316: Two Moms, Countless Events: Lessons on Food Safety & Hospitality

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:00]:
Foreign and welcome to another episode of.

Colleen Earley  [00:00:10]:
Eating at a Meeting.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:11]:
And I am so excited to bring you my regularly scheduled programming of Wednesdays with the show. But this is food allergy awareness week and I said that yesterday. I had a special episode yesterday and I have a special episode next week as or tomorrow, I mean and so. But I'm excited to bring to you today's conversation. It is two moms, countless, countless events and lessons on food safety and hospitality. And these two moms to the left of me or to the right of me here are moms of kids with food allergies. But they are also certified meeting professionals who are independent planners like myself who plan events for thousands, hundreds of different clients every year and feed thousands of different variety of people every year. So we're going to talk about how they take their mom role of being a mom of a food allergic kid and apply it to their planning process.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:04]:
And which reminds me completely of a woman when I work was in house corporate, she said you're everybody's mama, Tracy, because you take care of everybody's details. Right. And ordering their food. Which is exactly what we're going to talk about today. Right. Okay. So ladies, so I've got Colleen early here from Saratoga Springs, New York and Jessica Jimenez from Boston area. So ladies, hi.

Colleen Earley  [00:01:32]:
How are you?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:33]:
Friends?

Colleen Earley  [00:01:34]:
Good. Thanks for having me.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:36]:
You're welcome. So I want to talk first question I have, how long have your kids have food allergies and what are they allergic to?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:01:45]:
Sure. So I'll go. So yep. Jessica Humans Wedbury out of Boston. I have two younger sons that both have food allergies. So Xander is eight, so eight years almost. I think it was when he was about seven months old. We discovered it by giving him hummus and we landed in the er.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:02:02]:
And Xander is allergic to tree nuts, sesame, pea protein, lentils and used to be peanuts. But we've recently outgrown that. And then Oliver, who is now 4, is allergic to sesame, dairy and eggs.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:18]:
That's a lot. Yes. Yeah. And Colleen.

Colleen Earley  [00:02:23]:
Yes. So I have two children, they are both in college. My 21 year old, Grace has food allergies. She wasn't diagnosed until she was five, but I was pushing physicians to diagnose her earlier than that, but it ended up being a struggle. She's allergic to. It's been weaned down. It was tree nuts, peanuts, but it's weaned down to cashews, pistachio and peanuts.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:51]:
Okay. So nuts and then a variety of things and that's a lot to manage. And Just before the show, I said to you all, okay, well, you're your moms with food allergies. You're. You're those moms, right? But. But I think because you're those moms, you don't want your kid to die. And two, you're very tenacious because you have to read every single label and you have to talk to people about how not to kill your kid. How do you.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:18]:
How does that apply to what you do in a job as a meeting professional?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:03:22]:
Sure. So I'll go. So one of the things that changed for me, I've always been wanting to help our attendees. I've been a planner for 20 years. I care very much. I've actually, personally, I've been vegan for almost 25 years, so I already had a head start. But having a child with food allergies made me take it much more seriously and just really understanding the life and death situation and what, what could come if you're not doing it, and the proper labeling and realizing that you have to trust your instinct. And, and just because something is labeled doesn't mean it's actually always accurate.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:03:52]:
And so just always double checking, walking through, having your beos in hand, checking every label, making sure everything's correct. Because I'm pretty sure there's not one event that I've ever done where there wasn't a mistake from the labeling or what was on the banquet order or what we were told or what was served. So just always being very diligent. And then also I think the other thing I would say that's given me an advantage is that because of dealing with children with different allergies, I understand there are other products out there that you can serve that are safe. And so always offering recommendations to chefs if they're kind of stuck and they can't figure out, well, how do we do this? And I say, well, have you considered offering this? Because this is what I serve my kids and this works. So I've definitely done that as well, helping educate them.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:04:36]:
That's awesome. And I just actually did that at a conference a couple of weeks ago. I introduced red plate foods to the JW Marriott Austin. And because it's free of the top 14 allergens and vegan. And so we brought in muffins and cupcakes and cookies for our breaks and breakfasts for. And they went off. They were a hit. I mean, because they're delicious.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:04:59]:
So, yeah. Colleen, what about you?

Colleen Earley  [00:05:02]:
Really the same thing we're forced with our children being so young and being Diagnosed that we have to adapt. So why are we not being somewhat of a caregiver for a day or two for attendees and doing the same thing? What we do is really to connect people and be hospitable and be unreasonable with our hospitality. So just taking a step further and trying to bridge that communication gap between a meeting planner and a sales manager, convention service manager to a server, to a chef, we. We kind of know how to do it. And again, we might have a recommendation of something that we used in our own household or at another event to make it easier for a hotel or venue.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:05:56]:
I think that's key because we're not trying to be a burden. We don't want to add that extra burden onto them, but to make it easier because, like, hey, can you eliminate this from this meal? Or because it's going to require less personalized plates in an essence and less staff. So I want to put this note up here about Nicole from Nicole. She's like, I'm one of those moms, and I'm sorry that I called you those moms. But I think it's really important to say this in this conversation. She feels guilty, but then she remembers it's life or death for her son and so many others. So she's thanking you for sharing your insights. Thank you very much, Nicole, for chiming in here.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:06:36]:
And I think it is that. And, and Jessica, I think you said it is like, until you live it, you don't necessarily know it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So what can you share a moment when it kind of kind of collided in your. Your personal life of managing these food allergies and then your professional life collided and. And helped you in the ways that you guys both just described.

Colleen Earley  [00:07:00]:
Yeah.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:07:01]:
I'll just give an example. I used to work in house for an association, and we would do an event on the South Shore, Massachusetts every year. And we had leadership at the time. And one of our vice presidents was. Had a ton of food allergies, like, a lot. And to the point where, like, he didn't even want any of them served on the buffet. Just very cautious, very careful. And so learning how to tweak our menus from sesame free, sunflower free, I think kiwi free.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:07:25]:
Just. Just a lot going on. And one of the things is we tried to serve, like, for breakfast to cater to various different diets, obviously for, like, the vegan community, making sure people have protein and stuff. A lot of times we'll do, like, bagels and peanut butter. Right. But you. Peanut butter is an issue. Bringing in the nuts into place.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:07:41]:
So then we would do like a sunflower butter, but then he was allergic to sunflower butter. And so then what do you do? And because I had my own child who had various different dietary stuff and who was highly allergic to sesame and everything, I. I recommended. Well, have you ever considered pumpkin seed butter? Pumpkin seed butter is what I serve my child because he, too, has, like, allergies to certain things and it's safe for school. It doesn't introduce another nut. It's actually an extremely, like, rare allergy, if any, compared to the other ones. And the chef was like, I've never heard of that, but let me see if I can get it. And so he ordered it, and it was delicious and we served it.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:08:17]:
And so it added a new thing that he had never considered. And that was because of my own experience with my son.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:21]:
Right.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:08:22]:
Then we started serving that at all of our buffets for breakfast.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:25]:
Oh, wow. Okay. Awesome. That's fantastic. Colleen, anything about you? I mean, there was a reason event you. You experienced personally, like, with your daughter? Yeah.

Colleen Earley  [00:08:35]:
Yes. I've had a bunch. And my daughter is 21, away in college, and so I guess I've had my share of circumstances and challenges. I recently had one that she was going to be attending event with me, and it was a dinner, a reception, and so I put it out there as a meeting planner. I put it out there that, you know, this. I see your menu because I was able to see the beo. And can you do such and such, such and such. My first response back was not good.

Colleen Earley  [00:09:08]:
And it was pretty upsetting because it was very generic and it was. We have more than one kitchen and more than one facility, and we can't guarantee it's. It's prepared in another facility, and then it's moved to our facility where we serve and we can't guarantee blah, blah, blah, anything. I was very upset. I had to take a step back because again, this is about my daughter. But also if it was about attendee, I'd still be upset. And so I had a nice response, kind of ignoring some of the things that were said to me. And I said, you know this.

Colleen Earley  [00:09:42]:
There's a duet menu. I think you could do this. And. But I'm. I'm willing to talk to you. It would be nice. Nice if she. If you need to prepare a separate plate for the appetizers, that would be great.

Colleen Earley  [00:09:52]:
Please let me know. I'm willing to talk. So. And then I didn't hear back, and again, I was upset, but I have to remember everyone's busy. Right? Everybody's busy. And they're working on another event today. So the morning of the event, I got a lovely response. A lovely response.

Colleen Earley  [00:10:09]:
This is what we're going to do and we'll absolutely take care of her. And then when I arrived, I was introduced to the event manager and she was wonderful. She said, I actually have allergies myself and really took great care of my daughter. So I had no worries at all. But some of those things can be alleviated. Right. They don't really have to happen at all if we can have that conversation in advance. And I know you mentioned like moms being called those moms.

Colleen Earley  [00:10:41]:
I actually like that you can call me those moms any day you want. Because when I found out my daughter was allergic, I did everything possible that I could to make it better for her at school. Running like food advocacy programs, education within the school library. We did food allergy awareness week. We did a carnival. I said, I'm going to learn everything I can about these allergies to make it better for her. So for me now I want to make it better for, for all attendees and they all should be loved and included when they're attending and not have to worry about what they're eating.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:18]:
Yeah. 100% agree. And it's, we don't need to have a peanut table. Peanut free table. Right. We need to let these kids sit with the kid and understand. And that comes into colle. Nicole's comment here that constant education is key and how do we do that? And I do want to point out that Nicole lives two hours away from me in Raleigh.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:11:37]:
So. Hello, my North Carolina friend. And. But it really is that because you don't want those kids sitting away from each other. I mean, I remember an adult leaving his table, an event I was planning. He left his table at his corporate event and came and sat at the staff table who don't even work with him because his colleagues were bullying him at that table. Yeah. And they're like, oh, they were trying to order for him and place all this, well, no, you can't do this.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:04]:
And did it. And he's like, he's a grown ass man. He can answer for himself and do this. But he got so annoyed by it, he got up and left and came and sat with us. And that is not what we want.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:12:15]:
Well, Tracy, can I just add, I think too not just what we talked about like making somebody sit at a table or being. But I mean, that's one thing why I'm so Passionate also about tweaking our buffets to make it inclusive. Because the last thing I want is all this great networking happening in the room if people grab their food and they go in and that special allergy person has to sit and wait 15 minutes for their meal to be brought up to them, especially if it's leadership. And I think because I come from a long line of having leadership at many organizations that have a bunch of dietary requests and food allergies, I don't want to put anybody in awkward situation. They need to be able to get their food right away and be like everybody else and participate.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:50]:
Right, exactly.

Colleen Earley  [00:12:51]:
100%. I agree.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:53]:
Well, and this is one from Jim Spellos, and this isn't an allergy thing, but he's vegan and he asked them for the vegan meal. They brought him something, and then they showed up with the plate. Do you want the scallop? He's like, no, I don't. Right. Okay. So, Carly Dobbins, thank you for tuning in. Carly, have you ever had someone have an allergic reaction during an event because something was mislabeled?

Colleen Earley  [00:13:15]:
Hi, Carly. No, Carly, I knock on wood. Have not. I have not. So. But is it luck? I don't know. It could be.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:13:25]:
Right.

Colleen Earley  [00:13:26]:
But I've heard of another venue that had an issue and are willing to speak about it and they're willing to fess up to it and saying that we made a mistake and we tried to fix the mistake and of course, care for the injured individual at the time. But I, I, that venue, I think is. I applaud them because they're willing to say that they made a mistake. But I, I have been lucky to not have that happen yet.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:13:54]:
Yeah, unfortunately, I don't like that word yet, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:13:59]:
I mean, I think I've definitely had things that were mislabeled, but luckily nothing happened. One time at a venue, we served some desserts and it was supposed to all be nut free. And they ended up, they, the chef ordered the correct ones, but the vendor ended up shipping ones with hazelnut, like a Nutella dessert. And so they were already out on the buffet and luckily somebody caught it. It was not me that time. And we're, we pulled them and so nothing had happened. But very close. But just recently I was, when I in Long beach for a conference a couple weeks ago, one of the, the fish dish that we were serving was supposed to be dairy free.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:14:33]:
It was clearly labeled on the banquet order, the label and everything. And just like I'm sure Colleen does, you're the first one out. You check everything. You triple check all your. Your labels, your everything. Open every tray, make sure it's all. And I'm like, this looks really creamy. Like, what's going on? And they're like, I'm texting, and they're like, yeah, it's supposed to be dairy.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:14:49]:
I'm like, can you triple check? Because I'm not sure about this. And they go and they talk, and there is a mishap between the chef and whatever, and I'm not sure who dropped the ball, but the draw that. Yeah. And so I caught it. And so immediately, luckily I had my pen and I'm scratching it out. Dairy free had another entree that was. Was fine and safe. So we still had food for people.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:15:08]:
But because I caught it right then and there, literally a minute before people started walk, a couple minutes before people started walking in line. We didn't have any accidents. But had I not caught it, I think that's one thing that we constantly have to be on top of everything. Even if we've done everything we can do prior to the event, we still execution side have to double checking because something could always happen.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:30]:
Yeah, that. I mean, that's a really good point because you. We. We proof the labels, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that is done in the back of the house to make sure what. What's. And we. So that's like a label. A banquet event order, and then the event orders that are.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:46]:
Because that are going to the different chefs. And I remember an event I did last summer. We. I said, no nuts. We had somebody that could not be in the room with nuts. So the entire event was not free. I walk into my event planning office, and there's a bowl of cashews and a bowl of almonds. And I'm like, no, these need to be removed.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:04]:
And then the next morning, the pastries were served, and the same server who was helping me in my office was. He noticed that two out of the four muffins contained nuts in them. And he pulled them. And I'm like. And the pastry chef's like, oh, I forgot. And I don't like that statement. But going back to Carly's question I did have about the allergic reaction at an event. I was attending an event, and I was speaking on this topic at that event, and a woman who had a pepper allergy was taken out of the room because they put pepper in her dish.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:43]:
And. And I was leaving the room to go to get ready for my presentation. And the EMTs were there. She was on a stretcher. They were taking her out and she didn't want to leave. She wanted to come to my session. But I'm like, no, you need to go to the hospital. Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:56]:
But it was. It was an even a personalized plate, such as what Christine mentioned yesterday. Like, the chef's like, oh, no, there's no pine nuts in it. She took one bite and there was a pine nut in it. I'm like, what? Where's the disconnect? Right, yeah, yeah.

Colleen Earley  [00:17:13]:
There's communication and care. Right. Two things can alleviate all of this. Right? So we have to communicate, but we have to care about it. We have to want to do better.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:25]:
Yeah. So in just kind of thinking through those, all three of those scenarios, where do you think that gap is? Because, Woody, you're providing the information and this is all coming from an email. Right, Right. And then that email gets hand put into a computer by somebody, by the event manager. But where do you think we can. And I'm going to call them critical control points instead of gaps. Where do you think those critical control points are? Don't jump at once.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:17:57]:
Yeah, no, I'll go. Sorry.

Colleen Earley  [00:17:58]:
There's so many. I don't know where to start.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:18:00]:
Yeah, I know. I mean, one of the things, I mean, we talk about is that I feel like I'm Maybe because I'm a control freak or whatever, but, like, I think a lot of it starts with us, right? And it's more burdensome on us, but it's just because we care, because we want to do it. Right. So I don't always expect the chef or the CSM to come up with menus for me to come up and figure it out. Like, I take the menus, I do majority of the tweaking, like, just from analysis. I'm looking at it and I say, cut out this, add this, cut out this, put this on the side or whatever, as much as I can, based on the dietary requests that we get. Because lately I just feel like it's not coming from the other side as much. Like they just don't get it, whether it's the lack of training or the education or staffing capacity or whatever.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:18:42]:
But I feel like there so many times, even in precons where you're like, going through the dietary request and they're like, yeah, okay, we're good. And I'm like, well, we're not good. We still have this person that I emailed you about. What. What's the solution for them? Well, they can eat this and Then I'm like, no, they can't eat that because of this. So we need to figure out another or we need to continue tweaking or whatever. But I feel like, unfortunately, the burden on the planner side, it's really up to us from the first step and holding them accountable to making sure. Because I just feel like there's, I don't want to say a laziness, but there's definitely a lack of effort from the supplier side.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:19:18]:
And so if you don't step up to do it, I don't think our tennis are going to be cared for.

Colleen Earley  [00:19:22]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:19:22]:
Colleen, do you agree with that?

Colleen Earley  [00:19:23]:
Yeah, yeah, I do. I, I think a lot of it is time. I was recently in a pre con meeting that there were some comments that I didn't appreciate about an individual that had a lot of food allergies and why are they eating here? That's what I had to hear. It was terrible. It was terrible. Wow. So they. Some venues and not all of them.

Colleen Earley  [00:19:46]:
Some of them were wonderful, but some venues just are not taking the time to care. And I agree with Jessica that the burden is on the meeting planner. We're responsible for all these individuals that are meeting and that are coming to the venue. So we're the ones that we have to push and ask the questions and make sure that everyone is cared for. But again, there's some venues that do a wonderful job at it and really take it seriously and are willing to be the partner with us. And that's what we're trying to create and we're trying to make it easier on the venue. I think sometimes they think we're not, but we are. They are.

Colleen Earley  [00:20:27]:
They are responsible. They have to be responsible for these individuals that they're serving. They have to include them. It's ada and they have to include them. So we are, we are helping. We are trying to help include. For them to include everyone.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:20:42]:
I love that. All right, we've got a comment here from April. Clearly labeling things on a buffet is very helpful. I'm gluten free and dairy free. Dairy protein free. But I don't have celiac. It's helpful to be able to read the labels because even though nothing will kill me, it's helpful because to read and decide what I do and do not want to consume.

Colleen Earley  [00:21:02]:
Yeah, April. I know April too. She's from Saratoga. Hi, April. You're so, you're so great being on this. And I, I love that she added that because.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:12]:
Yeah, yeah, it is. Because you, you don't want somebody to. I Mean, I just, I saw a woman. Yes. Last in my conference a couple weeks ago and she's just walking through the buffet and she was, it was at the end and she was like hesitant. She didn't want. I'm like, can I help you? Can I get you something to eat? And she's like, I just. And I'm like, well, I've got this in the back because I had some personalized plates that weren't picked up.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:36]:
And she was just like, I so appreciate you for noticing me. Right. And for paying attention that she wasn't comfortable with what was on the buffet. And, and that's that. That mom mentality in a way. Right. And okay. She just said, you go.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:54]:
Colleen and Jessica, I appreciate planners like you.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:21:57]:
Yeah, well, yeah, Tracy, I would just add to. I mean the labeling is certainly important, but we also talked about like, just even the setup. I feel like there's so much education and training also from my side on working with the banquet servers. And I think unfortunately with the post Covid world and losing a lot of talent in the industry and bringing on new people, sometimes it's just staffing agencies and stuff, but like getting people up to speed on how to set up a buffet properly that is in accordance with food allergies and diet. Like, you don't put the vegan gluten free entree or whatever first, right? You put that in because everybody's going to take that one first. If you have to, you take the nuts out of, or whatever, cheese out of the salad, put it on the side, but make sure you have different utensils, keep it separate. And proper labeling, don't blend different things together. Like I had a break the other day where I had, I think they some kind of pastry or whatever that had a lot of allergens in it.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:22:45]:
But I had like another one that was allergy better and they were separate, separate utensils, whatever. And then the big wit server later on just mixed them all into one platter, like cleaning up whatever. And I'm like, what would you do? Why would you do that? Like, we purposely had it, so. And then going back to what you talked about nuts the other day, like, same thing. I like made all the buffet nut free, very labeled. But then the bread, I noticed they had like those little yummy cranberry muffins that have the walnuts in them. And I was like, what you, you just threw in walnuts for no reason with no labeling? Like, we tried so hard on everything else. So it's like just constantly being on top and helping people out.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:23:19]:
I think one of the problems too, with like a SAP. Make your own salad bar is that they'll put like, like the toppings up here, so when people grab it, they're dropping the cheese or the nuts right into it. That's like, we gotta, gotta bring it down.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:32]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's. It's like putting the food that's got the allergens on the top, which is great. But then again, if you've got somebody that is short in stature or utilizes a wheelchair, they can't access that. So you do have to make it accessible. And even further back in the. In that, like, you don't want to bring those. Put those peanuts in the back over there so they're dropped over here.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:54]:
Yeah, yeah. There's a. And I'm glad that you brought that up, because it's not just what's on the plate, it's how it's designed and, and, or how it's presented. Yeah, right. Yeah. And. And that takes a conversation between the front of the house and the back of the house. And sometimes they don't like to talk to each other.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:24:14]:
It feels like. Yeah. So what systems do you have in place in your whole planning process to help prevent these kinds of incident incidences? I like the fact that you said you lift up the shaping dishes and look at the. Actually look at the food and compare it to the, to the label. Anything else.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:24:34]:
I mean, honestly, I think what I was talking about earlier about, like, again, like, I try to do as much work and help them out as much as possible, but, like, tweaking the buffets and going through detailing out what can be done so that I'm not just asking them to do everything, but I'm also taking on some of the responsibility and helping out ideas and then just making sure they're executed properly. And then one of the other things I do that we haven't touched upon is that, I mean, obviously we're all working really hard in the capacity, but when I can. I'm not 100% perfect, but I would say 90% of the time, I do email the attendees as well and say, I just want to let you know, here's the meal planning that we have ahead for you. Like these meals I've tweaked so that you can. You can eat off of them, whatever. But we are doing a plated lunch on this day, so you will need to show your dietary card for that lunch, things like that. So just so that they know that they're being considered that they have options. So when they arrive, just like, oh, man, there's nothing for me.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:25:28]:
And then walk off and leave. So.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:30]:
Right. Yeah, Colleen.

Colleen Earley  [00:25:32]:
Yeah, same thing, Jessica. And I love what you said because it's exactly what I do. Because these people need to feel welcome before they arrive. So the only way that they can do that is for us as a meeting planner to reach out to them and just say, this is menu or, and, or. Okay, what are your concerns and what can you eat? Because sometimes with registration, we might get something. I can't have gluten. Okay, so tell me a little bit more about that. Is that a gluten allergies? Are you restricted? Like, tell me more so then we can give the correct information to the venue.

Colleen Earley  [00:26:04]:
Okay. This person avoids gluten, but doesn't have a gluten allergy. Sometimes it's good for them to hear, sometimes it confuses them. But anyways, things like that, just really. From the. From even before they arrive on the property, just really take care of them and say, I'm going to help you. You look for me when you register and we can discuss the menu. I can introduce you to the event manager.

Colleen Earley  [00:26:27]:
So you're going to see that person every morning and then they'll tell you who you're going to see in the afternoon and in the evening, if you have any questions, you can go right to that person. So just really trying to like, connect. Connect these individuals together because we all have to play a part, right?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:26:45]:
Exactly. Nicole just piped in here. Yes, Colleen. People need to be welcome before they arrive. That is the next level service. I love to hear it. And I agree because it. Like, even at my event, I have two kosher individuals.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:26:59]:
One is Orthodox Jew and the other one is not Orthodox Jew. But he's like, if you label this. And so that. Because this was also during Passover. Right. Label for this, then I know what I can and can't eat when I'm going through the buffet. And. And he thanks me at the end of the day, right? Because he's like, I know what I can eat and you're providing me that way to feel connected.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:21]:
And. And one that's coming up next month. I emailed these people, the attendees who have nut allergies. I'm like, can you please let me know if it's. If you can't have it from ingestion, touch or inhalation.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:27:32]:
Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:32]:
Being in that room. And two people said, I can't be in the room with it. So I'm eliminating Nuts from all of our menus because of that connection.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:27:41]:
Yeah, right. I think there's a lot we can learn from attendees as well, like emailing them and asking them. And so sometimes like feeling like I'm stomped, I can say, can you give me ideas about what you can eat or what you're. And I definitely modified and learned from that experience.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:54]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Colleen Earley  [00:27:55]:
I had, I had one attendee that really wasn't, was maybe having a bit of a time and wasn't really comfortable eating anything. So they ended up bringing their own meal and the venue had to deal because that was what he needed at the time. And so it ended up being fine. It was probably a little awkward for him, but that's what made him comfortable and that's what got him through the conference. So we have to be able to adapt and help.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:28:25]:
So how do you. Okay, because you just said the hotel needed to be fine. So how do you navigate those conversations with your event manager at the hotel or the property convention center and the chefs? How do you. I mean, we, we do, we're trying to make it easier for them, but I mean, how do, how do we approach it? And then I'm going to say this because I want, I want the approach to be from a non food allergy mom approach. Like, because some, some people are going to say, I don't have time for this. Right. So how do we, what do we need to teach planners to approach this and have these conversations?

Colleen Earley  [00:29:01]:
I approach exactly like I would if it was my daughter or not. And I, and, and I guess all I know is being a food allergy mom. So I approach this. I have some experience. I want to help you. So if, if you could get me in touch with the chef, maybe we could have a meeting, a zoom. I want to help you. I want to make this easier for you is we have to include these people.

Colleen Earley  [00:29:30]:
So let's figure out how we do it together. So that's kind of the way I just approach it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:35]:
And is it, what's the percentage of being accepted and pushed back?

Colleen Earley  [00:29:40]:
I usually am, but I still have to. I'm usually accepted, but I do have to sometimes nudge and push and follow up. But we do that anyway. Right? We do that anyway. We're going to do that anyway. We're going to walk in and look at the setup of the room and the chafers and see where things are and follow up and, and make sure everybody's included for every meal. So I haven't had any huge resistance because I just, I, I approach it that way. And it seems to be.

Colleen Earley  [00:30:09]:
It seems to work okay.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:30:12]:
Jessica?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:30:12]:
Yeah, I would say just going back to what do the checks and balances, that's transactional, like, in the sense of, like, here's the information I provide you, here's what's received, here's what I do to help and make it better. And then we go into the pre con. We're going to go over it again, have the chef in the room talk about it. I'll have a list of, like, which are like, the really unique diet stuff that, like, maybe I can't fully tweak on the buffet or whatever, but, like, to go through to make sure that we've considered them, that there's a meal. And then again when the food is served, that other checks checking it out. Because going back to being a mom, my experience as well is that, like, you can do everything right in your power to, like, talk to the server, ask for the ingredients, everything, and then when the food's delivered, trust your instinct again, is this. Is your child being served the food that you just discussed, or does it look different? And I can speak from the heart about that. A couple of years ago, my child and I were skiing at a.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:31:07]:
We were skiing at a ski resort. There was like, a grilled cheese place. They had vegan grilled cheese. I had, like, done everything to check about, like, make sure there's no sesame in the bread, make sure there's pea protein and the cheese and the butter, all these things. And everything was good. We I pick up the grilled cheese. I'm serving it to, like, I'm going back, giving it to him, and I look at him like, that's not the right cheese. Like, those are shreds.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:31:30]:
And I looked at the ingredients for like, sliced cheese. Wait a minute. So then I'm like, go. And I go back and they like, bait and switched me. They gave me the labeling for, like, the shredded cheese or the sliced cheese, but they served him the shredded cheese. And the shredded cheese had pea protein in it. And had I not have caught that. So I did everything right.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:31:50]:
I checked the label, I talked to them, but what was served. So that's the same thing when you're working with your attendees on a. On the meals. Is that just because you did everything again, that final step, I would recommend just give it another eye. And if you have a questions, go find out before you have 300 attendees coming into line to grab their food. If you can't.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:09]:
Right. Yeah, well. And it's in. It's that step in the back of the house. Right. Because I remember an event I went to and, and this was in Vegas, and we all of the hot and garment dishes had labeling, Right. And it was decent labeling on there for allergens and things. I was, I was attendee.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:32]:
But when you came to the dessert side, it just said peter for brownie or whatever. There was no labeling at all on allergens. And I said to the chef, and I'm like, well, how did that. Well, we didn't tell him that. So how do we. I mean, we, as planners, we got a lot on our plate. How do we make sure that those critical control points in the back of the house are not getting missed? Like you just mentioned, Jessica. I mean, why the bait and switch? Right?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:33:00]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:01]:
And we don't have time, nor do we have the. We don't even know who that person is doing in the switch in the back of the house. Right?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:33:09]:
Yep. Yeah. No, for sure. I mean, that's why when I'm going through the banquet orders, I'm making sure as much as possible, the labels are done. That we've all agreed and then again talked about it with the shaft in the pre con and then again, once out, checking it before and finish and fixing everything if we can. But again, yeah, we don't have time. And you have 10 minutes before the line opens and it's chaos. And you're waiting for that label.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:30]:
And yeah, it is a challenge. I mean, it's unfortunate too, that the labels are done 10 minutes before the event, which is annoying. When you, when you're going through your. And your. Your pre con meeting, who is in that meeting? Or actually, I'm going to ask this question. Who is in that meeting? Is it just the executive chef? And it depends on the property, how many different chefs that they have. But on your beos, this is the one that I forgot. Are you actually putting on the beos how you want the label? Do you make sure that the beo is labeled as it should be on the label?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:34:01]:
Yes, yes, yes.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:03]:
Okay. Yep. Because there's so many that don't do that at all.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:34:07]:
Yeah, that's what I do. Anyway, when we do it, we confirm, like, I want this entree to be nut free, dairy free, gluten free, conclusive to 90% of the special diets that we are requesting. And I put all those labels are on the beos that I sign. And the idea is that that is supposed to be what's on the actual label as well.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:25]:
Yeah.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:34:26]:
Does it always happen? No. And that's for that next step. But that's the agreement that we talk about that. But I do think I just want to take. So in a pre con. Yeah. I mean, typically it's the executive chef or, you know, whoever is in that day the highest up and go through. But I do think even on that level, as much as they're trying to be creative and, and helping and I, I do feel like it's always a very friendly conversation.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:34:46]:
It goes back to what Colleen was talking about, the partnership because they want to be successful. Nobody wants a lawsuit either. But I do think there is still education and training at that label. There are plenty of times where I've had to talk to head chefs and say vegan and gluten free are not the same things. Like, you cannot lump them in together and this will not work with this person. Like, so they. Unfortunately, even with the high up, it's not, they don't know everything. And, and again, it's, it's us to, to advocate up to us to advocate for those too.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:14]:
Yeah. How many times have you gotten, hey, this is the meal that everybody will get. Be served. And it's that vegan gluten free thing meal. Like, this is just, this is what we're serving as a personalized plate. And everybody gets that. Yeah.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:35:27]:
Oh, a lot. Yeah, we.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:30]:
And it is.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:35:30]:
I'm like, no, they're not going to be happy. Like, I'm going to be the one yelled at by the gluten free meat eaters that don't want the vegetarian meal. Right. Like, we gotta make it. And you have to be very careful. Like, because when you mix those things, like a lot of times gluten free wraps might have like an egg in them or something like that, which would not be vegan. You cannot always wrap things up together. Wrap things up together.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:35:50]:
So, yeah, no, I definitely. It's. It's a conversation trying to. Yeah. Balance that out.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:35:56]:
How have you. I'm going to jump to your kids because your mom's.

Colleen Earley  [00:35:59]:
How.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:36:00]:
And colleen, yours is 21 now, but growing up. And then Jessica, as the kids are getting older, how are you teaching them and allowing them to advocate for themselves? And how, Colleen, how does your daughter do that for herself?

Colleen Earley  [00:36:15]:
Well, she's come a long way. I don't know if she's listening, but I think the minute you find out is when you know you have to learn, but you also have to teach them. So with her and other friends that I see them with their kids with food allergies, it's just not being afraid to speak up, like, I, I can't eat that, you know, or I don't know if I can eat that. Well, I know you're saying the label said such and such, but I, I'm not eating that. Like just to be confident and to be like, I'm not eating that, but I can eat this, you know, just, just trying to build that through the years and she's really done great, great things and she's also in the industry or will be in the industry as a professional, so she gets it. So I see her maybe being on your podcast at some point because she, it's, it's, it means a lot to her to feel included because she knows what it's like to not feel included. And so she, she, she wants to make a change. So it's, it's, it's a wonderful thing.

Colleen Earley  [00:37:21]:
But just, I think, just building the confidence, I think they can learn, they start to learn what they can eat and what they can't eat. But just being confident that it's okay to speak up for yourself.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:37:33]:
Right? Yeah. Jessica, I know your boys are young.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:37:37]:
Yeah. Well, I think especially, I mean the four year old we're working on. Right. That's a newer thing for him to advocate. But the 8 year old has been advocating for a long time, like asking questions and asking and whatever. And going back to Colleen, what you just said, like, just because something was served to them, he has fortunately been like, are you sure? I don't think so. I'm not comfortable eating this. If he's like, great pizza and he's like, I don't think that's a vegan pizza, whatever, he will be like, I'm not going to eat that.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:38:05]:
Like he's at that point now where luckily I don't really have to worry because unless like mom has approved it or something or receives a text message between me and the teacher or whatever, he's like, I'm not going to opt into that because I'm not totally sure. So that's, I'm really lucky about that. And the four year old we're starting.

Colleen Earley  [00:38:20]:
To work on, so yeah, I love it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:38:21]:
And do his friends recognize that as well?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:38:24]:
Yeah, I mean, eight year old boys or they can pick on each other a little bit like, oh yeah. But overall, like we're really lucky that we, we're in a tight community at a school and actually out of the six really close families, four out of the six have food allergies. So how is that weird, weird bubble, like they're the only ones in their class, but we all just happen to become friends. So the one thing we always laugh about is anytime we're at a party together, we know at least there's at least one family has an EpiPen set at the house, so we never have to worry. There is a very supportive community about, like, at birthday parties, hey, I want to make sure we have something safe for your kids and everything like that, and vice versa.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:01]:
That's awesome.

Colleen Earley  [00:39:02]:
It was a struggle. It was a struggle for me through the years. With that, I ended up, like, being the class mom. I've ended up doing all the food for anything I could because it's. You want your kid to go to school and be okay, you don't want to get that call that they're not. Right. So, yeah, we've had ups and downs, but I, I just. I just started baking.

Colleen Earley  [00:39:26]:
I'm not even a baker, but I just started baking when she was young, and now I don't have to bake anymore because she bakes for herself. But it's. It was just something that I had to do to, like, feel comfortable sending my daughter to school.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:39:41]:
Yeah, I mean, I definitely Colleen, I, I, I control all the food as far as, like, yeah, I make all his lunch every day, figure out all the meal prepping before I head to a con. I was away for seven days at Long beach for two weeks to go for a conference. And I worked with my husband to figure out, like, okay, here are the ideas for food. You know, what we can serve for dinner. And I went to the grocery store that weekend and bought up a bunch of stuff. And I'm always in communication with his teach the teacher. So we're always checking, and they know to always, like, if there's something new to come in that's like a snack or somebody brings in a treat, they'll take pictures of a label and send it to me. Otherwise, we'll come up with an alternative.

Colleen Earley  [00:40:13]:
That's great.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:13]:
Okay.

Colleen Earley  [00:40:14]:
Yeah, that's great.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:15]:
I mean, and the fact that those teachers are receptive to that is huge. And I know Boston, I mean, Massachusetts, has a strong food allergy law in place to say all restaurants have to have that label thing. If you have a food allergy, please let us know in advance. So I'm glad that it's also gone to the school level as well. And those teachers are receptive to that.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:40:36]:
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And a lot of restaurants, we're really fortunate. I always remember when I leave Boston what the rest of the world is like. But a lot of the restaurants in Boston have binders. It's not a law, but a lot of them do. So especially for us food moms, it's really helpful when we can go in and you can ask and they'll just like whip out a binder of all the ingredients, so.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:53]:
Oh, that's awesome.

Colleen Earley  [00:40:54]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:54]:
So how do you.

Colleen Earley  [00:40:55]:
Massachusetts is great.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:57]:
Yes. It. And it hopefully getting better with. With food code changing and as. As well, because there's not the labeling I want. All right, on that note, on the labeling and I kind of going back to this and I know we've hashed this a little bit, but it's not like ordering a packaged food and I don't have a package food in front of me to say, hey, I can read the labeling on here. Right. And.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:18]:
But when you're going to a buffet, there's a couple of people in the middle of that route to get that buffet to that, that label, to that buffet. Do you ask about that at all when you're planning or who's responsible for that labeling or.

Colleen Earley  [00:41:33]:
Yes, I do.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:33]:
How do you manage the labeling? You do?

Colleen Earley  [00:41:37]:
I. I do, yeah. I mean like we discussed before, the B O should have it all on there. So it should be fairly easy to merge another document to have a label. But yeah, I. All the venues, it just, it depends they who's responsible. It changes and varies. But I'm just constantly following up and then when they're out to make sure they're correct.

Colleen Earley  [00:42:01]:
And again, it's just the follow up on looking at the actual food and questioning if necessary.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:08]:
Yeah, exactly. And we just, and we just need to be a lot more cognizant of it too, like going, I like the fact that you just said like, let's pick open the chafing dish and make sure that it matches the label. Right. And. And I was actually at. I was attending an event and this is. I brought this up before, is that they served a. It was a bacon, egg and cheese croissant and it said that it was gluten free and dairy free or whatever it was.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:37]:
And then the other one said a bacon or egg and cheese. And that one, one of them was gluten free. One of them was not. And, and croissant. And I'm thinking I've never seen a gluten free croissant in my life. Right. And two, they were all wrapped in aluminum foil to keep them warm. And those chafing dishes were put right next to each other.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:57]:
And so you couldn't tell the difference. And the serving staff couldn't even tell the difference. So they actually had swapped the labels, put the labels in front of the wrong thing because one, they didn't read them and two, everything was in aluminum foil the same color. I'm like, that's a risk in and of itself right there, seeing that. And I'm just an attendee noticing it. And they're, they were arguing with me about it, but.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:43:19]:
Well, I think that goes for you now. Oh, sorry, Colleen. I was saying that happens a lot in box lunches. You know, you can't always see or deconstruct. And so one thing I always have to work on with the chefs and the event manager too, is that like, okay, so we have our vegan lunches or gluten free lunches or whatever. The sides and the dessert cannot be counter to what that special diet is because I feel like that happens all the time. You get your gluten free or vegan sandwich, but we're going to give you a gluten or dairy side and dessert. And I'm like, no, you're, you're gonna kill that person.

Colleen Earley  [00:43:49]:
Like you have like a cookie. A cookie goes in there. Right, right?

Tracy Stuckrath [00:43:52]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So true. I mean, because you, they're like, okay, well this is the main entree is gluten free and vegan or whatever. But no, you throw all those other things in there and they're not. And who is the person in the back of the house that's constructing those boxes? Right, yeah, good question. Good idea. Okay, so a couple of rapid fire questions for you. An event trend that you're totally over.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:44:19]:
Okay, I am over hidden fees. Like I don't know in the post Covid. I don't. Fortunately, I don't think it's. It's over. I think we're going to be stuck with it. It's getting worse. But the hidden FMB fees that we're starting to see in the post Covid world, charging for water stations, upcharges for special diet, charging for paper cups, mandatory minimums for receptions and stuff like that, they're just all these hidden fees now I feel like in menus.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:44:43]:
So when now I'm sourcing hotels. We are actually asking for the menus up front and I'm, I'm scouring them and looking and see if I see already hidden fees. I mean, of course I can't predict the future, but I can try to put language in my clauses that talk about not having ridiculous F and B things that are Added on. But we are now looking and we are negotiating that kind of stuff because we're not going to be paying $50 for a water station in every breakout room.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:07]:
Right? Yeah. That's crazy.

Colleen Earley  [00:45:08]:
Yeah. I don't have anything new that I agree with that 100 even on my RFP. I'm like, you have to give me all your fees. I need to know all your fees up front.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:45:18]:
Yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:19]:
Even the ones that are on page 28. And it's one bullet. Right. Like let me see that.

Colleen Earley  [00:45:23]:
Yeah. I'm gonna miss, I'm. I'm going to miss it if you're trying to hide it. Possibly. And so I, I need to know up front because we have to create a budget. Like my right clients will move forward with anything without a full budget.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:35]:
And just kind of on that note, I just. This event that I did recently and on my budget I have AM break as a line item and PM break as a line item. Well, this hotel puts AM and PM breaks in one but in one beo. I mean so it actually ends up saving me gratuity and tax a little bit. It's not a separate setup, but it's messes my budget up. Right. So one looks. So I have to change it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:57]:
That's one of the questions that I'm asking too is like how do you do your banquet checks at the end of the day?

Colleen Earley  [00:46:03]:
Right.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:04]:
Yeah. Because even tax wise and gratuity wise, what's tax and what's not. Okay. Proudest mom moment at an event.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:46:11]:
When Xander, my 8 year old, was little a baby. I was working for an association in the state of Massachusetts. So majority of my events were around the region. Fortunately only two nationals. So I was constantly traveling. Lots of events, but my husband could join. So the baby would be in daycare during the day. And then Friday evening he would drive an hour wherever I was and join me that evening.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:46:32]:
Cause I was still breastfeeding and, and then sleep with the baby. And then he would take over and watch the baby while I was working the event. But it was just nice to have that. And so one of my favorite moments was that when Xander was little, like baby, baby. And I, I would. When you're on the floor at like 6am, 6:30, checking all your rooms, getting everything warmed up, the AV before all your tinnies come down. I would wear him in my like carrier, my sling. And so I had this little baby that I was like walking around sleeping on me at like six in the morning and I'm with my beos and I'M checking everything and getting everything ready.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:47:03]:
As a mom doing that before all these attendees come on the floor and that kind of stuff. So it was just cool. A balancing act.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:09]:
I love that. I love that. That's really great.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:47:12]:
Makes cute pictures.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:13]:
Yes, definitely. Colleen.

Colleen Earley  [00:47:16]:
So mine is, mine's in college now and getting her hospitality degree at Culinary institute. So that's makes me extremely proud. And health and wellness is very important to her. She's doing student council and doing different various projects and really working on to be included herself. But we're seeing that others need to be included as well. So that makes me so happy.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:42]:
That's awesome. All right, April prepped in here with a thing when, if, if you find a gluten, gluten free croissant, please, please let me know.

Colleen Earley  [00:47:49]:
They are.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:47:49]:
She hasn't had one in for you. Yes. And Carly just said super moms. Okay, so what is a go to planner tool you can't live without?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:48:02]:
Oh, so I, this is one I just ordered and I don't know why it took me 10 years to order it, but I just ordered on Amazon. I'm finally ordering a clicker like, like counting a banquet room of when you're counting 400 heads or whatever to get actuals, whatever, you lose track, people interrupt you like, things happen, whatever. And I'm like, why? I'm just doing it. I'm finally. So I ordered myself a clicker and I think that's going to help me a lot. Simple but nice.

Colleen Earley  [00:48:26]:
Yeah, it's funny, I debated about that. I use my, the Tally app on my phone, but I debate about getting one, so maybe I'll get one too. What can I live without? I don't know. I have a little, what I call my meeting ditty bag that has all these miscellaneous things in there. So I guess I just can't live without that. But I find every time I go to a conference, there's something that I need to have in there, like the longer HDMI cord or the double sided tape or the, all these pins. Every time there's something I need to add to it, but I really can't live without it. And my name badge.

Colleen Earley  [00:49:00]:
I'm kind of obsessed with my name badge. I bought one for myself. It's a magnet one. So I wear it every, every conference.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:07]:
That's awesome. All right, we have a bunch of people that have come in, in and out over here on Instagram. Real quick, beyond the beo joined Tucker MO2 Marie, my friend Marie from New Bern, Chef, Chef Sanoa and Trisher Trish, thank you for tuning in on Instagram as well. I appreciate it. No questions from them over there. Okay. During event season, one word your family would use to describe you during event season. Season.

Colleen Earley  [00:49:37]:
Insane, maybe.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:38]:
Insane. Okay. Yeah.

Colleen Earley  [00:49:42]:
My husband would say erratic. Probably because he tries to talk about something at home or anything personal. No, I can't handle it. Talk to me in a few days.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:49:53]:
Yeah, I'd say that's super busy. Doesn't sleep, like.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:57]:
Yeah, okay.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:49:58]:
I think they're, they're good sports. They know it if it's short term, but we'll get through it.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:03]:
Yeah. All right, so what is. I know I had two other ones on that list, but I'm going to say what is your. What is a food that you have at home that's a go to for your whole family? Because Jessica, you said, hey, I use this at home. What's another. Besides the pumpkin butter, is there anything else that you like, really rely on?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:50:20]:
I mean, my four and eight year olds eat a lot of impossible chicken nuggets. But. But no, but one thing we. Our favorite food, I would say is tacos. Taco night. And just do an extra little plug. I actually also have a 23 year old. He does not have food allergies, which is why I haven't mentioned him.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:50:36]:
But he brought home his first serious girlfriend last night to our house and we hosted dinner for her. So it's very exciting. I feel very old, but she has food allergies and he knew that I could keep her safe and so we did talk.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:50]:
It's so awesome.

Colleen Earley  [00:50:51]:
I know.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:50:52]:
Full circle.

Colleen Earley  [00:50:53]:
Yep.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:50:54]:
So he has never had it, but he, he has a girlfriend, so he knew I could keep her safe. So I made a huge spread. Taco night. Tons of toppings, lots of stuff. And she could eat all. Everybody could eat everything. So it was exciting.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:06]:
That's awesome. All right, Carly, just piped in here. Chia seeds can be used in place of eggs and baking. Yes, very true, Carly. Thank you. Carlene, what about you?

Colleen Earley  [00:51:16]:
We just had tacos last night. My daughter's at school, but we still. I still live by the same practice even though she's not living here per se. She's not home that often. Definitely a bit of the sun butter. But the made good granola bars are kind of a statement and I end up bringing those to conferences because there's always someone that wants something sweeter that can't have anything that's there. So I always have like three boxes of different kinds.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:45]:
That. That's a good idea.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:51:48]:
Colleen, Another plug for a product that I, we love off too is I don't give Brahmi beans like their bags. You can get them at Whole Foods, Wegmans, other places, but. Or you can order them direct from the. The company, which is a lot cheaper. And you can get them wholesale in the box. But they're, they're high protein lupini beans and they come in different flavored packs and they're just really great and healthy and a lot of protein and a good snack and my kids love them. And, and they, you don't have to refrigerate them before they open, so they're great to carry around.

Colleen Earley  [00:52:14]:
How can you sell that? We got to write that down.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:52:17]:
B R A M I.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:18]:
So.

Colleen Earley  [00:52:18]:
Okay.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:52:19]:
I don't work for them. It's just something we love them. And Abe's muffins. I always joke that I pretty much have a full time job because of Abe's muffins. Because they're safe for my kids. We go through them all the time.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:30]:
Okay, so on that note, did you say they're lupine means?

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:52:33]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:36]:
Because that, and I'm saying that I'm questioning it because that's one of the top allergens in the, in the European Union.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:52:42]:
Yeah, it can. I mean, they do labeling, so they actually have the label on the back of them. My kids are fine with Lee Beanie beans, so it works fine with. Even with his peanut allergy, he was fine. Everybody's different. But certainly you would have to note. Yeah, yeah.

Colleen Earley  [00:52:56]:
What you can do.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:56]:
Yeah, no, I've never seen those. I'll have to look it up.

Jessica Hiemenz-Woodbury [00:52:58]:
Yeah, they actually have really good labeling on the back of it. Like because of the UK labeling like this could cause an allergy which you don't actually see on beans in the U.S. but if you can eat them, they're great. High protein.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:53:07]:
Yeah. All right, awesome. Well, very cool. Well, ladies, thank you so much. I'm so excited. I, I'm, I'm proud to call you my friends and to have you here on the show with me. And if anybody wants to connect with them. Let's see, where did I have everybody's thing? Here's Colleen's.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:53:24]:
Connect with Colleen on LinkedIn. Colleen, early CMP and then Jessica's is right there and connect with them on LinkedIn. I'm sure they will be happy to share their tips and tricks, furthermore about what they do. But thank you for being food allergy moms. Those moms. And taking that into what you do as a Meeting planner. Appreciate it.

Colleen Earley  [00:53:49]:
Thank you. Then, Tracy, you're amazing. You've been a great support to me for many, many years when we met a long time ago. And what you do is just a wonderful gift for everyone in the food allergy community and in hospitality. So thank you. Oh, thank you.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:54:05]:
That's very sweet. Carly just said thank you, guys. You're welcome, Carly. It's a. It's a passion of mine because I got diagnosed with food allergies and I couldn't eat at my own events, and that's why I started doing this. And I'm glad that this new platform of the conversations of being able to talk to people, whether you're a chef or an eater or a mom with, it's just there's so many different avenues about this, and it's important that we educate. Like Nicole said, education is key across the board. So absolutely.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:54:34]:
Thank you. We can all learn from each other. So tomorrow on the show, I am talking to Amanda Whitehouse, who is a food allergy mom as well, but she's a psychologist, and she. She's going to talk about the psychology and the mental health that comes around people who have food allergies. So I think that's another important conversation to have. Yeah, so that'll be at 11 tomorrow, not at 12, but so if you can tune in then. Until then, stay safe and eat well. And ladies, thank you again.

Colleen Earley  [00:55:04]:
Thank you. Bye, everybody.

Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:08]:
Thanks for listening to the Eating at a Meeting podcast where every meal matters. I'm Tracy 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 podcasts 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@ameeting.com Sam.