with an on-site cafeteria or catering service that subsidizes employee meals.
It replaces paper tickets, punch cards, signature sheets and caterer headcounts. You see how many meals were served, to whom and at what cost every day, instead of waiting for the caterer’s invoice.
The cafeteria module is part of the EZTime platform and uses the same employee list and identities as the time clock. Book a demo and we will recommend the right setup for your site.
Yes. EZTime sells the cafeteria module to US employers. Book a demo to get pricing and hardware details for your location.
Yes. Every meal is saved in the cloud with the employee, the time, the station and the meal type, and appears in the EZTime management dashboard.
Yes. You can always see who received which meal, when and at which station, which gives you a complete audit trail for payroll and for the caterer’s invoice.
The employee identifies at the tablet, chooses the meal if more than one is available, the system checks the rules, and a voucher prints in about a second. The employee hands the voucher to the kitchen.
No. Employees identify with their face, fingerprint, RFID badge or PIN at the cafeteria tablet. There is no QR code to show and nothing to install on a phone.
No. There are no paper cards with a hole punched for every meal and no ticket books to hand out. Every meal is recorded in the cloud when the voucher prints.
With an RFID badge, face recognition through the tablet camera, a fingerprint sensor, or an ID and PIN code, depending on how the station is configured.
Yes. The cafeteria station uses the same employee identities as EZTime attendance, so employees do not need a separate meal card.
No. A credential registered on one company tablet is available on the company’s other tablets.
Yes. You define meal types and the hours each is served, and the employee chooses from the meals available at that time.
A small printed voucher with the meal details. The employee gives it to the cook or the serving counter.
Yes. You decide whether the price appears on the printed voucher or stays hidden.
The station does not issue a voucher, so the kitchen does not need to make the decision.
The tablet can be set to English.
Yes. Each meal type has its own time window, for example breakfast in the morning and lunch at midday.
Yes. Eligibility can be set by employee, department or shift.
Yes. Each meal type can be fully covered by the company or include an employee contribution.
Yes. You can set daily limits per employee.
Yes. You can define a daily budget, and reports show employees who exceeded it.
Every voucher is tied to an identified employee and checked against the daily limit. Face and fingerprint identification also stop badge sharing.
You can define eligibility rules for who gets a meal, including rules based on employees, departments and shifts.
Yes. Create a meal type with the hours your night shift eats and assign the right employees or shift.
Yes. Menus, prices and rules are updated from the management dashboard and apply to all stations.
You can assign tablet managers. Once a tablet manager is set, only that manager can open the tablet settings with an ID and PIN.
A slim tablet, a compact thermal voucher printer and a wall mount that hides the cables. Fingerprint sensors and card readers are available for the tablet.
A zero-ink thermal printer. There are no ink cartridges, only paper rolls.
In about a second after the employee is identified.
By Bluetooth for a clean, cable-free setup, or by USB.
No. Face recognition uses the tablet camera.
Yes. Fingerprint identification uses a fingerprint sensor and badge identification uses a card reader. Tablets ordered with them arrive connected and ready.
Yes. The station is designed for the lunch rush and continuous use, with a wall mount that protects the equipment.
The system sends an alert by text or email, so someone can replace the roll before a line forms.
EZTime tablets support an offline mode for attendance reporting that syncs when the connection returns. Ask our team how it applies to your cafeteria setup.
Yes. It is an excellent fit for large cafeterias, manufacturing plants, industrial parks and construction projects: there is no limit on stations, every station reports to one cloud dashboard, and employees use the same identity as at the time clock.
Yes. Crews identify with the same badge, face or fingerprint they use to clock in, and meals are recorded per employee in the same cloud account.
Place enough stations for the busiest lunch wave, set meal rules centrally, enroll employees with the same identity used for attendance, and monitor meals by department and hour in reports. There is no limit on the number of stations.
As many as you need. There is no limit on the number of cafeteria stations.
No. Identification and printing take seconds, the employee takes a small voucher to the kitchen, and you can add stations where lines form.
Yes. All stations report into the same company account, and reports can be filtered by department or branch.
Count how many employees arrive in the busiest 15 minutes and place stations at each cafeteria entrance or counter accordingly. Our team can help you plan it.
Yes. Menus, prices and rules are updated remotely from the web dashboard for all stations.
Import the employee list into EZTime, then register credentials at the tablets, or reuse the badges and biometric identities already used for attendance.
Meals by day, department, hour and meal type, plus employees who exceeded their limits or budget.
Yes. You can see how many meals were served today and by which department.
Yes. The system records the number of meals and the meal value per employee, which you can use for payroll.
Set the employee contribution per meal type. The meal count and value per employee are available for payroll deductions.
It depends on how the benefit is provided and on your situation. EZTime gives payroll the meal data it needs; confirm the tax treatment with your payroll provider or tax advisor.
Compare the meals the caterer billed with the vouchers your stations printed, by day and by meal type.
Yes. Reports break meals down by department, so each cost center sees its share.
Alerts by text or email for issues such as a printer out of paper, a disconnected printer, unusual meal quantities or employees over budget.
No. Employees can also use an RFID badge or an ID and PIN code.
Yes. Some states regulate biometric data, such as Illinois under BIPA, and Texas and Washington under their own laws. Common requirements include notice, written consent and a retention policy. This is general information, not legal advice.
Yes. Each site can use RFID badges or PIN codes instead of biometrics.
The EZTime app can be pinned to the tablet screen so employees cannot exit it or open other apps.
Access follows EZTime permissions, so managers and HR see the data their role allows.
Pricing is a one-time hardware cost plus a monthly software subscription. Book a demo and we will prepare a quote for the number of stations and employees at your site.
It depends on the number of stations and employees. A typical rollout includes defining rules, installing stations, enrolling employees and a pilot week.
Yes. Our team sets up the tablets for your company and helps you configure the stations and meal rules.
Yes. You can start with one site or one station and add more at any time.
EZTime software has a 14-day trial. For the cafeteria module, book a demo to see the station and the reports.
About 5 meters (16 feet) from the tablet.
Yes. Each station needs an internet connection so that meals, rules and reports sync to the cloud in real time.
Companies including Gilro and Imco use the EZTime cafeteria system.
Book a demo at a time that suits you. We will review your meals, rules and peak hours and recommend the right number of stations.
Book a short demo and we will answer it with your own meal rules, peak hours and number of employees.