The school kiosk can play an important role in the daily life of a school. Every school has one. Its main purpose is to provide students with convenient access to affordable snacks and drinks without requiring them to leave the school grounds. And it is a small but useful source of additional income for the school. The school either operates the kiosk directly, or rents the space to a trusted operator in return for a fixed monthly fee or a percentage of sales.
For students, buying from the kiosk is usually simple: they come during break time or another permitted period, choose what they want and pay with cash or, increasingly, mobile money. Popular snacks tend to be affordable, quick to eat and familiar—for example mandazi, chapati, samosas, doughnuts, biscuits, popcorn, roasted groundnuts and small portions of fruit. Drinks such as water, juice or other affordable beverages may also be popular. The most successful school kiosk is therefore not necessarily the one selling the most expensive products, but the one offering small, reasonably priced snacks that students can easily buy with the money they have available, spending an average of 1,500 Ugandan shillings per day.
