Berlin School Lunch: Free Through Grade 6, Then Your District's Caterer Sets the Price
Berlin doesn't run one citywide platform the way MensaMax anchors the Munich area, and it doesn't leave the whole question to individual schools the way Hamburg does either: Berlin draws its line directly into state school law. Under Paragraph 19, Section 3 of Berlin's own Schulgesetz, every pupil in grades 1 through 6 at a Grundschule or Gemeinschaftsschule, plus grades 5 and 6 at a grundständiges Gymnasium or integrated secondary school, gets lunch at no charge, a policy the state has funded since 2019, with the law's current wording in force since an August 2024 amendment. From grade 7 on, the same paragraph is just as explicit that pupils pay their own way, and there's no fixed citywide price, only a 2016 Senate recommendation of a 3.50 euro minimum per plate; a real Berlin Gymnasium billing through MensaMax charges 4.36 euros. Free doesn't mean automatic, though: each of Berlin's twelve districts tenders its own school catering contract separately, in a Europe-wide procurement process, so the caterer and the ordering platform your child's specific school actually uses, whether that's Luna Restaurant GmbH's own portal, the nonprofit GASTRO consortium's schulessen.berlin site, MensaMax, or another provider entirely, still requires you to register your child and, in real published examples, cover a small refundable chip deposit even though the meal itself costs nothing. Families who cross into the paid grade-7-and-up tier on a low income aren't left exposed: a valid berlinpass-BuT gets the full cost covered, but only once you've signed a contract directly with the school's own caterer and shown it there.
The Official Rule
Berlin has a habit worth knowing about before any of the platform details below: it tends to erase a cost within an age band by state decision, rather than scaling it to household income the way Berlin’s own Kita fee structure once did in a different context. Kita attendance became free citywide in 2018. School lunch got the same treatment a year later, and unlike most of what governs Ganztag or GBS-style supervision elsewhere, this one is written straight into school law itself.
Paragraph 19, Section 3 of Berlin’s Schulgesetz (SchulG) states that every pupil in grades 1 through 6 at a Grundschule or Gemeinschaftsschule, and grades 5 and 6 specifically at a grundständiges Gymnasium (the small number of Berlin grammar schools that admit from grade 5 rather than grade 7) or an integrated secondary school, receives lunch free of charge, at the state’s expense. That coverage has existed since 2019; the paragraph’s current wording was updated by an amendment that took effect in August 2024. The very next sentence in the same paragraph draws the line just as plainly the other way: from grade 7 on, pupils pay for their own lunch, full stop.
What that free tier does not do is remove the administrative layer underneath it. Berlin’s twelve districts each run their own Europe-wide procurement process for school catering, according to the Senate’s own education pages, so which kitchen supplies the meal, and which digital platform parents use to register a child and place orders, gets settled school by school rather than through one citywide contract. A family moving from a Grundschule where lunch runs through Luna Restaurant GmbH’s own portal to a Gymnasium contracted with the nonprofit GASTRO consortium’s schulessen.berlin site, or to a school running MensaMax instead, is starting from zero each time, new account, new login, sometimes a new chip.
| Feature | Grades 1-6, and 5-6 at a grundständiges Gymnasium | Grade 7 and up |
|---|---|---|
| Cost under Paragraph 19, Section 3 SchulG | Free, state-funded since 2019 | Pupil's own expense, no fixed citywide price |
| Registration with the district's caterer | Still required, one-time account setup | Same registration, plus ongoing account funding |
| Chip or card deposit (real published examples) | 1 EUR at Französisches Gymnasium (grades 5-6); 5 EUR at Johannes-Tews-Grundschule's Luna setup | Same deposit range, on top of the per-meal price |
| Per-meal price (real published example) | 0 EUR | 4.36 EUR at a MensaMax-run Gymnasium; 3.50 EUR is the 2016-recommended minimum |
| Low-income cost support | Not needed, already covered | berlinpass-BuT covers it fully, but only after a contract signed directly with the caterer |
Below the Line: Registering for a Meal That Costs Nothing
Take Johannes-Tews-Grundschule, a real Berlin primary school whose own published lunch page lays out exactly what a free-tier family actually does. The school has used Luna Restaurant GmbH as its caterer since August 2020. Parents still go to Luna’s own website, enter a school-specific code, and open an account, sibling registrations included, before any ordering happens. Each child then gets a physical chip to prove their booking at the serving point, backed by a 5 euro deposit. Meals themselves are chosen roughly four weeks ahead, cancellations are due by 18:00 the previous day, and, in a detail that has nothing to do with cost, a child who racks up five unclaimed, uncancelled bookings can have their Luna contract ended altogether.
None of that changes because the meal is free. The zero-euro price only applies once the registration, the chip, and the ordering rhythm are already in place, and that whole layer is run by Luna, not by the district or the Senate directly.
Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels
Other Berlin schools route the same free-tier registration through an entirely different provider. schulessen.berlin, run by a nonprofit business association called GASTRO that operates three separate catering brands (Schildkröte, Handfest, and Greens Unlimited), issues its own first chip free of charge, with replacements billed at 5 euros at the counter, and asks parents to open a fresh account on its own platform regardless of which of the three brands actually supplies a given school. The chip, the account, and the brand behind the food can all be different from what a family used at their child’s previous school, even though both schools sat on the same free side of the grade-6 line.
Above the Line: When Grade 7 Brings the Bill Back
Französisches Gymnasium Berlin, a public Gymnasium whose own canteen page is unusually specific, shows exactly what changes at the other end of the line. The school states plainly that pupils through grade 6 pay nothing, matching Paragraph 19 exactly, while everyone from grade 7 up, along with staff and guests, pays 4.36 euros per meal. Ordering runs through MensaMax, accessed at mensadigital.de with a school-specific project code, and the mechanics from that point on will look familiar to anyone who has read about MensaMax elsewhere in Germany: a prepaid account funded by bank transfer to the caterer’s own company account, using the login name as payment reference, with a low-balance alert once the balance drops under roughly 15 euros. The RFID chip itself is free at this particular school, but carries a 1 euro refundable deposit, and any meal not cancelled by 18:00 the previous evening is billed regardless of whether it was eaten.
There is no single number every Berlin secondary school charges. A 2016 Senate model tender document recommended a minimum of 3.50 euros per plate for catering contracts covering grade 7 and up, but that figure is a floor, not a fixed price, and individual district contracts, like the one behind Französisches Gymnasium’s 4.36 euro meal, can and do land well above it.
The Safety Net Above the Line
Families whose income would make even a 3.50 to 4.36 euro daily meal a real strain aren’t left to the general Bildungspaket alone. Berlin’s own version, the berlinpass-BuT, is available to households receiving Bürgergeld, Sozialhilfe, Kinderzuschlag, Wohngeld, or benefits under the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz, and it covers the full cost of grade 7-and-up lunch, not a percentage of it. Getting that coverage still runs through the same caterer handling every other family’s registration: you sign a contract with them directly and present the berlinpass-BuT there, rather than the exemption applying automatically because you qualify on paper elsewhere. Independent guidance from Berlin’s own school-catering coordination office is explicit that this is an all-or-nothing arrangement for secondary pupils, full coverage through berlinpass-BuT, or the standard price, with no partial, income-scaled discount in between for anyone who falls just short of qualifying.
What Real People Say
Judging by how schools themselves describe the process on their own websites, the surprise families run into isn’t the free lunch itself, most already know grades 1 through 6 are covered. It’s discovering that “free” still means an account to create, a code to enter, and, at several real schools, a deposit to pay for a piece of plastic that identifies a child who owes nothing. Parents moving between a Luna-run Grundschule and a MensaMax-run Gymnasium describe it less as upgrading a system and more as starting over entirely, different login, different portal, sometimes a different deposit amount for what looks like the same chip.
The other adjustment lands squarely at the grade-6-to-7 transition. A family that never funded an account because their child’s meals were simply free suddenly needs to think about bank transfers, payment references, and low-balance alerts, the exact mechanics MensaMax users in Munich or Hamburg already navigate, arriving all at once in Berlin the moment a child starts grade 7, rather than gradually.
Step by Step
- Check your child’s grade against the free-lunch line set by Paragraph 19 SchulG: grades 1-6 at a Grundschule or Gemeinschaftsschule, and grades 5-6 at a grundständiges Gymnasium, are covered; everything from grade 7 up is not.
- Ask your specific school which caterer and platform it actually uses. Districts contract separately, so don’t assume Luna, schulessen.berlin, or MensaMax just because a neighboring school, or this article’s examples, use one of them.
- Register your child on that caterer’s own portal even if the meal is free. Free removes the price, not the account setup, and several real schools still charge a small refundable chip deposit on top.
- If your child is in grade 7 or older, ask the school for its current per-meal price directly. There’s no citywide number, only a 2016-recommended 3.50 euro floor that individual contracts commonly exceed.
- If you receive Bürgergeld, Sozialhilfe, Kinderzuschlag, Wohngeld, or Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz benefits, sign a berlinpass-BuT contract with the caterer directly rather than assuming eligibility elsewhere applies automatically.
- Confirm the cancellation cutoff with your own school, real examples run to 18:00 the evening before, and ask what happens on a day your child forgets their chip.
Compliance Note
This page explains the general framework behind Berlin’s school lunch and cashless registration systems, current as of mid-2026, based on Berlin’s own Schulgesetz, Senate education guidance, and several individual schools’ and caterers’ own published pages. It is not official guidance from any specific school, district, or caterer. Because Berlin deliberately leaves catering contracts to each district, the exact caterer, portal, chip deposit, and per-meal price your child’s school actually uses can differ from every example given here, confirm the specific details directly with your own school’s office.
FAQ & Common Pitfalls
Is school lunch actually free in Berlin, or is that a myth from a different city?
It's real, and it's written directly into Berlin's own school law rather than left as administrative policy. Paragraph 19, Section 3 of the Schulgesetz says every pupil in grades 1 through 6 at a Grundschule or Gemeinschaftsschule, and grades 5 and 6 at a grundständiges Gymnasium or integrated secondary school, gets lunch at no charge, funded by the state since 2019, with the current wording of that paragraph dating to an August 2024 amendment. From grade 7 on, the same paragraph is equally explicit that pupils cover their own cost.
If my child's lunch is free, do I still need to register them for it somewhere?
Yes, and this is the detail that catches families off guard. Berlin's free-lunch law removes the bill, not the paperwork. Each school works with a specific caterer, contracted separately by its own district, and that caterer runs its own registration system, real examples include Luna Restaurant GmbH's own online portal and the nonprofit GASTRO consortium's schulessen.berlin site. You still create an account, and several real schools' own published pages describe a small refundable chip deposit on top, Johannes-Tews-Grundschule's Luna setup asks for 5 euros, even though the meal itself costs nothing.
Why doesn't Berlin just use one system for every school, the way Munich uses MensaMax?
Because school catering here isn't procured centrally. Berlin's own Senate education pages describe each of the city's districts running its own Europe-wide tender for school catering contracts, so both the kitchen behind the meal and the platform parents use to register and order get settled at the district level rather than by one citywide authority. MensaMax does run at real Berlin schools, a public Gymnasium in the city uses it through the mensadigital.de portal, but plenty of other schools use Luna, the GASTRO consortium's platform, or another provider their own district selected.
What actually changes once my child reaches grade 7?
The free tier under Paragraph 19 SchulG ends, and your school's caterer starts billing for real. There's no single price the city sets, only a 2016 Senate recommendation that catering contracts include a minimum of 3.50 euros per plate; individual schools can and do charge more, a real Berlin Gymnasium running MensaMax bills 4.36 euros per meal. Where a school specifically uses MensaMax, the underlying mechanics resemble what MensaMax families elsewhere in Germany already know, a prepaid account funded by bank transfer, an RFID chip, and a low-balance alert once the account drops under roughly 15 euros.
We receive Bürgergeld, or live on a low income otherwise. Is grade 7+ lunch free for us too?
It can be, through the berlinpass-BuT, Berlin's own version of the national Bildungspaket, available to families receiving Bürgergeld, Sozialhilfe, Kinderzuschlag, Wohngeld, or benefits under the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz. Coverage isn't automatic just because you hold the card, though: you sign a contract directly with the school's own caterer and present the berlinpass-BuT there, the same caterer that handles registration and billing for every other family at that school. Unlike a graduated, income-scaled fee reduction, Berlin's own guidance describes this as a binary outcome for secondary pupils, full coverage through berlinpass-BuT, or the full price, with nothing in between.
My child forgot their chip or login details. Does that mean no lunch that day?
That depends entirely on which caterer your specific school uses, since Berlin doesn't standardize a backup procedure any more than it standardizes the platform itself. Ask your child's school office directly what happens on a forgotten-chip day. Some caterers' own published guidance describes a manual lookup by name at the serving counter, but treat that as an example from one school rather than a citywide guarantee for yours.