Taipei's new free school lunch program is stumbling before it starts, which is bad news for caterers and worrying for parents of the city's schoolchildren.

• Free lunches for all public and private elementary and junior high students in Taipei begin in September.
• Six out of ten schools failed to attract a single catering bid in July, leaving over 110,000 kids at risk of no lunch when school opens.
• Caterers complained the city planned to pay them only at the end of the term, forcing them to front five months of cash themselves.
• The education department now says it will pay 80% of the September-to-December money in late August, with the rest in December.
• Mayor Chiang Wan-an promised all contracts would be signed by August 21; the city says bidding is 90% done.

Outlook: The immediate cash crunch is eased, but whether every school has a caterer by the first day of class is still the open question.