Yes, we do! When ordering lunch for your child, please enter documented food allergies in the “allergies” text box. Please note that ours is a nut-free kitchen. We prepare allergy meals on separate tray-sealing equipment and they are labeled with a neon red label with your child’s school, name, and food allergy. The school is provided with this information as well. We provide allergy substitutions at no extra cost, except for gluten-free and plant-based (vegetarian & vegan) ingredients, which cost us more. Gluten-free and plant-based meal options are available at an additional cost.

While we don't publish a separate vegetarian menu, we provide a close substitution so that it looks similar to what other kids receive. For example, if we’re serving spaghetti & meatballs, we will use plant-based “meatballs” for the protein. The protein content is always the same or higher as the animal protein version, so macronutrient contents aren't much different. Also, while we try to make the meals look similar, the vegetarian meals are labeled with a neon red sticker with the child's name on it so there's no chance of them getting animal protein. Brands we use include Beyond Meat, Gardein, and Violife.

Currently we don’t offer this option for two reasons: 1) Sometimes our menu changes at the last minute if our distributors “short” us on ingredients and we have to serve something else, so we can’t guarantee the item ordered weeks away will be what your child receives (this is rare but does happen), and 2) We serve thousands of meals daily to dozens of schools, and keeping track of which child gets lunch on which day(s) at each school would be challenging for our kitchen staff to be successful. Our menu is student-curated and has been very popular, so offering lunch on a monthly basis has been the most advantageous for everyone.

There is no difference in price when ordering monthly by semester. Semester options (Spring and Fall) are available as a convenience, as many families find it much easier to avoid having to remember to order by each month’s deadline.

Yes, if your new school uses The Happy Bento as its lunch provider. Much of our growth has been because parents (and kids!) who love our lunches, graduate or move to a new school, and bring us with them! It is up to the new school, so feel free to let the administration know you’d like them to consider us as a lunch vendor.