Cypad

Cypad is a cloud catering management suite sold by ParentPay Group for school and college caterers, councils and multi-academy trusts. It covers kitchen management, meal and menu management with allergen controls and pre-ordering, cashless point of sale, and nutritional analysis, and it links to school MIS systems, ParentPay and SIMS. It is now presented under the ParentPay Group name.

Last reviewed

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Best for
School caterers and contract caterers, Local authority school catering
Pricing
Quote only
Runs on
Web

Who it is for

  • School caterers and contract caterers

    Handles menus, pre-orders, stock, safety logs and reporting across many school kitchens, with reporting to prove contract KPIs.

  • Local authority school catering

    Aberdeen City Council is cited as using Cypad Kitchen Manager for school meals.

  • Schools and colleges running their own catering

    The cashless POS and pre-ordering are used by schools such as Eltham College, New Hall School and Laurel Park School.

Less suited to: Restaurants and other food businesses outside education catering: the product is built for schools, MATs and their caterers.

What it does

  • Central menu management

    Keeps menus consistent and compliant across every site.

  • Allergen and dietary controls

    Links menus directly to pupil allergy and dietary profiles.

  • Meal pre-ordering

    Parents and pupils order from home or in class, which improves forecasting and reduces waste.

  • Real-time kitchen visibility

    Live meal counts to support preparation and portion control.

  • Cashless POS

    Cashless payments at the till with several ways to recognise pupils and real-time sales reporting.

  • Direct supplier integration

    Multi-site ordering through one system with order tracking.

  • Stock control

    Matches stock levels to demand to limit over and under ordering.

  • Digital compliance and safety logs

    Auditable food safety records across all sites.

  • Staff attendance and workforce tracking

    Monitors staffing and gives data for payroll and planning.

  • Recipe and document version control

    Makes sure all sites use the latest recipes, menus and safety documents.

  • Two-way messaging

    Sends messages to any or all sites.

  • Nutritional analysis

    Automated nutrition and allergen analysis at recipe and estate level, with traffic light labelling and cost per plate.

  • Centralised reporting

    Reports on stock variance, uptake, waste and compliance across sites.

  • Tablet use in the kitchen

    The vendor says staff can manage tasks, check compliance and enter data on tablets.

Pricing

Pricing model
Quote only

No prices are published; the product pages offer a demo request.

How it compares

Compared with the 23 products in School, Hospital & Contract Food Service that have a profile on this site. These figures describe the category. They are not a recommendation.

  • Names 2 integrations. The median in this category is 2.
  • Lists Web only. Among the 23 products in this category that state their platforms, 10 list an iOS app and 8 list an Android app.

Works with

Other
SIMS
Payments
ParentPay

The vendor says it connects to most leading school MIS systems and cites 300+ integrations, but names only ParentPay and SIMS. It asks customers to confirm compatibility.

Where and how it runs

Customers in
United Kingdom
Platforms
Web
Hardware
Described as built for tablets in the kitchen. Cashless POS supports several pupil recognition methods; specific hardware is not named on the vendor's site.

The vendor group says it serves schools across the UK and Europe. The UK comes from its named UK customers; the catering product pages do not list countries.

The company

Company
ParentPay Limited
Registration
Company No. 04513692, registered in England and Wales
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Other offices
Pforzheim, Germany, Gouda, Netherlands
Customers named by the vendor
Aberdeen City Council, Eltham College, New Hall School, Laurel Park School, Juniper Ventures Ltd, Chadsmead Primary Academy

Security and support

Security and compliance
GDPR-compliant systems (vendor statement for the group)
Support
The group states personalised onboarding, training and ongoing technical support, with a support portal for customers.

Listing details

Vendor
ParentPay Group
Built for
Contract food service
Focus
Food-specific
Status
Active
Website
parentpaygroup.com

Alternatives to Cypad

See all 26 in School, Hospital & Contract Food Service

  • Civica Catering Management

    Civica Catering Management (formerly Saffron) is cloud software for caterers that covers menu and recipe planning, procurement and stock control, allergen and nutrition tracking, and reporting.

    Names 3 integrations, against 2 for Cypad.

  • VMC Cashless Catering

    VMC (UK) Ltd builds and installs cashless payment and EPOS systems for catering, and this page covers its education offer for schools, colleges and universities.

    Runs on Web, iOS and Android, against Web for Cypad.

  • MealSuite

    MealSuite is foodservice software for senior living and healthcare communities.

    Names 18 integrations, against 2 for Cypad.

  • MySchoolBucks

    MySchoolBucks is a school payments platform from Heartland School Solutions, part of Global Payments.

    Runs on Web, iOS and Android, against Web for Cypad.

Compare Cypad

Side-by-side tables built from the same profile data.

What we could not confirm

These points were not confirmed when this page was written.

  • Any price
  • Contract terms
  • When Cypad joined ParentPay Group
  • Interface languages
  • Named MIS integrations beyond SIMS
  • Hardware models
  • Cypad-specific team size

Sources

Facts on this page come from the pages below, checked on 29 September 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm with the vendor before you buy.

  1. Catering management overview, customershttps://www.parentpaygroup.com/products/catering-management/
  2. Kitchen management featureshttps://www.parentpaygroup.com/products/kitchen-management/
  3. Meal management featureshttps://www.parentpaygroup.com/products/meal-management/
  4. Group background, support, securityhttps://www.parentpaygroup.com/about-us/
  5. Legal entities and officeshttps://www.parentpaygroup.com/legal/company-information/