258: Improving Accessibility and Accommodation: A Critical Look at the Food Service Industry

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:06]:
Welcome to the Eating at a Meeting podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Stuckrath, Dietary needs expert, Certified meetings Manager, Certified Food Protection Manager. I have searched the globe to find people and businesses who are creating safe, sustainable and inclusive food and beverage experiences for their employees, guests and communities. In each episode you will find authentic conversations about how food and beverage impacts inclusion, sustainability, culture, community health and wellness. I know that sounds like a lot, but we're gonna cover it all. Are you ready to feed engagement, nourish inclusion and bolster your bottom line? If so, let's go. I'm really excited to introduce you to my guest today. Her name right here is Amy Graves and she is the owner of the Hidden Consumer Consulting and the soon to be author of the book called who the Hidden Consumer.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:07]:
She helps navigate new markets of consumers to those in the natural and organics industries. And everybody, there was an issue streaming to the Facebook group, which I think is because they took the third party things out there. So hopefully you're going to catch me on the Thrive Facebook page. Yeah, so it is a pain but you know, that is what we do as podcasters. We navigate these things. So the Allergy table and Cheryl Hartel have joined us on Instagram. Hello ladies, nice to see you and please let us know if you have any comments in the chat or on the comments in Instagram. And actually let's title the thing.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:48]:
We're going to kick off it with an inspiring episode featuring Amy Graves.

Amy Graves [00:01:51]:
So.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:52]:
So Amy, you what is what made you start the company? The Hidden Consumer Consulting and because it really does tell your history. So would love you to share that with everyone.

Amy Graves [00:02:05]:
I will try and keep it brief because you're going to be able to read it in the book.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:09]:
Okay, that's fine.

Amy Graves [00:02:11]:
So 24, 2013, I started dealing with an ongoing sinus infection. End up having some other health issues. Led to an mri. They found massive lumps in my sinus cavity. ENT finally got in. We did surgery and I had an impact impacted infections throughout my sinus cavity. You only see that type of impaction when it is a food related. And I was told I had to find my source of allergen asap.

Amy Graves [00:02:39]:
Turned out it took me three full years to figure out what I was sensitive to and what my sensitivity level was. I was allergic to corn and corn derivatives. So I cannot buy food in a grocery store. That led me right, that is the first line on my book. I cannot buy food in a grocery store. And that led to a whole journey. And this last year has been very Transforming in how I take my personal journey, but really turn it around for companies to understand how even though I am an extreme case as a super sensitive in this world, there are a lot of people in the middle ground who still can't shop and buy your products because they have unrecognized allergies. What was my problem is corn is not recognized by the federal government.

Amy Graves [00:03:27]:
So there are multiple allergies out there. Not recognized. So if you're not recognized by the federal government, that means the doctors aren't testing for your allergen. There is no test for a corn allergy.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:38]:
Oh, not at all.

Amy Graves [00:03:40]:
None at all. So I had to. For a full year I tracked my food intake and my reactions and I had to track what ingredients were in all my food.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:52]:
Okay, so how do you go get the ingredients of the food? Like I'm going to. I always use Bush's baked beans because a dog will not tell you the secret recipe. So that. But that's a lot of companies are not telling you their secret recipes. How do you get all those ingredients?

Amy Graves [00:04:06]:
So the big, they do have to list their ingredients for the most part is when they put natural flavoring, if you are, if any. First of all, that's not natural. It's going to always be artificial. And that's going to be where they hide the ingredients they don't want you to know about. So if it says natural flavoring, don't buy it. That's all there is to it. Don't buy it. And that's what it came down to for me.

Amy Graves [00:04:29]:
At the time I figured out I was corn, it was because of high fructose corn. Sirup was in the news and Americans became so upset about the science out on high fructose corn syrup and the danger it was doing to the human body. And they stopped buying product with high fructose corn syrup in it. So the corn lobby lobbied the FDA for them to add it into natural flavors to get their sales back. And the FDA agreed. Wow. Remember, we're a capitalistic country. That's perfectly legal and that's how you do business.

Amy Graves [00:05:02]:
So as a consumer now, we have to make sure we're aware and say, okay, if it says natural flavors, I can't assume it's going to be safe. I have to assume the worst and not buy that product.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:05:14]:
And if the natural flavors. Can you also do that? You can't possibly do that. They can't. They're not allowed to do that with the top nine allergens then either, right?

Amy Graves [00:05:24]:
No, they can't top nine. They have to. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:05:27]:
Okay.

Amy Graves [00:05:27]:
That's why. Well, if you think about sesame became a top nine allergen within January 2023. Yeah, 2024. 2023. And Wendy's had that huge article out about them because people were had that had been the safe food for their kids. But reality is, their vendor for buns had probably been using sesame oil for some time and just never disclosed it and didn't do their due diligence to tell the customers. Oh, hey, by the way, your now recognized allergen is in our buns. Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:06:03]:
And then there's the people who started putting it in automatically so they wouldn't have to clean their conveyor belts. Thank you very much. Yes. Yeah.

Amy Graves [00:06:12]:
Well. And that's why enjoy life end up closing. Because their. Their main ingredient for all their products was sesame. Well, and corn. Because I. It was like death to a corn. Allergen is you don't eat, Enjoy life.

Amy Graves [00:06:24]:
But. Oh, really? I didn't know that allergen. Friendly for us.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:06:30]:
I'm sorry, there's noise in my house. I'm trying to get lower. It doesn't bother you, I'm sure, but it bothers me. Okay, so this was 2014 at 13 that you found out you had this corn allergy. And my friend from.

Amy Graves [00:06:47]:
Oh, what company?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:06:47]:
I forgot the name of it. She's the one that told me, like, the package, the little piece of paper underneath the chicken. When you open up a chicken package that's made from corn, that little piece of whatever. And then.

Amy Graves [00:07:01]:
Yep.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:07:01]:
And then someone else told me that dryer sheets are made from corn.

Amy Graves [00:07:05]:
So your tea bakes, so.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:07:07]:
Or tea bags.

Amy Graves [00:07:08]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:07:09]:
Is that what you said?

Amy Graves [00:07:10]:
Yeah. Coffee filters.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:07:13]:
Wow. Everything's made with corn. So tell us how you eat and how you buy then.

Amy Graves [00:07:20]:
So I am lucky enough to say I have privilege because I from Minnesota. And Minnesota, our number one export is corn. So I vacationed out in the Paso Robles area of California in 2017, March. And I found so much fresh food in March that I went home and cried for a week because I could no longer have fresh spinach. Who cries over spinach? Apparently me. And we moved to California by August 1st because the only way for me to continue to survive was to work with farmers year round. And in California, their farmers markets are very, very regulated, which is a blessing to someone like me with an unrecognized food allergy. So I know I can only shop at California certified organics, which means they have, like, decades of free of pesticide and fertilizer use, like decades.

Amy Graves [00:08:19]:
It's not just they switched last year so they truly clean. But even when I go into those farmers, I still have to bring a list of questions because there's still things they do that will make me sick. So I have to be very cognizant about where I'm getting my food.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:33]:
Right. Okay.

Amy Graves [00:08:34]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:34]:
So. Okay. So then I want to jump to. I mean, I have five zillion questions for you, but I want to jump to the. I know. True. Yes, we can totally do that. The.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:46]:
You just came back from a conference and actually somebody just added a comment.

Amy Graves [00:08:50]:
They said, hi, Tracy, I found you.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:52]:
Yeah, it's. Facebook doesn't allow third party streaming into the groups anymore, so I have to do this. Hi. So, so happy to have you here. The. So you just got back from attending a conference. So you. Just.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:09:08]:
Because you moved from Minnesota to California so you could eat fresh food. I mean, and spinach, you can't have it because it comes in the plastic container at the grocery store. So you're buying it direct from farmer. Tell us about the experience at conferences. I mean, and you were talking about morning breakfast, right? And there was continental breakfast. So just a little bit of that and how we as meeting professionals could feed you.

Amy Graves [00:09:34]:
You can't. Let's just be honest. You can't. The things they did for me, though, that like my. I'm. I'm the accessibility director and the secretary for Nabo California, and they went the extra mile and they had fresh bottle. Or I should say fresh, but they had glass bottled spring water. I can't drink anything with carbonation because carbonation uses corn based gas, which will make me sick.

Amy Graves [00:10:01]:
Oh, there you go. Yeah. So that's. I. They had fresh bottled water. I literally could have not. I didn't. I brought a suitcase full of glass bottled water because.

Amy Graves [00:10:10]:
Wow. I have no way of getting water. Yeah, yeah. It. Like, I pay for first class, so I get that for free.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:10:19]:
Okay.

Amy Graves [00:10:20]:
And it's cheaper in the long run, but. Yeah. So they can't feed me. They just absolutely cannot. But what I asked for at this conference is that as accessibility director, I'm having them add food allergens and food event planning to my schedule because I have a much better idea of what for people. And we had people who are celiac and gluten intolerant that couldn't eat breakfast. All they could eat was a piece of cantaloupe and watermelon. There was nothing else provided for them because it was so wheat based.

Amy Graves [00:10:49]:
And That's a problem. There's no reason. So like going into future events. My plan is honor. When we, when people buy a ticket, we want to know, do you have food intolerances? If we do vegan free. If you do vegan meal. If we do a gluten free based on gluten allergy and celiacs, not intolerance. Because I want more people to be able to eat it.

Amy Graves [00:11:11]:
Is that enough? What other considerations we need to take is probably going to be dairy. I'm probably going to have to add a dairy intolerant lactose type in there as well.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:19]:
Well, I can send you my guide on how to set it up. Yeah, I have a whole template on how to ask the questions.

Amy Graves [00:11:25]:
Okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:26]:
And. And do I want to get though to. Rita is popping in here. Conferences are definitely tricky. And then she said wowza, even carbonated, which is mind blowing. Okay, I didn't know that. And then dietary needs are hard event. She's busy here, typing away.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:40]:
I love this. Thank you so much.

Amy Graves [00:11:43]:
Rita is awesome because she also has dietary needs. We bonded over that. She's a travel agent and she does amazing work planning business trips on cruises.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:53]:
Oh, nice. Okay, good.

Amy Graves [00:11:55]:
Yeah, she does event planning around that. So. Yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:58]:
Yeah.

Amy Graves [00:11:58]:
You two should meet. I need to get you guys an email.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:01]:
We may have already met. I don't remember, but. Hi, Rita. Thank you. No, I do have a template of, of how I suggest meeting planners ask. And I do say. I actually put it the question under, do you have any. I don't know if I say disabilities.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:16]:
I have to think about the word. How can we make your. How can we help you fully participate in this event? And so it says, do you have a hearing? Do you need assistance with hearing? Do you need assistance with vision? Do you need assistance with mobility? Diet. And then I break it down to say diet. Is it a food allergy? It's celiac disease. Is it diabetes? Is it something else? And then I ask for. And. And I stayed on here.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:43]:
This. These are medically necessary dietary needs. Right. And then I ask any kind of preferences and that goes into religious and alcohol and things like that. Because those are all different restrictions of some sort.

Amy Graves [00:12:58]:
Yep, yep, Absolutely.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:13:00]:
I'll send it to you. Rita, she just said, I'm starting to use that at my events. That's good.

Amy Graves [00:13:06]:
The.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:13:06]:
And because it is a challenge. And I actually have an event coming up in June that we have somebody who cannot be in the room with nuts. And I said to the hotel, I said, we need to make sure all of our events. Anything served at our event has to be nut free. And they're like, well we can't, we're not a nut free environment. I said, I understand that. But every single thing that you're going to serve at my event, which we have 99% of the meeting space and we have 85% of the hotel rooms you can do for four days.

Amy Graves [00:13:33]:
You Absolutely. Yeah. It's interesting you bring that up because we had for this conference I was at, we did a, a pre conference get together and I'm airborne, allergic to cooked corn. And they had cooked corn in the event. So not only was it not accessible, I had to walk around a building to find an elevator, then call someone to get me down the elevator. Otherwise I'd have to walk stairs. The event was set up only for people who were mob who actually had mobility because it was a sipping putt. So for those of us who like it was.

Amy Graves [00:14:05]:
And then there was corn. Like I left an hour in. I'm like, this is not worth my time and I'm getting sick with sit here and try.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:14:14]:
So. And can I bring this up because you do have, you, you have mobility. What? How do I say that?

Amy Graves [00:14:21]:
You. I have limited mobility. I am, I'm dynamically disabled. I'm part time wheelchair user depending on what my ability to walk is on a certain day and otherwise I'm using crutches. Okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:14:35]:
So you have both experience which makes.

Amy Graves [00:14:39]:
A really great accessibility direct. Right?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:14:42]:
Exactly. You have it from the eating perspective and you have it from the mobility perspective. And I love that. I mean because it does, it helps people to meet have bringing a real life perspective to it helps it come to realization. But it's also hard to grasp. Yeah. And it, and the core analogy I think is it's even more challenging in my opinion. Like I had an attendee who was allergic to apples and we ended up having to with the chef and I the day before the event opened.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:12]:
He went through every single to find apple cider vinegar. Right. To pull all of that those sauces out. And we changed that so it does come back down. Like you said at the beginning, looking at the ingredient labels.

Amy Graves [00:15:25]:
Yep. And yeah, it's amazing. Like, and it's so funny because I was such that average like clueless American prior to my allergy. I was eating anything like ah, it's not a problem. Yeah. And I have chronic pain and my chronic pain levels like decreased by 75% when I took my inflammation like gone. Like I realized it wasn't weight gain. I Literally was constantly bloated from pain because of my allergen.

Amy Graves [00:15:57]:
Like, wow. And for me, that's what the connection was. It doesn't mean that's going to be the connection for everybody else out there.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:04]:
Right.

Amy Graves [00:16:04]:
To your doctor, please.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:06]:
Right.

Amy Graves [00:16:06]:
Yeah. But yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing what you learn when you finally, when you're forced to. And now I'm like, okay, let's talk to people before. So the average consumer, consumer understands what the rest of the population is going through. Because fear is saying that just recognized allergies is was it 85 million people. And this was before sesame was added to that recognized allergy list. So now you've got those.

Amy Graves [00:16:30]:
But now you have all of us who are unrecognized people who have issues with like nightshades. What about garlic?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:36]:
Right.

Amy Graves [00:16:37]:
We're not included in those numbers. So now how big of a market are we talking about, right. Of people who can't eat what's being. Being made and put in grocery stores.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:47]:
Okay, so then I want to take that conversation because then you're going to get somebody and turn it into your consulting in your book here, because you're going to get a hotel, you're going to get a restaurant going. Well, I'm not going to feed you. I can't feed you. I am. We're not a nut free facility. We're not a corn free facility. How are you with your consulting firm? How are you changing their minds?

Amy Graves [00:17:10]:
And it's not something changing. Yeah, it's not about changing their minds. It's about helping them understand where I'm coming from so they can see where maybe some adjustments can be made. So when I first started down this path, I was denied to bring in my own food, so I would have to go a conference with no food. So, like, even at this conference, I brought my safe food, but I hadn't eaten my hotel room. I couldn't eat and be part of my conference group.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:38]:
So why now, why did you have to eat in the hotel room if you brought your own food? Because they wouldn't let you bring it into the meeting space.

Amy Graves [00:17:46]:
No.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:48]:
Wow.

Amy Graves [00:17:49]:
Sometimes I will in your face and fight you, but I have chronic pain. I have to pick those battles. And I'm like, all right, I'd rather spend the energy getting back to my hotel room, which is on the seventh floor, than fighting you and getting myself so uptight and angry that I upset the rest of the conference. So I was going to take food in my room and not be part of the conference.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:18:13]:
Which is, which is what I argue and defend all the time because I'm like, you've paid a certain amount of money to come participate in this event or. And if you worked for a company, XYZ company, they paid for you to go, they paid for your flight and I mean. And you did this to pay for your hotel room. And they are expecting you to be at the event networking with people, landing new business or finding a new vendor or whatever it is. And you can't because you have to be in your room because somebody at a hotel said, sorry, you can't bring in your own outside food.

Amy Graves [00:18:55]:
Yep. And now add the added caveat that I am an executive director for the board that was putting on that conference.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:03]:
Wow. Yeah. This is ada. This is.

Amy Graves [00:19:09]:
But it's not. But it's legal because ADA only is the bare minimum accommodating. It is not full accommodation. And now can people fully accommodate us? No. I mean the hotel we were at is a higher level hotel. Like the. It was about four to five hundred dollars a night per room for a hotel room. Right.

Amy Graves [00:19:29]:
I paid it that for my ticket on top of that.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:32]:
Right.

Amy Graves [00:19:33]:
And their carpet was not. You could not take a motorized like device across it. So we had a woman who had broken her foot and was on a scooter. People had to push her because the carpet wasn't stretched out and it was bunching and her scooter kept getting caught on the bunches of carpet. And so they literally had. She had to put her leg up and people had to like four people pushed her across the carpet.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:56]:
Because that's just ridiculous.

Amy Graves [00:19:59]:
Right. And if you're charging 500 a night and you have nine floors, you had better make sure your carpet is stretched. How hard is that?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:20:09]:
And was this not just wall to wall carpet or.

Amy Graves [00:20:13]:
Yes, wall to wall carpet. And it's the main area where they hold their conferences. So this is like high traffic area. So like they almost need it. An annual setup where people come in and stretch off the carpet because it's going to get loose with that much traffic in area.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:20:29]:
Yeah.

Amy Graves [00:20:30]:
Yeah. I was just like, wow. And I couldn't even get. I couldn't bring my wheelchair because I wasn't able to get out of the airport with it because nobody would pick me up and, and take my wheelchair and me to my hotel. I had to have. As long as I didn't have the wheelchair, I could get a ride. Like it's okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:20:49]:
So how did. When did you figure that out? Not when you got to the airport, right.

Amy Graves [00:20:53]:
No. Oh, no. I'm too much of a planner. That's not gonna happen. But it took up until a week before I left for me to figure out how to get from the hotel to my. From the airport to my hotel. So. Because as soon as I had my.

Amy Graves [00:21:04]:
My. My hotel booked, I had my tickets and I was. I knew where I was flying in and what my times were, I started trying to get a setup. So I went through all the opt. Say, this is where I am. This is, I need wheelchair accommodation. And I got the same message every time. Oops, we have no vehicle availability for you option.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:25]:
Wow.

Amy Graves [00:21:26]:
So I. Yeah, Erica, thank you.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:28]:
It's horrible. I agree with you about the carpet. Okay, so which. Which brings me to a story of the Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. Right? They heard that story. They were doing an event for accessibility a couple years ago, and they heard that too. And they. I.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:43]:
I think I actually heard this from them. That. I don't know if it was in Raleigh, but somebody had a motorized scooter and they called the hotel to come pick them up. The hotel couldn't put their scooter in their van. The van followed that person on the street while that person drove their own scooter to the hotel. I'm hoping. I'm thinking it wasn't that far away, but still. But Raleigh made a point of this in saying, we need to talk to our transportation companies to ensure that we have these things, because if you're going to be deemed as an accessibility, an accessible city, those are things that you actually have to think about.

Amy Graves [00:22:22]:
Well, and like one, as a wheelchair user, it is a risk to fly with your own chair because 100% of the time it's going to get damaged. It's just. How much damage are they going to do to it? Getting out of the airport is your next line. But then I was going to just borrow a wheelchair from the hotel because they said, yeah, you can borrow our wheelchair as long as it's on property. They had one wheelchair they would not allow all they use in case somebody came in, needed the wheelchair. You can't say you have a wheelchair and then say, no, it's only one. Like, got to have like three or four. And I get.

Amy Graves [00:22:57]:
They just sit there, they gather dust. It's not something you want to invest in. But when you have a conference and people like me show up and we're dynamically disabled and we have those moments.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:07]:
I love that word, dynamically disabled.

Amy Graves [00:23:09]:
I do, too. Like anything that helps.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:12]:
Yeah, I'm Going to use. I'm not going to use that on me, but I love that term. Well, and I had a conference in Orlando, and a gentleman was the local person driving in, but he needed a wheelchair or scooter to get around the large property, and the hotel would not rent it to him because he was not a guest. And so they gave us the number of the company, and the company said, well, we already have them on property. Get them from the hotel. And so it was like this conundrum. I'm like, hello? He's a. I had to call and say, give this man a scooter now.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:47]:
Right. I'm like, that's ridiculous. Just because they're not paying for a hotel room, they are a guest in your property because they're eating, they're participating in an event, they should be able to rent that scooter. I mean, they're paying you for it.

Amy Graves [00:24:00]:
Yeah. Do you think that gentleman, if he's in another group, is going to recommend that hotel? He is not.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:05]:
Not at all.

Amy Graves [00:24:06]:
How much business did you lose by not having decent customer service?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:11]:
Right, exactly. And then you're correct, Rita. It should not be this difficult, but it happens every single day. Okay, so. All right, so back to that hidden consumer. And you told me that you're not trying to change their mind, you're trying to broaden their perspective.

Amy Graves [00:24:29]:
Yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:30]:
And can you. Do you have any stats that you're able to share before you put your book out here on how broadening their perspectives have helped companies?

Amy Graves [00:24:39]:
Oh, hey, stats. I love data. How do I not have that at the top of my head?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:43]:
Sorry.

Amy Graves [00:24:44]:
It's interesting. The first company I worked with in the food industry, they were organic, but they were trying to get on Amazon. And I've gone back and looked at their numbers, and they've decreased because in order to be on Amazon, they had to add so many more extra ingredients so that their product would last longer in the warehouse. It destroyed their product. Like, it's. Wow. Yeah. You were one of the wrecks.

Amy Graves [00:25:09]:
The one stat I do have is so I always start my work with the website. It's all about the website is your core. People really, really forget how important your website is, because even referral traffic is going to look at your website and go, do I really want to work with this person? So there's a company with that I'm partnering up with here, hopefully in the future, starting with their website. I was able to increase their traffic by 1,200% in one year, but their conversion rate went up 608%. And it came down to. I was able to get that language in that showed the perspective consumer that this company knew what they were talking about. And it talks so clearly to that hidden market. That hidden market was willing to just buy that product.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:55]:
Can you give an example of that, what that means?

Amy Graves [00:25:58]:
What does that mean? Okay, so let's take. Let's start with that first company that ended up. Okay, blowing. Deciding to ignore everything I said. Right. They had one item under natural flavors and it was only there because that's how it's done. But guess what? That natural flavor didn't need to be there. They did.

Amy Graves [00:26:15]:
They could have literally just put the ingredient. When they switched out and actually told people what that ingredient was, their sales went up.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:26:22]:
Oh, wow. Okay.

Amy Graves [00:26:24]:
Because there are more. There's quite a few people that don't buy natural flavors. Right, right. So just being that open and saying, hey, this is what we have listed under natural flavors. And this is what it does. And you explain it. People are going to buy it because they know what's in there.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:26:41]:
Right. And that's on their website. Not necessarily on the label. Because that's.

Amy Graves [00:26:44]:
No, it's not on the label. You put it on the website because that's where people are going to go to do their research. The hidden consumer. Their journey starts with. If they see your item in, in the new shiny product in the aisle, they're not going to buy you. They can't. They have to research. Are you being true? 90% of packaging is wrong.

Amy Graves [00:27:04]:
So 90% of what you see in that grocery store is lying to you. You can't trust it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:09]:
Even the white box, even with the.

Amy Graves [00:27:13]:
Sort of the certification labels on it, you're more likely to be okay with it. Okay, think about this. There's a company I've been talking to and they're working with a natural organic juice company, okay. And they do auditing. And they were auditing the back end of this organic juice company and they discovered they're not actually organic, but they're claiming organic on all their packaging and it's a national brand.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:38]:
Wow. How can. Well, because there's no. Well, there are guidelines. Guidelines on organic.

Amy Graves [00:27:47]:
And that's why. Because she's doing the. She's getting them ready for their federal audit and they're going to fail because they claim organic when they're not.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:55]:
Wow. And how. And is that because they follow up with their providers?

Amy Graves [00:28:01]:
Well, and this is where you've got people on one end who are making the product. And then you Got your marketing teams, right? Bigger companies, those are two silos and they're not talking. Right. They're just independent, doing their own thing, going on their own ways. Marketing teams do not understand some of those legal liabilities that go into claiming certain things they don't understand. There has to be an auditing format that confirms they can use that terminology. Like the best example I have is someone in my network got diagnosed with diabetes, so they had to take all sugar out of their diet. So they decided they were going to go to the grocery store that day and they looked for the food they typically eat and then bought the sugar free version.

Amy Graves [00:28:42]:
Their levels were three times higher at their next checkup. The doctor said you would be safer eating a tablespoon of sugar every single day instead of eating the food you ate because of the hidden Sugars. There are 56 different names for sugar and not all of them say sugar. So if you're in the marketing team and you don't know those 56 names, you're going to look and say, oh, there's no sugar in that. We're fine. Yeah. And that's what they do. Wow.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:10]:
What is the most prevalent word for sugar that people don't understand or the most.

Amy Graves [00:29:18]:
Oh, no, I. Oh, that's a good question. They're so. They're all so unique and different. Like there's a malt that's a sugar. Ethanol malt, I think is what it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:27]:
Was Erica just said. That's wild to me. But I totally don't understand in a bigger CB that the marketing production team doesn't talk to each other. Rightly true. Yes.

Amy Graves [00:29:37]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, that's part of what I do for those larger companies is we start with your website. Let's get you some results first so that you're more willing to make. Let me do the software and automation side at the end.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:50]:
Right? Yeah.

Amy Graves [00:29:51]:
I train people how to talk to each other and what they need to ask to get the right information for the package. Because marketing team doesn't understand what production does. They don't understand how ingredients are made. And most companies that are in production don't understand how their ingredients are made. Like, right. Everyone's like, well, dextrose is just sugar. No, it's not. It's moldy corn sugar.

Amy Graves [00:30:16]:
If you have a corn allergy or not a corn allergy, but if you are allergic to mold, mold, and you drink soda, you are very likely actually inflaming your allergy because a can of soda doesn't matter what brand you buy is just liquid moldy corn sugar. That's all you're drinking. And don't even get me started on the diets or the zeros. Those zeros are loaded with sugar. It's just not natural sugar.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:30:43]:
Right? Wow.

Amy Graves [00:30:45]:
I'm just like, it's a thing, it's a thing that I like to get on a soapbox.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:30:51]:
And it just shows. We don't know. We. There's so much about our food system that we don't understand. And it's. And when there are companies and states or organizations, we'll just use California for example, that are pushing to get better standards and people push back. Rita just said heebie jeebies. Yes, ma', am.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:11]:
I agree with that. But their lobbying arms then go and put all this money into lobbying and getting passing the thing or blocking the bills when we're trying to just be healthier and save our society, save the human population because of chemicals that are put into our food. And actually my sister in law, some guy said she pours beer at a grocery store and you know, at their little bar now and some guy came up and said, you know, he goes, no one should be eating vegetables and fruits because they've got so many different chemicals and things on them. And everybody should. He's pushing just eating meat, it's healthier, etc. And nothing in the middle of the grocery store. I know, don't eat the meat.

Amy Graves [00:31:54]:
The meat is worse than the fruits and vegetables. Like he has no understand his. He's been bought out by the, by meat, the meat department, the meat lobbyist.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:02]:
And everybody's got these different perspectives on it. But she was all like, tracy, there's carcinogens in fruits and vegetables. And she's like, I want to go test the number of carcinogens against the plastic that stuff is served in.

Amy Graves [00:32:17]:
Don't get me started on that one. Or are you trying to.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:22]:
I don't know, but I'm like. And then I'm thinking apple seeds. If you eat too many apple seeds in one sitting, you're going to. It's. Apple seeds are arsenic in it. If you eat too many of them. But you're not gonna. You don't eat the apple seeds, right? So no.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:35]:
Why would Naughty apple seed doesn't eat the apple seeds.

Amy Graves [00:32:39]:
If you're buying concentrated apple juice or bottled apple juice, pre bottled apple juice, are they grinding up the seeds with that apple juice?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:47]:
I don't know.

Amy Graves [00:32:47]:
I don't know. All I know is the carton is made out of corn. So I'm not going.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:52]:
You're not.

Amy Graves [00:32:53]:
Food grade plastics are made from corn. So when we talk about nanoplastics in our bodies, it's because of that boxed wine you enjoy. That water bottle you picked up at the. Grab the plastic water bottle. Those biodegrade as soon as the liquid is in it. So you're drinking plastic when you drink whatever beverage is in that plastic.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:16]:
Oh, Heebie jeebies again. There we go. Rita. Heebie jeebies.

Amy Graves [00:33:22]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:24]:
Okay, so then on that note, the. Oh, you made me think of something. The bottled soda or the canned sodas and things like that, so. Oh, I was so you. Does that mean you can't use the Vitamix or a food process?

Amy Graves [00:33:38]:
No, no. And, well, they use corn ingredients on top of it. So think about your Vitamix. It. The. The actual element is plastic. Everything is plastic. So I can't use any plastic.

Amy Graves [00:33:49]:
So everything in my house is stainless steel or glass. Okay. And then if you buy like pre Vitamix packs, those have corn in them.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:58]:
What, what's a pre Vitamix pack?

Amy Graves [00:34:02]:
Like supplemental stuff.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:04]:
Okay.

Amy Graves [00:34:04]:
Yeah, yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:05]:
Oh, yeah. I just throw vegetables in my. Fruits and vegetables in my.

Amy Graves [00:34:09]:
But it's still made out of plastic, so it's food. Yeah. I'm not touching it. They had a magic bullet up for a raffle and I'm like, yeah, take my name right out of that one.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:20]:
Yeah. Okay, So I mean, it is so stainless steel equipment. I mean, but that means there's no blenders, nothing like that.

Amy Graves [00:34:29]:
I have a glass blender.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:31]:
Okay.

Amy Graves [00:34:32]:
We can't fill it full because I have to make sure the food doesn't touch the lid. Okay. But the insides are all steel from the knife system on the inside to the peg it sits on. That's all steel.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:44]:
Okay.

Amy Graves [00:34:45]:
The base is plastic, but my food doesn't touch that, so.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:49]:
Okay, gotcha.

Amy Graves [00:34:50]:
Okay. But the actual jug, the container has to be glass.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:54]:
How long did it take you to find that?

Amy Graves [00:34:56]:
A decade.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:58]:
Oh, wow.

Amy Graves [00:34:59]:
Just like I just started making sourdough bread in November because it took a decade to find safe yeast. Because yeast is not safe either. Like, I had to find somewhere where it. When you buy yeast in the grocery store, you're not buying it in the refrigerated section, which means it's self shelf stable. And it's that way because it's grown on corn. So it's a corn based yeast you're buying to put in your breads. So you have to find. I literally had to look for the Yeast company that was like, this may die in transit so please let us know when we can replace it.

Amy Graves [00:35:30]:
Like, oh good, it's not shelf stable. I'm in.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:33]:
So basically that's a good, that's a good delineation in what if it's not shelf stable? You can eat it because they're putting in so many additives.

Amy Graves [00:35:44]:
Those additives are based in corn. Okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:48]:
And I just thought of something about myself, but never mind, I'm not going to say that. So what is your goal with the book and with your company?

Amy Graves [00:35:59]:
So the book, the book goal is a. It's about my journey. So I want to talk to the consumer about. You're probably having issues with food and you don't know it. My allergy, I have probably had reactions to corn all my life, but I just thought getting sick after eating was normal. Like and then as I got older my think of it like an allergy bucket. My bucket got so overflowing, it got stuck and that's what created the infection. So I had to clear my bucket which meant I had to go cold turkey.

Amy Graves [00:36:31]:
Everything had to go, but it was a process. I thought I had colds, I thought I had eczema, I thought I had ibs. I thought I had this. I that turned out it was all an allergic reaction to what I was eating and drinking. So part of it is to educate the consumer. You probably have more going on than you realize. What's interesting is in 2022, fourth quarter, a lot of research came out. Peer reviewed science journals, that's what I read.

Amy Graves [00:36:59]:
I don't read other people's books. But the peer reviewed science is showing that our food is killing us. And we've got five ingredients that is in all of our food that is causing everything from chronic pain, chronic inflammation, kidney failure, heart attacks and obesity.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:15]:
So are you going to tell us those five foods or do we have to wait for the book?

Amy Graves [00:37:18]:
You have to read the book. Because I don't remember them off the top of my head because I'm in the process of rewriting it. I'm only at 50,000 and I've got another 30,000 words to go. Oh my God.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:29]:
Okay.

Amy Graves [00:37:29]:
Yeah. So yeah, for the business side, I'm showing what I do, the work I've done and I'm telling you what the solution is to this problem. We know we're getting sick from our food. We know hidden consumer is hidden in plain sight. There majority of Americans read food labels. But I am putting money on. They're not reading it for Calories. They're reading it to see what ingredients are in there.

Amy Graves [00:37:54]:
And we're looking at just with recognized the top three, eight recognized allergies was an $85 billion market that people were missing out on or 19 billion. It's 85 million people. So. Right. We could very easily be $100 billion market that's untapped. Right. And I'm going to walk and I'm walking in the second half of the book companies through how you get our business. Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:38:20]:
Well and it's. I'm glad you say that because so I'm doing this event in Texas and I have this person who's not allergy cannot be in the room with nuts. And I mentioned it to somebody at the hotel and she's like well we've got it, it's fine. We're not a nut free environment. I said okay, but again we're renting out this space. And so I wrote an email and I just said I really want to touch back on this because Texas has a new law, the Sergio Lopez food allergy awareness law that came into effect last September and was enacted last September and you have to adhere to it by this September. And and I want to know where the hotel stands in meeting this regulation and what the regulation says that you have to do. And I said this person is spending such and such amount of money on her conference having just like we talked about earlier, flying there, paying on the hotel bill and as a guest of your hotel and as an attendee of our event, she has the right to be able to experience this event as, as safely as it possibly can.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:28]:
When I talk to her I'm like this is not a nut free hotel but for this event. And she's like that's completely fine with me. Right. She understands that. Right. That we're going to make everything nut free in our event. But it took me saying to them and I think this is the thing is like it is you. It's a head in bed for you for this conference, for us to make a room block.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:50]:
But that's a potential customer that could come back because your hotel is not just for meetings.

Amy Graves [00:39:57]:
Yep, yep. Like well and that's a great point my cat, this is Ginger Snap. I went to an event in a national event in Austin at a Marriott and it was such a horrible experience. Like really there was nothing good about it from the food to mobility. And I never want to go back there. I became a Marriott club member. I have no intention of ever staying at another Marriott. That is how Bad.

Amy Graves [00:40:24]:
My experience was, wow, how much money are they losing out? Because when I travel, I make sure I don't stay at a Marriott hotel.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:34]:
Wow. And that's a lot of brands.

Amy Graves [00:40:37]:
That's a lot of brands. I'm like, I want executive director. If I have a choice, I'm going to tell my team, team, you're not allowed to have our conferences at Marriott because people like me aren't going to be able to participate.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:51]:
Wow.

Amy Graves [00:40:51]:
Okay. And that's a lot of spend well. And on top of it, people with mobility, any type of accessibility and food issues, we're becoming 60% of this country. So you're saying you're going to eliminate 60% of potential conference goers because you don't want to acknowledge us, your loss.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:12]:
Right. And we're gonna go, right? Yeah, exactly. It's in my pocket instead. Yeah. So there's so much to unpack here. We might just have to do that other episode. And I'm good with that. I've had multiple people on the show and Erica remind.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:29]:
That reminds me, I need to talk to you about that. What are the biggest misconceptions that food manufacturers and or hotels, convention centers, food service providers, people who make food have about this? Consumers with allergies.

Amy Graves [00:41:48]:
How about this one? This is my favorite line. My food can never make you sick. Hear it all the time. And it's. I think we have to remember that food manufacturers, people in that side of the business are people and they're bringing with them their own pre, preconceived notions of people with allergies. And they all believe we're doing it to get out of eating something or to get special treatment or that their food is so clean, there's no way anybody could have an allergic reaction to their food. Like they just don't want to understand and follow through and understand. Like I tsa, I hate the tsa.

Amy Graves [00:42:26]:
They do good work. But as an allergy person, I can't drink out of plastic bottles. They've tried to throw away my double insulated stainless steel water bottles because I don't get water when I go to airports because they use plastic filters which makes me allergic to the water then because it's made from corn. So I started bringing in glass bottled waters that are pre sealed. I don't open it until I'm in the airport. And I got into a fight with a TSA agent. I had to ask five times for a supervisor because they were refusing to let me under. And I used the special words, I'm not going to say because I don't know if they.

Amy Graves [00:43:04]:
How well known that is, but you know that this is. I have a medical reason for this. And they did not accept the two words. They just refused. No. You can just use the water fountains. You'll be fine. And I'm like, you're not my doctor.

Amy Graves [00:43:20]:
I want your supervisor. No. Like it was a whole deal. Because they don't want to understand. It's. They have their mindset and nothing can go outside of that. We all fall into the gray area. Right.

Amy Graves [00:43:33]:
My sensitivity, your sensitivity. We're on different levels. But yet people just don't understand how poorly made our food is. And they just assume everybody should be able to eat everything.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:45]:
No. And that's okay. I mean the long story is important to understand and to learn and. And the fact that, I mean it's not just the food, it's that filter that's on the water fountain or. And so even the accessibility. The water fountain that you can put your water bottle underneath that's got corn in it. You can't.

Amy Graves [00:44:05]:
Yep. Yeah. Because they use corn based plastic water filters. And I will break out in a head to toe rash within 30 seconds of drinking water from one of those fountains.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:44:17]:
Really? I'm assuming that you. That's from experience. Because that is from experience.

Amy Graves [00:44:21]:
Yes. The hives that I get two hours later are worse than the rash because your body's absorbing it. Right. It's water. Your body's absorb. Absorbing that. And my body just does not react well. So what are the reasons? I know I'm a super sensitive.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:44:37]:
Yeah. Well, it makes me think about that allergic living cover story a couple of years ago about the woman who was allergic to water and she could only. And she's like one of 50 people in the world and she can only take a shower like five minutes one time a week or something like that. Right. And she can drink it, but she couldn't have it touch her skin. So which is challenging in of itself. But then. And then last week, Melinda, who was talking about.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:06]:
She runs. She's a farmer on an organic farm. And she was talking about collecting rainwater and using rainwater versus tap water to water your flowers or to water your vegetables. She's like, that's why everything looks so vibrant after it rains is because the rainwater is so much more nutrient packed and healthier for you than what our tap water is.

Amy Graves [00:45:25]:
Well, and the unfortunate thing for me is I can only drink tap water. Like I can't afford to buy glass bottles. Water for six bottles A day like you just. You're not gonna do that. Yeah. Five bucks a bottle. No, thank you. So I'm stuck drinking my tap water out of my stainless steel steel that I've had to clean myself.

Amy Graves [00:45:44]:
So. But it's not exactly safe either. Like, I still have to. There's. It's an allergy bucket. You gotta balance what you do. And water is important, so water gets the priority. Yeah, because.

Amy Graves [00:45:56]:
Yeah, we have to clean our water. I mean, that's part of the. Part of a city.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:01]:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Now, what about. So you can't drink water out of the aluminum cans.

Amy Graves [00:46:07]:
No. Aluminum cans are also coated in corn. So corn and cornstarch are used in a variety of packaging. Like besides the packaging itself, it's used as a coating to keep things from sticking. When the BPA finally became a big thing and the EU and other countries started banning bpa, we shifted then more towards the corn version of that, which still puts that lining around the aluminum on the inside. But that means now it's corn based. So there's nothing in an aluminum. And I can drink.

Amy Graves [00:46:38]:
Okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:38]:
Lots of things or eat.

Amy Graves [00:46:41]:
Like, I don't eat canned goods either. There's no baked beans in my future and haven't been in a long time.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:48]:
But you have to get fresh beans because you can't get the dried beans.

Amy Graves [00:46:52]:
I would have to find fresh greens at my farmer's market, which I've never seen, because as much as like I do bulk rolled oats from sprouts, I can't. When I buy their beans, I get immediately sick. I'm down with a headache for 24 hours. So however beans are processed, I can't do it in bulk form from anywhere.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:13]:
Okay, so then my next question is, why have you not become a farmer?

Amy Graves [00:47:17]:
I am disabled and that's not happening. I will starve first. Yes, I'm not bad enough to think pizza grows out of the ground, but no, I love gardening and I can do that. But the amount of energy it takes to maintain a garden or a greenhouse, I just, I don't have that kind of energy, nor do I have that kind of time. And I can't change the world if I'm in my garden.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:42]:
That's very true. That's very true. So in the education that you do, in changing people's perceptions or broadening our perspective, where did, where do we begin with that education? I mean, I remember and I don't know why this popped into my head, but in college you learned to write a press Release at the 8th July of grade reading level. Right. And so that everybody can understand it for the most part, majority of people understand it. So does that education with your book again, everybody, for everybody to know. It's called the Hidden Consumer. You're educating the consumer up front about what we're eating.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:48:21]:
But then again, it's also the people you're educating. There are also our servers and our front of our cooks and our how do we meld that all together?

Amy Graves [00:48:33]:
And that is going to be where it's going to take a group of us variety of people in our venue of allergies. And how do we make sure people can continue to eat safely? I mean, take Kyle Dine, right? Creator of the allergy card that's now digital. Travel with it anywhere. That's the first step he's educating using his card. Because now people are going to be like, this is what I have issues with. And the servers aren't going to know what's in that food. And the cooks, like, in my case, I don't even tell people I'm allergic to corn because that's the fastest way to find corn in my food. Like they literally almost deliberately put it in there.

Amy Graves [00:49:09]:
So I like, I will ask specific questions, but I won't ask is there corn in it? Because they have no clue about how ingredients are made. And it's going to be on a different level. Right. No one's going to have that full understanding that I do. That's what makes me unique and why I can do what I do. Because I've got a deep knowledge. Nobody needs my deep knowledge unless you're making the product. So for the average consumer, I think it's not so much about, it's about knowing, it's about asking questions and being open minded.

Amy Graves [00:49:43]:
Okay. Listen to what your customer is telling you and be like, I really have concerns with this or this. And this is what I'm trying to avoid. I have a friend who does only plant based diet because her husband had a heart attack in 2020 and they went to a chain restaurant, which they never do, but they were in the middle of Nebraska and you don't have any choices. And this chain restaurant, they're like, yeah, we're vegans, we need to avoid these things. And she goes, oh, well, you should do the steamed broccoli. And they looked at, they go, but is your butter plant based? Because we all know butter's not plant based, right? And they're like, oh yeah. And they asked, can that be removed? And she's like, oh no, it's all right.

Amy Graves [00:50:23]:
It comes in with already buttered. We just fry it up. And I'm like. She's like, yeah, that's not. That's no.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:30]:
Right. Yeah, well. And that brings up. Because I was at the Orlando airport and I sat down at Outback because it's right there in one of the terminals. It's the main sit down restaurant there. And the bartender, I said, okay, I'm gluten free. And she's like, okay, well, you can't have this and you can't have this. And it was like the potato or it was the broccoli was one of the things.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:54]:
And she's like. Because we put the seasoning on it or whatever. But I was. I like triple tipped the. The bartender on my meal because I was so impressed by the knowledge that she had. And I shouldn't discount it, but it's really surprising for a bartender to know the food so well. And yeah, I'm like, thank you for that. And she's like, you can eat this or this.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:16]:
And I'm like, okay, cool.

Amy Graves [00:51:18]:
Makes me wonder when her family has a gluten intolerance issue that she had to learn more. Or is she herself celiac.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:26]:
Right, Exactly. I was just, I was blown away. And I know that. And it depends on what branch or what restaurant you're eating at and what city you're at of who the management is or who's this waiter or whatever. But again, it's the people like you and I who are working in those jobs who know to ask the right questions. And of our guests, because we're like, hey, can I. Can you do this right? Or like, for an event. Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:53]:
I had three. And I use this story all the time. I had three people who requested kosher at an event. And I'm like, okay, how kosher are you? And one was orthodox. Two, and it was during Passover. So she, she and I maneuvered everything that way. And then another guy's like, I'll eat off the buffet if you label everything. Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:12]:
And so it's different levels of kosherat of. Of following that. But if we just pick up the telephone and ask some additional questions, we can find out a lot more.

Amy Graves [00:52:24]:
Yeah, yeah. That really. Yeah, yeah. And for the people on the other side, don't discount us. Just listen to what we have to say. We're just trying to keep ourselves safe. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:33]:
Like, yeah, we're not trying to cause you pain. We're trying to make us not be in pain.

Amy Graves [00:52:39]:
Yeah. Right. It's not that I'M not going to sue you because you use corn. No, I just need to know what I can and cannot eat. Like, I know eating at a Mexican restaurant is probably 99.9 dangerous. I might find something, but what else is going to end up on it or next to it or cook next to, like, you just. It's a risk. Like, I don't know.

Amy Graves [00:53:00]:
I don't eat at Mexican restaurants.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:53:03]:
Oh, guacamole. You can make your own guacamole at home. Yeah.

Amy Graves [00:53:07]:
So many avocados out here. We're good.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:53:09]:
Yeah, exactly. Very true. The. And one of the things that you said too, in kind of going back to Erica's comment that said it's here. Totally understand a bigger cbg. The marketing and production teams don't talk to each other. But it also reminds me of hotels and restaurants because the front of the house is the one that's the representative and talking to the guest and getting those questions right. And then the back of the house is the one making the food.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:53:35]:
And, and I've said this numerous times on the show. I'm like, I've had chefs saying, I make the food, I don't label it. And front of the house staff saying, I don't cook. How would I know that? Right. But you are, you're one entity. And with what you're doing, I mean, I think to the level that you're doing it with the food manufacturers and anything else, it's like, let's tie this together to this end of it as well. Because it's not just how it's made, it's also, it's how it's served.

Amy Graves [00:54:05]:
Absolutely. Yeah. And maybe you can explain on this a little bit more. But what I find fascinating is there are some restaurants that we can, I, I go to because I know they're mostly safe, but we did a board, board retreat in Center City back in September and I couldn't eat anything. Even the coffee was like off limits for me. So, like, I went this entire board retreat with no food, but then we went downstairs to the restaurant and it was a high end restaurant. I could eat. Why can I eat in your restaurant but you can't serve me that quality of food in the meeting?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:54:40]:
So my first question would be, was that restaurant owned by the hotel or was it an outside chef, like a celebrity chef restaurant?

Amy Graves [00:54:47]:
No, it was a small independent restaurant. This wasn't a chain. Like it was owned by a mother daughter team. It was. There was no brand name on it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:54:55]:
Then that's probably why.

Amy Graves [00:54:57]:
Yeah, yeah. So But.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:54:59]:
But if they're also doing the food in the. If they're also responsible for the food in the meeting, I don't know why that wouldn't be the case, but maybe not.

Amy Graves [00:55:06]:
Yeah. What they told me was that they order food separately for those in meetings versus what they order from downstairs.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:13]:
Then they're ordering it. They're doing it from Ghost Kitchen or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amy Graves [00:55:19]:
I just, I get by that. Yeah, yeah. Well.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:26]:
Yeah, it's. And it is a question to ask. I mean, when you go to mg, I'm going to say MGM off the top of my head. But if you go to Las Vegas and you look at all the restaurants that are in there. Right. Those restaurants are. They're leasing this space potentially. Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:40]:
They're not owned by those hotels. They're leasing that space in the name. And the hotels want the name of that chef in there, so they're leasing that space to them. But managing having the quality control over the food and beverage is not necessarily the hotel's responsibility, it's that restaurant's responsibility. But. And vice versa. And actually, at the Fair Food Allergy Safety Summit, I met a woman from. I believe she was from First Watch, and she was the Q and A person, quality and assurance.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:56:09]:
And so her job was actually to vet all of their vendors to make sure of allergens, to make sure of any other sourcing issues and things like that. And I just, I found that quite amazing. But why are food service companies not doing that same kind of quality assurance on the products they're buying from the big food distributors?

Amy Graves [00:56:33]:
Because it's not regulated. They don't have to. So why do it? And honestly, under the last president, they removed a lot of those food safety precautions. So our food quality went down, but our prices kept skyrocketing. Yeah, right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:56:49]:
Lynn just put a comment in here. I. Tracy and I had a bad experience at a Marriott in Detroit. Tracy never got her food for three meals. Oh, I don't remember that. I probably blocked it away, but thank you for reminding me.

Amy Graves [00:57:01]:
See, Marriott.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:57:03]:
Yeah, all right. No, and I probably. I think I know what event that was, but I'm not going to mention that because I might be speaking there again this year, but at a different hotel. Yeah. So it's just, there's so much education to be done. And I, and in one way, I, I want to say to people, and, and I love what you're doing is that you can't know everything. And like you said it, you're like, no one should need to know all of this stuff. Let me do that for you and come in and educate you.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:57:33]:
Right?

Amy Graves [00:57:34]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:57:35]:
Okay. So when does the Hidden consumer come out?

Amy Graves [00:57:38]:
January 2025. We're going to wait till after inauguration. We're deliberately trying to get through. This book is going to be big. I've been picked up by some major publishing companies already. Like you're going to find hard copy books in retail locations. This isn't just an Amazon special. This.

Amy Graves [00:57:55]:
This is going to be kind of an expose on the food industry. The lack of communication between departments. But it's about solutions because that's what I bring to the table. I always bring solutions. So January 2025 might be early February 2025, but my big deadline looming right now is May 15, 80,000 words due to the publisher. So.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:58:15]:
Okay, we're getting there. You and I can't talk on that day or. Yeah, we can because you'll be celebrating the fact that you submitted it.

Amy Graves [00:58:21]:
I will be. I might be drinking champagne while. Champagne cava, because I'm allergic to champagne. They use corn based sugars to sweeten it up. So Brute Cava, the Spanish version. But I'm drinking that while talking and being just celebrating. I might take that day off from work too.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:58:40]:
Yeah, I would definitely do that. All right, so I. I just want to end. Oh, I. Okay. I should. How does everybody get a hold of you?

Amy Graves [00:58:52]:
How do they get a hold of me? I am so easy. Hang on, I'm gonna grab my. You can find me on my website. Huh? I'm trying to get my coat. No. Where did my links go? I just want to share my link. I'm gonna give you my link tree here. You can get all my pertinent information in my link tree.

Amy Graves [00:59:11]:
I have a newsletter sign up, so if you want.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:59:13]:
Where did you put that? Because I don't see that.

Amy Graves [00:59:15]:
Oh, I put it under comment in the comment.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:59:16]:
Oh, gotcha. Okay, there it is in the comments.

Amy Graves [00:59:18]:
Yeah, so my newsletter sign up is in there. I like to do updates while I'm talking. You get to learn how many words I omitted for my original draft. And you get to see why I need an editor. That will be very blatant in my newsletter. Nothing vague, but you'll also get first dibs on any additional. I'm coming out with a food and reaction tracking journal which is not out in the market right now, and some other fun stuff. But all the ways to contact me are also there on my link tree.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:59:42]:
Okay, awesome. Very cool. All right, so my last question to tie all of this together under that hidden consumer safety, sustainability and inclusion. What does that mean? When eating at a meeting or in a food and beverage experience?

Amy Graves [00:59:59]:
Safety. Make sure people can actually eat your food. For me, I went 24 hours with no food yesterday. Between yesterday, 6am yesterday and 6am this morning, I had no food. Just with all travel and everything else, I was going through sustainability. How do we still do this while being sustainable to the environment and to the people around us? I like to say I'm the bougie of allergens, but I'm also the sustainable and economical front. Are the environmental friendly because plastics are ruining our environment. They're ruining our soils.

Amy Graves [01:00:28]:
Glass, stainless steel is more sustainable in the long run and better for our environment and in exclusion. Please, I just want to be part of your group. Let me be there and participate. Why am I excluded? I bring you solutions. Really? How do you bring everybody together and make everyone feel like they deserve to be there and that they should be part of your group?

Tracy Stuckrath [01:00:53]:
No, I love it.

Amy Graves [01:00:54]:
Thank you.

Tracy Stuckrath [01:00:56]:
This is such an important conversation. And Everybody, this is May 1st. It's the kickoff of Food Allergy Awareness Month. And I'm so excited that, Amy, that you were here to share your experience and what you're doing because I think it's imperative that we understand and I think it's imperative to understand how, like what you just said, to feed us, but also for your company to be sustainable when the statistics that you said that 60% of people have some sort of disability or. And you're excluding them from your event or your property because of carpeting or food or whatever.

Amy Graves [01:01:27]:
We want.

Tracy Stuckrath [01:01:27]:
We don't want you to fail. We want. We. Yeah.

Amy Graves [01:01:31]:
I'm giving. I'm trying to give you money and you're telling me, no, you're not in business. Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [01:01:41]:
Yeah. You want to be this? If you do that. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate it.

Amy Graves [01:01:48]:
You're welcome. You're welcome. This is so much fun. I love talking to you. We need to do this more often. If our schedule.

Tracy Stuckrath [01:01:53]:
We do.

Amy Graves [01:01:54]:
Yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [01:01:54]:
Yes. If our schedules can be correct. Collaborate some more. Okay, there's Amy's link tree again. Please connect with her and look for her book next January and I will make sure that we promote it as well when it comes out. Yeah, actually, we should just go ahead and book that now for when it comes out. Next week will be all about gluten and celiac disease, so stay tuned for that. And until then, stay safe and eat well.

Tracy Stuckrath [01:02:21]:
Thanks, everyone. Thanks for listening to the e Eating at a Meeting podcast where every meal matters. I'm Traci Stuckrath, your food and beverage inclusion expert. Call me and let's get started right now on creating safe and inclusive food and beverage experiences for your customers, your employees, and your communities. Share the podcast with your friends and colleagues at our Eating at a Meeting Facebook page and on all podcast platforms. To learn more about me and receive valuable information, go to tracystuckrath.com and if you'd like more information on how to feed engagement, nourish inclusion, and bolster your bottom line, then visit eating.com.

Amy Graves [01:03:15]:
Sa.