326: Event Profs Share F&B Ordering Tips for Better Guest Experiences & Budgets

As event planners, we know that food and beverage is rarely just a line item—it’s an experience, a connector, and sometimes a challenge.
In this week’s Eating at a Meeting LIVE, I’m gathered a group of event planners — Janet C. Hoppenstein, CMP, Shannon Ryan, CMP, and Julie Wong, CMP — for an open conversation about how they navigate ordering F&B for their events: what guides their decisions, what concessions or compromises they make, and how they think about the attendee experience when planning menus.
We’ll talk about:
▶︎ How budget, inclusivity, sustainability, and logistics come into play
▶︎ What they wish venues and caterers understood better
▶︎ How attendee expectations are changing—and how planners are adapting
Whether you’re a planner yourself or part of a catering or venue team, this conversation will offer insights that can help you deliver better, more thoughtful food and beverage at your next event.
Join me and bring your own questions or stories to the chat!
Heard on the Episode
“Health and inclusivity…keeping our attendees safe and healthy is my number one priority.”
~Shannon Ryan [00:03:15]
“I am a freak about food labeling...people know, especially...anything that has multiple ingredients.”
~Janet Hopenstein [00:04:21]
"We drill down...preference versus a requirement. If it's just I don't eat gluten because I don't like it, I mean…"
~Julie Wong [00:07:32]
Key Topics Discussed
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Menu Planning Priorities
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Health, inclusivity, and guest safety are top concerns.
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Menu variety and avoiding repetitive dishes.
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Capturing Dietary Needs
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Registration questions: difference between allergies and preferences.
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Communication with chefs and follow-up with guests.
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Budgeting & Negotiation
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Working with venues: per-person budgets vs. package menus.
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Removing/restructuring menu items to save costs.
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Strategies for coffee and alcohol management.
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Waste & Sustainability
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Working with properties for food donation.
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Strategies to reduce food waste and over-ordering.
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Vendor & Chef Collaboration
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Value of planning meetings with culinary teams.
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The importance of creative, flexible chefs.
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Pet Peeves & Wish List
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Lack of menu creativity and poor labeling.
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Wishing for better coffee bars and creative staff meal solutions.
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Key Takeaways
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Prioritize Safety & Inclusivity: Diligently collect allergy information and communicate with culinary staff, prioritizing attendee health.
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Collaborate Closely: Relationships with chefs and service staff are essential for creative, accommodating menus.
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Keep Menus Diverse: Avoid repetitive and allergen-heavy options by planning with variety and regionally inspired items.
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Control Costs Creatively: Move desserts to breaks, limit afternoon coffee, and structure bar packages to manage F&B spend.
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Scrutinize Details: Always ensure clear food labeling and confirmation of preferences/allergies on event paperwork.
Tips
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Ask specific, separate questions on registration forms about allergies and preferences.
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Meet with chefs to discuss special needs—especially for guests with severe allergies.
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Specify smaller coffee cup sizes and limit service times to reduce waste.
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Negotiate for staff meal deals and beverage charges during contracting.
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Vary menus day by day and repurpose unused food creatively for breaks.
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Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:06]:
Hey, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Eating at a Meeting. And up here in the upper left hand corner, I'm so excited to see you from my home office this week. And I'm excited to bring you this conversation today about. And I've gathered some meeting planners here to share food and beverage ordering tips for better guest experiences and budgets and because I've come off two events this summer and I really want to talk about how we can do that. And so I'm very excited to bring to you today. In this conversation is Julie Wong. She's the president and owner of the event concierge. Below her is Shannon Ryan, who works at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:00:54]:
And Janet Hopenstein, who is an account director with SEI Meetings and Incentives. Welcome to the show, ladies.
Shannon Ryan [00:01:02]:
Thank you.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:04]:
So on the description for the show, food and beverage is rarely just a line Item. It's like 500 line items if you take into consideration everything that we order on food and beverage. And I don't think people take that, you know, really think about it. Right. So I really want to talk about how food and beverage comes into play in the events that you plan. And before we get into that, I do want you would love you to explain to the audience what kind of events you do plan.
Janet Hopenstein [00:01:34]:
So let's start with you, Julie.
Julie Wong [00:01:35]:
Okay, so we run all types of events, so mostly focus on the corporate side. We do plan some associations and then mostly just focus on meetings. Meetings of various sizes. I would say our largest client event is a conference of about a thousand people. But on average, we probably plan mostly meetings for anywhere between 50 to about 250 people.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:01:58]:
Okay, perfect. Shannon.
Janet Hopenstein [00:02:00]:
Hi.
Shannon Ryan [00:02:01]:
I'm similar. I work for a cancer association, and we also run the gamut. Our biggest conference is about 1600. That's our annual conference. But for the most part, our events are anywhere between 30 and 300 people.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:16]:
Okay.
Janet Hopenstein [00:02:17]:
All right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:18]:
Awesome. Janet.
Janet Hopenstein [00:02:20]:
We do a combination of meetings and incentives. At sei. My clients are primarily on the incentive side. I have a couple of smaller meetings that are like 100, 150 people. And then my incentives, one smaller one, but then primarily larger ones. For instance, two consecutive groups of 800 people each. So. Yeah, so that really.
Janet Hopenstein [00:02:40]:
So that's good because it seems like we all have kind of different sizes we're working with on food and beverage, and that can kind of make for more.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:02:47]:
Exactly. Yeah. And the events that I worked on this summer, one was 800 and one was 1400, so. So it varies in that. And then there's lots of meetings inside of those. Right. So you're not necessarily feeding that many people all at one time. So okay, food and beverage, it's probably our number one line item expense wise.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:03:08]:
So what are your key prior priorities when you're ordering food and beverage for your events?
Shannon Ryan [00:03:15]:
For me it's health and inclusivity. I think we've all seen a huge rise in allergies and food preferences and I think that duty of care obviously is our number one priority as a meeting planner. So keeping our attendees safe and healthy is my number one priority. And that takes a lot of work from the beginning, from building your registration site to, you know, making sure you're talking with the people who are letting you know that you have allergies and then communicating it effectively to the caterers. So for me that is the number one priority. And after that is budget. I mean we've all seen a huge rise in costs and now we're thinking about tariffs and how that's going to look for the price of coffee beans. And we already know that coffee is astronomical to begin with.
Shannon Ryan [00:04:11]:
So that's anxiety provoking as we go into our budgeting process this year.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:04:17]:
Yeah, exactly. What about you, Janet and Julie?
Janet Hopenstein [00:04:21]:
So my, my first is probably variety because for me that encompasses what Shannon said about, you know, health and food sensitivities or food preferences. With the groups that I have right now, a lot of them are southern and they still are big meat and potatoes, but then a lot of. But then they'll have spouses or guests that are more healthy. So it's definitely big variety. I am a freak about food labeling and both for, you know, allergies and preferences. So people know especially. I mean I don't need them to label a bowl of bananas, we know what a banana is. But anything that has multiple ingredients.
Janet Hopenstein [00:05:00]:
I'm also really big on doing deconstructed things. Whether it's that with everything from salads to pretty much anything that can be deconstructed have deconstructed. So if you are a vegan you can put together your salad with only the vegetables and that there's a non dairy dressing if you're gluten free, you know, we've got and there's a sandwich bar then obviously there'll be gluten free bread and and so forth. So I really focus on variety. So the people that, that really like to eat the stuff that's bad for you can and those that you eat or want more healthy or a combination thereof. I mean one of those combination thereof people Myself, I'll be like, right, yeah, do these mashed potatoes but then I'll do the grilled fish. So that's kind of how I look at it.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:05:44]:
No, I like that. Yeah, yeah. What Julie, what about you?
Julie Wong [00:05:47]:
Very similar. You know there's. How you prioritize is really tough. I feel like I take the approach of the budget, the health conscious balance experience. Given the location, the type of hotel and even the type of event it is. You know, if it's a meeting, are they making sure it's not carb heavy? Timing wise, if we're on a tight agenda and lunch needs to be a short time, you know, how much are we offering that type of stuff? Making sure that it's a balanced menu and if you're a multi day, making sure that the guests don't get bored or it looks very repetitive trying to get kind of lay out a menu that almost makes sense but also gives them a, a variety, gives them a taste of if they're traveling kind of that local taste. But also from a operational standpoint can the venue or caterer produce what we're looking for at a, you know, top notch just to give them again that experience but then again taking care of all those other factors such as budget and such as the health.
Janet Hopenstein [00:06:49]:
Oh one other thing regarding the like health. When people put on their, you know, on their registrate gluten free or some other anymore I like to check in with people or if they put kosher, you know I, I'll check in with them personally because I really want to know, you know, if you didn't put down celiac but you put gluten free, is there something dangerous or is it more of a preference if you're kosher? Are you kosher style or do I really need to bring in food from a kosher caterer for you that sealed with plastic utensils etc. So I also, I like to drill down when people put their preferences now because if it's just I don't eat gluten because I don't like it, I mean, you know.
Julie Wong [00:07:28]:
Right.
Janet Hopenstein [00:07:29]:
Yeah, yeah.
Julie Wong [00:07:32]:
We drill down as more as far as preference versus a requirement.
Shannon Ryan [00:07:37]:
Yeah.
Julie Wong [00:07:38]:
Yes, very similar meeting up with the guests. We've even gone as far as I had one client we're the executive has a food allergy to nickel and it was a challenge for us to just try and coordinate what was acceptable for her and what was safe that we've gotten to the point where as soon as she gets to the hotel or the venue we set up A meeting with the chef, and that. That has caused so much relief from a planning side and from a staffing side as well, knowing that she has talked to the culinary team and that we can pinpoint exactly what is safe and then practices. Best practices from the service staff on. So if we have. I have learned with that from that experience that someone that's, you know, really high, high allergy or very sensitive is maybe setting up a meeting with the culinary team.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:29]:
Yeah, well, and just kind of going back to all of your answers on some of those things of like when. With when somebody thinks about planning a meeting, I don't think that they think about all of those different details.
Julie Wong [00:08:41]:
Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:41]:
And like, you. That you're saying the dietary preferences and then the labeling and then meeting with the chef. And. And hey, we have to get food from an outside caterer for this person who eats kosher or halal. And. And then the variety of that.
Shannon Ryan [00:08:55]:
Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:08:55]:
And how do we. If you like, the event I just did was four days, and we have three different lunch. Three different lunches and dinners and receptions. It's not like just going to the same restaurant every single night.
Janet Hopenstein [00:09:07]:
Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:09:08]:
We're challenged with making sure that the food and beverage meets an expectation that it's not the same, you know, that it's. It provides for everybody's different needs.
Janet Hopenstein [00:09:19]:
It's so nice when without you even having to say, hey, Chef, with these vegans, can you please not just do a plate of steamed vegetables? And. And they come up with really creative, lovely options. I did a small awards event not too long ago, and it's a lovely plated meal, and everybody was getting all this amazing food, and we had a vegan person, and the chef did this vegetarian Mediterranean extravaganza for them that had falafel and different dips, different Mediterranean dips, and all kinds of fun, awesome things and marinated vegetables. And they were so excited. And there were people at the table going, so your vegetable, vegetarian, vegan, you know, you know, they. And freshly baked pe with it. And so when chefs do that without you even having to prompt when they come to you and say, hey, by the way, this is what I'm going to do for your vegan. Are you good with it? I'm like, oh, my God, yes, I'm good with it.
Janet Hopenstein [00:10:16]:
That's always nice because it. And that also said something to me about the culinary team in general at a. At a property when. When they want to make sure everybody has a great experience.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:10:26]:
Right. Well, and I just had one where for all of the special meals, they made a plate of tofu. And I'm like, no, you know, and I'm like, why would you do that? Right. No. Thank you. So how do you, I want to go back to Shannon, I think you mentioned it first was the registration. It goes back to registration and asking these questions and I think the reports that we get.
Shannon Ryan [00:10:50]:
So how do you all ask the.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:10:52]:
Questions of your attendees to get the right, right reports in? And I'm like, I'm not in a position where I am actually designing the registration sites. So I'm listening to the three of you. You are designing those registration sites so that you have the ability to ask the right questions. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Shannon Ryan [00:11:12]:
Yeah, I think it's super important to break it down I think like Julie said, between preferences and actual allergies. So our first question is, do you have any allergies? And we list out all the most common allergies. I think it's the top nine, plus several more. And then we leave an open ended other where people can fill that in. And then if you have answered any of that, then we ask what will happen to you? You know, are you going to have a medical emergency if you accidentally have something and is it by touch, is it inhalation? Is it, what is it? So that we have all that information and then we ask, do you have dietary preferences, you know, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halal. It's so important to get that information up front because for those people who are severely allergic, you need to know who they are. I want to have a conversation with them prior to the event. I'm going to email them, I want to in writing that I've emailed them that I know what it is that I'm going, that the hotel, the chef has all that information.
Shannon Ryan [00:12:22]:
And then when I'm on site, I'm going to check in with chef and the banquet captains, identify these people, make sure that if they want to have a meeting with them, they have that opportunity. But I need my attendee to know that I do understand what's going to happen, what's at stake and I take it seriously.
Julie Wong [00:12:41]:
Awesome.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:12:42]:
Julie and Janet, do you, do you create your registration system any differently?
Julie Wong [00:12:48]:
So I'm very similar in the fact that we, I don't always write up. We sometimes will work with our partners and our clients to kind of review the questions on the, on the registration. Very similar, Shannon. We ask the questions of, you know, your top allergies and then other and allow them but we, which I love that idea is drilling it down even further. But we do follow up with the guests in advance, just making sure if there's any specialty requests or if there's any more details that we need to find out in the planning process and then follow up with on site. And then at registration, we try and kind of call out the guests with, with any dietary needs. Just to point out we've acknowledged your dietary need on your registration. Is there any updates or changes or anything that we need to take care of.
Julie Wong [00:13:35]:
That way they know we've acknowledged and that the culinary team's been made aware of their, their request.
Shannon Ryan [00:13:42]:
And I always make sure it's on all the beos. If it's not, if they haven't carried it over from my specs to the beo, I send it back and say it needs to be on the beo.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:13:52]:
Agreed.
Janet Hopenstein [00:13:53]:
Shannon, I like what you're doing. I definitely ask about dietary restrictions, but in the registration I haven't asked for preference versus true, you know, life threatening allergy. I. I have a comment section and usually they'll say, but not always. So that's. I'm gonna. That's a great best practice. I just hadn't.
Shannon Ryan [00:14:12]:
Yeah, I think I got that from Tracy.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:14:15]:
I was gonna say that's the way I teach it. Y. So I did. I didn't want to pipe in there, but. Yeah, I can send that to you, Janet.
Janet Hopenstein [00:14:23]:
Yeah, no, that's. That's great. I mean, the large incentives that we do that group, they're. I mean, out of literally 800 per group, so 1600 people, we have such a small percentage, I mean, these.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:14:34]:
Which is.
Janet Hopenstein [00:14:34]:
I don't know if it's just there's, you know, very little food allergies in there in that southern. In those southern states, but it's amazing how few. But still. So I guess, you know, I. And so we haven't done the preference versus allergy. And a lot of them are repeat winners and we kind of know them. So for new meetings especially, I think that would. That's a right.
Janet Hopenstein [00:14:55]:
Best practice. I'll think of it later. There's a thought that I had that went out of my head, so I'm gonna.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:01]:
How do you know that's okay? That happens to me all the time. And I think it's. It is important to ask those questions because I actually, you know, the one of the events I recently did and I asked that question, I'm like, you know, you said you have a nut allergy. Is it consumption? Is it Touch is it inhalation. And in a couple of people were like, I can't be in the room with it. So I made the decision to make that event completely nut free. And I have actually done that for the last three different events. Not same client, three different events because of that.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:29]:
And they're like, wow. And I tell them, I'm like, the venue itself is not nut free. Right. But our events, the food that we're serving is going to be nut free. So you have no, you know. Right, exactly. And you have no worry. But it doesn't mean that Shannon didn't eat peanuts in her room.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:15:47]:
Right. So I can't, you know, and then come down to the space. So you can't control all of that. But at least your menus could be free of those allergens.
Shannon Ryan [00:15:56]:
Well, and it's.
Janet Hopenstein [00:15:58]:
I never had seen until my now husband. He was my fiance when this happened a few months ago. But he apparently a restaurant used peanut oil in the. Anyway, he was an anaphylactic shock. I did the whole, I mean I've never seen anybody in anaphylactic shock before. And he didn't have an EpiPen and it was hospital and he almost died and whatever, whatever. So it's, you know, I, I think, you know, and I think we all are good about taking it very seriously. And that's why also you want to know if it's just a preference.
Janet Hopenstein [00:16:25]:
Because I want to really make sure that the people that could die or have react really are taken care of and that the others are taken care of as well for their preferences. But there's obviously a difference there.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:16:36]:
Right.
Julie Wong [00:16:37]:
And I think that's where my stress kind of comes in when executing the meeting is we understand and maybe the management team understands the urgency of it, especially now in today's planning. It's service staff that I really stress about as far as do they understand the urgency of the food of the allergies. That's where I'm constantly. I feel like we're in communication and just double checking or managing the catering staff. And make what staff? Just to make sure that they realize and I try and really just be focused on who are the people in the room that have the allergies. Sometimes you've got such a large group, you can't keep a tab on everybody. But just making sure that the service staff who's taking care of those people really know. Because I have found that over the years that sometimes I don't think they take it as seriously.
Julie Wong [00:17:26]:
You know, we're Trying to deliver that. So.
Janet Hopenstein [00:17:28]:
Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:17:29]:
Yeah. And it, it comes down to that training or lack of training, you know, that's provided to them because a lot of them are on hourly employees. All right. I want to jump back a step away a little bit from dietary restrictions, but like, talk about budgeting, right? How do we, how do you design your budgets based on your, on your events? And do you have, I mean, are you using the printed menus from the hotel or are you using saying, hey, I've got this budget, this is what I can spend per event? Or, you know, is there a formula for it or is it different for everyone?
Shannon Ryan [00:18:03]:
For me, it depends on the property because in the, the venue, because you have some properties who are very food forward and they're really excited and they have a great banquet captain or team. They have a b. A great culinary team, and they're, they're excited to work with you and they're collaborative. And then you have others that they just put out their menu and that's that. And so when I have a really collaborative group that I'm working with, I love to just give them my budget. I love to give them my demographics. I think if you have data about your event, your attendees, you can really nail it and give them a great experience. So I've got 80% women and they're millennials, and 30 of them are vegetarian.
Shannon Ryan [00:18:54]:
Go to town. You can really get some fantastic menus. But then you have a lot of places where seems like the best bet is just going off the menu because somebody put time into it and then they don't want to think about it ever again. They don't want to design. So for me, it really is just venue dependent. But I do love working with, with catering teams who are into food and I, you would think that most of them would be, but I've really worked with some that I, I don't think they like food at all. And I'm like, why are you giving me this menu? This is terrible. And then I try to rewrite it and I'm writing menus.
Janet Hopenstein [00:19:33]:
Can you do this?
Julie Wong [00:19:34]:
Can you do this?
Shannon Ryan [00:19:35]:
So, and think it's dependent.
Janet Hopenstein [00:19:38]:
Yeah, I, I tend to, especially if, if the hotel does have, to your point, a good culinary team. I, I take the banquet menus as a jumping off point when they're creative. And, you know, I'll, I, I rarely do not customize, but sometimes I'll, I mean, I'll like some of the stuff that they've already got kind of packaged up, and then I'll Say, okay, but I really want this from this and this from this. And oh, by the way, can you add this or take this away? And for meetings, one thing that I started doing years ago, which I think is helpful for budget and also so there's not as much food wastage is if you do a lunch menu that has a dessert as part of it. I take, I say take the dessert off and it usually just brings it down like $3 per person. But if it's a big conference, $3 per person, several lunches in a row can save some money because, because then, you know, they're usually too hung too full to eat the dessert anyway. It mostly gets wasted. And then I put something sweet on the afternoon break and so like, then they get their, like, well, we didn't have dessert.
Janet Hopenstein [00:20:38]:
Hey, there's something sweet on the break. And.
Shannon Ryan [00:20:40]:
Or you can just take that dessert and put it on your PM break.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:20:46]:
Yeah, if they don't charge you for that.
Shannon Ryan [00:20:48]:
Yes, some will charge you, which is bonkers. I don't love setup tie.
Julie Wong [00:20:55]:
Right.
Janet Hopenstein [00:20:56]:
I, I agree but I, I typically want to do something different, a little more creative than what they've got as a dessert for the lunch. So then I still want to create something different for the PM break. But yes, that's always an option as well. What you're saying.
Shannon Ryan [00:21:07]:
I've also taken, you know, sometimes like buffet will have three different salads and I'll say can we hold one of those salads to the PM break? Because my groups are primarily pretty healthy. Healthy. And they, they don't really hit the desserts as much as probably a lot of groups. So taking a salad and just saying can we repurpose that somehow for another break idea? That's been a good budget saver for me.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:21:33]:
Okay, I like that idea. Julie, what about you?
Julie Wong [00:21:36]:
Yeah, I, it really does depend on the property. I, I love, you know, having a food and beverage background. Love looking at menus, see, seeing if, if we can tweak some things or move some things around. I, sometimes for lunch menus we'll look at what they are offering for dinner and seeing if maybe if it's more creative or cost effective, can we offer that on a smaller size. I try and look at items where the, again, the majority can have them kind of stay away from like the cream based items or the spicy items or the peppery items or things that may bring up a food allergy to the majority of people or preferences. And so sometimes I do like to tweak. Sometimes it's just given how much time we have when it comes to the plan. And.
Julie Wong [00:22:24]:
But yeah, if there's an opportunity to let the culinary team get creative or make some changes, especially when you've got a multi day. It does. To see if they can come up with something a little bit special or if there are maybe if we're a smaller meeting group and there's another group that's in house, maybe piggyback on what they're doing for cost effectiveness and power. So we've suggested that as well to the team.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:22:51]:
Well, and there's some hotels, actually, the last two I've done this summer, they have the menu of the day.
Janet Hopenstein [00:22:57]:
Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:22:57]:
So it's Monday, it's this Tuesday, it's this. And so it's kind of that. Doing the same thing of what that. Of what you just said is what's the other group doing as long as they're doing that? Because I also like the idea too of, of saving the budget so that the hotel is buying. Buying in bulk and not buying and wasting staff to create an entirely different menu.
Janet Hopenstein [00:23:17]:
So.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:18]:
But it's. Some of them are hard. And Shannon, it's. It's like pulling teeth with some chefs to get them to, to talk to you. Well, yeah, getting past the CSM to talk to them.
Shannon Ryan [00:23:28]:
Right. It's like they gatekeep the chefs a lot of times. So I feel like playing. Planning meetings are so incredibly important, but a lot of budgets are cutting, you know, our planning meetings. But, you know, getting on site and three to six to eight months before an event and really sussing this out will help make such a more impactful experience for our attendees. But unfortunately, I think a lot of, you know, our C suites aren't seeing that. You know, that's the first thing to go. Right?
Tracy Stuckrath [00:23:59]:
Yeah, well. And I went on one. Oh gosh, this is probably 2021 and it was a convention center and the chef showed up and he never got closer than five feet from the table and from us and then kept backing up. But he. I'm like, why are you doing this job? You know, I'm like just trying to assess him and get his input on catering menus. But I think he's one of those guys that's like, doesn't want to be here.
Shannon Ryan [00:24:21]:
And I feel like, you know, that it trickles down to the staff too. I just did it. Our annual conference in March was such a breath of fresh air where even the chef was so joyful about the menu and collaborating with the catering manager that I worked with, who was probably the Best catering manager I've ever worked with my entire life. 23 years. But even the servers were so excited. The banquet staff, like, oh, know these cucumbers came from a little farm two miles away. Oh, wow. Yes.
Shannon Ryan [00:24:57]:
And you know, the banquet captains, when your servers are excited about that, you can really tell that the property is super invested in the product that they're putting out, and they want people to.
Janet Hopenstein [00:25:09]:
Be as excited as give them a shout out.
Shannon Ryan [00:25:13]:
Yeah. It was the Cream Royale in Orlando.
Janet Hopenstein [00:25:15]:
Oh.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:16]:
Oh, nice.
Janet Hopenstein [00:25:17]:
I've never used them. I've cite. I. They've been in an RFP process. But that's very good to know.
Julie Wong [00:25:22]:
That's great. We're there in 2027, so that's great to know.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:28]:
Well, and, I mean, it's. It's interesting, too, that you say that, because we also all belong to some Facebook groups for meeting planners, National Meeting planners Group and Spin. And. And when we all put a question out there, I'm like, there is somebody in each one of those groups that knows somebody at that group or has worked at that property or doesn't work at that property. And I think it's to. Having that experience is really good, and we need to, you know, showcase those properties that we love. Right.
Shannon Ryan [00:25:53]:
Yeah.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:25:54]:
Okay.
Janet Hopenstein [00:25:55]:
There are more and more collaborative chefs and accessible chefs, as opposed to the opposite. I used to run into roadblocks more when I would say it's one of my requirements on my planning visit to meet with the chef. Well, you know, the CSM knows that. No, no, no, no, no. The CSM is not a chef, not inside the chef's brain. And when you sit down with a chef and if they're at all open to having the conversation, you end up getting cool things out of it just because. And I'm. Food and beverage is one of my most creative areas.
Janet Hopenstein [00:26:24]:
And so I feel like I have some creative ideas. And then, you know, when you have the chef who knows how to create the things that I'm thinking in my brain, and then comes up with even more stuff, but you can't do that csm, regardless of how well versed or he is about the hotel. But I'm. I'm finding it trending in the right direction, at least in my experience.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:26:42]:
Yeah, I hope so. Yeah, I hope so. I. I had a really good visit or really good chef at the JW Marriott Austin. He was fantastic to work with. Accommodated a halal person two days before the event. And that guy, he's like, I need my picture with the chef. Because he helped me Eat for three days and from India.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:27:03]:
And he was from India. So it was a really. And I loved it. And so it's, it's a breath of fresh air for sure. Okay, so you mentioned RFPs and I want to go back to that. So what do you put in your RFPS as it relates to food and beverage? Do you put your food and beverage history just the spend, the dietary needs? Do you say hey I need to meet with the chef? What kind of questions do you put in your RFPs?
Shannon Ryan [00:27:26]:
I get, I put pretty much our schedule of events and, and let them know, you know, which days we're doing breakfast and is it plated or is it buffet or you know, and is it a continental. I let them know what kind of lunch is, you know, what, how many special events, how many committee meetings, things like that. And I don't typically give our spend unless asked point blank. But you know, I have, I have a lot of documentation and data on that but it's, it feels tricky. I feel like we're in a very much us against them situation right now when it's coming to contracting and negotiating events.
Julie Wong [00:28:11]:
Right?
Tracy Stuckrath [00:28:12]:
Yeah, very similar.
Julie Wong [00:28:13]:
I and on in the rfp.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:28:15]:
It's so it.
Julie Wong [00:28:16]:
That's also tricky because request from hoteliers is trying to call down the RFP information right in the step process. So I have over the years have put, put the agenda kind of do a high level but I don't, I don't put the spend in there. I don't even go as detailed as far as you know, whether it's plated or buffet. But I do kind of give an idea of a meal versus breaks or if they're on their own as far as meals. That way it helps determine the food and beverage minimum spend for contracting. It also helps from a staffing level but because I feel like now we've morphed into a little bit of bare bones information for that at least that first step of the rfp just to see if a property is even able to accommodate and interested. I don't put as much details in the food and beverage until the next, until we get to the next phase.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:07]:
Gotcha. Okay, that makes sense. What about you, Janet?
Janet Hopenstein [00:29:11]:
I'm kind of in the same camp as Julie. I'll make sure they know the food functions that we will be having versus when they're off property. And, and then sometimes I'll indicate what we did in the past in terms of hey, this, this dinner was a plated past two years. But we might. So I, I'll kind of give some indication what we did in the past, but pretty similar to Julie.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:29:33]:
Okay. Do you put any information about. With sustainability? Let's just jump into sustainability a little bit as it relates to food and beverage. Do you all donate after your events? Try to work with the properties to donate, like leftover, prepared, but unserved food to local communities. How do you. What are your steps around food waste management?
Shannon Ryan [00:29:53]:
Yeah, I feel like properties have gotten a little bit better about it in recent years. You know, there used to be so much pushback about the liability, the liability, liability. And, you know, you show them the bill and like, no, you're. You can't really be sued for these things, so.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:30:10]:
Right. Yeah.
Shannon Ryan [00:30:11]:
But it feels like it's gotten a little bit. A little bit easier. And in Orlando, I know they, you know, a lot of the properties use second harvest, and that's been really great seeing how much of our food, leftover food has gone there. I haven't, I do put that sustainability is important, but I haven't asked for specific data from the hotels because I feel like there's so much greenwashing anyway that I don't know how much I can trust it.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:30:39]:
Gotcha. Okay.
Julie Wong [00:30:41]:
Right. So it's, it's. I think it's for us, client preference. We ask, we put it in the rfp. We haven't dealt a lot of ours. I don't feel like have delved really deep into that. It's. We haven't pushed a lot of it.
Julie Wong [00:30:57]:
Is what is the cl. What's the hotel or venue willing to do if we want to be socially responsible? But I don't feel like we've taken it to the next level that it potentially could go to.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:09]:
Okay.
Julie Wong [00:31:10]:
All right.
Shannon Ryan [00:31:11]:
Okay.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:31:12]:
What's one thing. So we've talked about RFPs a little bit, but. And you're waiting to that second round. Is there anything in that first round or even in that first round specifically? Or maybe it's the second round of selection of properties that you look for in a banquet, in a proposal from a hotel that would say, hey, I've got. You know, this is something that really intrigues me as it relates to food and beverage. Is there anything, I feel like food and beverage, when it comes back into proposals, like, here's our minimum, here's our average food lunch menu and the average price for dinner, etc. Not much else is provided around the food and beverage.
Janet Hopenstein [00:31:50]:
Yeah, I'm always. It always stands out to me when they come back with more than that. When they come back and say here's the average price. But hey, we're really great at charcuterie boards and we're really great and they give you some idea of some, some areas. At least they give you some insight into something of Edo out. But I, I always assume I'm going to have to ask a lot of probing questions.
Shannon Ryan [00:32:15]:
I'm always impressed when I get a proposal and right off the bat they stick some concessions in about coffee or you know, a hosted reception or something. It's very far and few between. I mean you usually have to kind of ask demand. But I have had in different markets, I've had proposals come back for with that right off the bat.
Julie Wong [00:32:45]:
Very cool.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:32:46]:
Yeah. I don't know. I, I know one of my clients, we always used to ask for, you know, a reception at the beginning and that's. And then making sure that the bars are open. Knowing what your attendees are going to do after the fact, after your event, can your bar stay open until 2 o' clock in the morning or whatever.
Janet Hopenstein [00:33:02]:
How do they do that?
Tracy Stuckrath [00:33:03]:
Julie, any other different, anything different on that?
Julie Wong [00:33:06]:
No, I think the only thing we would add or I would say as far as when we get to that next level is I do tend to ask for everybody's menu in the RFP process so that I can kind of see and sometimes you can kind of get a glimpse of who might be more food and beverage focused. And then as far as if we know that it's like our top couple choices that's have a conversation as far as, you know, I, I see you've got these standard menus. Can we can if we need to get creative. Can we get creative or can we swap out some things or I used to use the line of I know there's chicken that's served a thousand different ways. Would your stuff be open to. Because we're three days. We've got a tight budget. We've got to do chicken two out of the three days.
Julie Wong [00:33:45]:
Can we kind of maybe prepare them a little bit differently? So I think again, it goes back into building that relationship with your hotel and maybe establishing parameters of what kind of clientele that we're bringing into the property and want to work with us on that.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:00]:
Okay. No, I like. Those are some good tips. All right. Shannon, you mentioned coffee. So let's jump into that little nugget of expense. I mean my Nancy. I mean there's threads in our Facebook groups about how much we're paying for coffee and you know, $160 per cup or per gallon, which which is on average 12 cups per gallon rate if you think based on the cup size plus.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:25]:
So it's like $225 for one gallon of coffee and tea and one or one gallon of tea and one gallon of decaf. How are you, how have you been successful in negotiating that down? How, how do you manage your coffee consumption at your events? There's two different questions.
Julie Wong [00:34:45]:
I guess in that one I've had.
Shannon Ryan [00:34:47]:
To play the bad guy and just take coffee away after lunch.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:34:52]:
Oh, completely. Okay.
Shannon Ryan [00:34:54]:
I, I, that's the only way that I can do it. I mean there's always a Starbucks in pretty much every property. And you hope that somebody's going to sponsor a coffee bar at some point, you know, but yeah, just kind of eating the complaints about no coffee after lunch is the best thing that I've been able to do. And we kind of also really, I see data a lot, but knowing your group and knowing if you have a lot of really heavy tea drinkers in your group and kind of pulling back on the coffee and decaf and focusing on tea. So one event I have is nurses and they drink tea and Diet Coke. So I'm not, I'm going to be really strategic about how I'm going to order that and letting the hotel know, you know, let's just, you don't need nearly as much coffee and decaf. But.
Janet Hopenstein [00:35:50]:
Right.
Shannon Ryan [00:35:51]:
That tea coming and that Diet Coke.
Janet Hopenstein [00:35:53]:
Replenished with the incentives. I don't think coffee comes into play as much as of a, as much as much of a budget factor as with meetings because. Right. The hotels that I'm dealing with at least still include the coffee with the breakfast. So. Right. Our patterns, we do a robust breakfast every day in different action stations daily and different, you know, whatever. But coffee's always part of it.
Janet Hopenstein [00:36:17]:
Right. The only other time that we really have coffee is on arrival day at the, at the check in hospital desk. And so, you know, and again we kind of have an idea of, of our percentage of tea drinkers. I make sure that, you know that the hot water is commensurate with our consumption. Right. But really, so it becomes, it's not as big of an an issue.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:36:42]:
Gotcha. Yep. That makes sense.
Janet Hopenstein [00:36:43]:
Ad hoc budget concern, right?
Tracy Stuckrath [00:36:46]:
Yeah. Julie, do you have coffee all day long?
Julie Wong [00:36:50]:
We, I was just thinking of all the answer. We have tried anything and everything depending on the group. So depending on time of year, location, the group, what the event is, we have done, we have nixed decaf on some events completely. I have actually had one hotel Which I loved for a group of about 150 people. They were willing to do hot tea on consumption.
Janet Hopenstein [00:37:16]:
Wow.
Julie Wong [00:37:17]:
I have asked that of any other hotel and they won't do it. But that one was probably one of my favorite was hot tea on consumption. We have told the hotel that we had a budget of so many gallons, but then still do or they notify. And I think it's more of a kind of setting the tone of, hey, we're on a limited budget. This is one of my nonprofit association clients. And so we say, hey, we have in our budget, let's say 10 gallons. Please let us know when we get to seven and we'll decide. We're just going to max it out at the 10.
Julie Wong [00:37:54]:
Or if it's early enough, we have. We can add two more or three more on top of that. Again, depending on when we reach that. That maximum.
Janet Hopenstein [00:38:02]:
Right.
Julie Wong [00:38:03]:
Our time of day. And then in our back pocket of our budget, we may actually have like 15 gallons budgeted. Just that leeway. So I feel like again, depending on your property and your communication, we've had where hotels say, okay, they. They're watching it as well. I've had some. Where a hotel, actually the convention center was generous enough to let us keep our coffee from breakfast out because it was included in breakfast and to and out and then started to add coffee charge on a consumption basis.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:38:39]:
I did that in Austin. And I think that because if it. And it's sometimes the hotels, it's got it with lunch as well. So, like if it's included in your lunch price instead of tea, then, you know, that's your way to do that.
Janet Hopenstein [00:38:50]:
But.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:38:50]:
Yeah, yeah.
Shannon Ryan [00:38:52]:
When coffee used to be like 18 cups a gallon, I feel like, you know, we need to get smarter about demanding smaller cup sizes.
Janet Hopenstein [00:39:04]:
Oh, I do. I do that. Yeah. Do you?
Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:06]:
You do.
Janet Hopenstein [00:39:07]:
I'll specify that I want 8 ounce, whatever it is, I mean, to make the gallon strut. Because the thing is, if it's a bigger cup, you know how it goes. They fill their big cup. They don't. They waste half the cup. They leave the coffee sitting there. So I just go ahead and specify that they have for the to go cups and the china cups that they be the. Yeah.
Janet Hopenstein [00:39:28]:
Smaller, smaller cups.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:29]:
That's smart. Yeah. I mean, it will make. Because you're right. Because half of them do leave their cup. They get up from their meeting, they're talking to Shannon or Janet, and then they walk away and they don't remember their cup. And so that's. It is wasted.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:39:42]:
I Do want to do a call out real quick? I've got Chef Keith from, from Las Vegas and Adia from Atlanta listening to us on Instagram. So hello to the two of you. And Marie was here as well. So hello to all of you. If you have questions, let us know. Or Chef, if you have. You want to pipe in on one of these conversations, let us know too. What is actually, because we're talking about drinks here, I want to talk to about alcohol because I was also reviewing an alcohol bill the other day.
Julie Wong [00:40:09]:
But how do you, how do you.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:12]:
Manage the alcohol consumption at your events? Do you do it? I mean, and it, and I'm going to say it's going to depend on the amount of people that you have, whether you do the package deal like it's $25 per person, you know, and you just pay that thing or are you doing it on consumption and counting bottle tops and liquor bottles, etc.
Janet Hopenstein [00:40:33]:
So I'll go first.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:40:34]:
Yeah.
Janet Hopenstein [00:40:35]:
So a lot of that has to do with the group because a light drinking group and then, you know, I do the math basically. And if I look at. And then. So that's usually based on the group demographics. And sometimes I'll start out with the first hour, do the package by the hour price and then switch to consumptions for the second and or third hour of the event. Because you know, they come in, they, they grab a cocktail, they get distracted, they get in it. So in the first hour they tend to drink more and then they kind of settle in, especially if they're sitting down to. And so that's one thing, another thing when a, when I have a client that's concerned about budget and I'm sure you guys do this too.
Janet Hopenstein [00:41:13]:
I'll suggest that they do beer and wine because people don't knock back the beers and the wines as fast. Maybe a beer if they're really thirsty, but. And it's cheaper. And then maybe do a signature cocktail, you know, to, to have something kind of fun and alcohol, you know, an alcoholic cocktail than wine. So that's another thing that, that I'll suggest if they're budget conscious.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:36]:
Okay. Yeah. And I go ahead.
Shannon Ryan [00:41:39]:
I was gonna say we really only do beer and wine and maybe a signature cocktail for a very special event. But we, a lot of not. We're really trying to do a lot more of the non alcoholic cocktails and those can be really expensive, just as expensive as a cocktail. So.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:41:59]:
Yeah.
Janet Hopenstein [00:41:59]:
Yeah.
Shannon Ryan [00:42:00]:
It's been really hard to negotiate budgeting for those because. Right. We like them a lot Because I don't know about you, but my attendees are getting younger and they just don't drink as much.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:12]:
Well, and the stat that I share is that 40 of them have never had a drop of alcohol before, so. And we're only offering them water and soda otherwise. Right. So why aren't. And then the discussion, Shannon, on the. Some of those drinks, those non alcoholic drinks are just as curated or more curated than just a. A bourbon and ginger. Right, Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:33]:
So it does come into play. And some of those, if they're using non alcoholic brands like Ritual or Spiritless or whatever, those bottles cost the same as a bottle of Tito's.
Shannon Ryan [00:42:43]:
Yep.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:42:44]:
So that's why that price is up there as well. But there's lots of conversations on that for sure. But in. Julie, what about you?
Julie Wong [00:42:52]:
Yeah, very similar. I would say almost all of our bars, if we have any, is on consumption and not the per person package price. We found that we're more cost effective that way. And as less people are drinking or people may be coming in later or skipping out on some of the evening functions, it seems to be more budget friendly for us to do on consumption. It varies on the type of meetings. More incentives are doing full bars, but more corporate meetings or association meetings are doing beer and wine. And we've had some with dinners where we, we are closing the bar like right after dinner service. Like if there's still a program, we keep it, the bar open until they've gotten through dinner and then it's just coffee service for the rest of the evening just to kind of save on that on that bar tab.
Janet Hopenstein [00:43:44]:
Another thing that I tried not too long ago was to Yalls Point, as far as, you know, the mocktails are as expensive and some of them are super, you know, fun and interesting. And so what I did with the hotel was the signature drink was a mocktail. And then I think I paid an additional $2 if the person wanted to make it alcoholic and add vodka. Oh. So I just kind of. So that way it was only, you know, so they could. They were happy because they could kind of mix the mocktail in batches and then. Right.
Janet Hopenstein [00:44:18]:
Never out. And then someone's like, well, I really want mine to be an adult beverage. Then, you know, they. And so we did it that way.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:44:27]:
All right, so Amy, this popped in like 24 minutes ago. Amy F. From on in on LinkedIn over here said food and beverage takes most of my time as an event conference planner. I still can't believe there isn't a standardized labeling system. I bring My own labels and speak to the chef and the label the buffets myself for our large conferences.
Janet Hopenstein [00:44:45]:
Wow.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:44:46]:
And Amy, I am actually with you on that. I actually. The grid that I do, I go through and I code it myself and then I send it to the chef and the CSM to approve and proof it. So. And because. And even like one menu item I was proofing last week and this one that I just did was a little challenging in getting all that done, but they had like panna cotta on the menu and it said vegetarian and I changed that and said, you can't say that it's vegetarian because it contains gelatin. And the banquet server, who is the one making the labels. Banquet captain making.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:22]:
Well, I didn't know that. Right. So it's kind of getting to that detail and the fact that the hotel doesn't even realize that. It's so frustrating.
Janet Hopenstein [00:45:32]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:34]:
Okay. So ladies, we are at 48 minutes already. Holy moly. And. Oh, I just noticed. Amy just also said we often use the dessert for the break and then we negotiate a better break rate. That's a good idea too. So I want to do some rapid fire questions if that's okay with you all.
Janet Hopenstein [00:45:49]:
Sure.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:50]:
Okay. What's your go to snack during event setup?
Janet Hopenstein [00:45:55]:
Salty and crunchy.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:45:57]:
Salty and crunchy.
Janet Hopenstein [00:45:58]:
Okay.
Shannon Ryan [00:45:59]:
Peanut butter M M's, Peanut butter pretzels.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:06]:
Alrighty. Mine. Mine's probably a gluten free granola bar or something like that. Okay. One thing you.
Janet Hopenstein [00:46:13]:
You're the healthiest.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:15]:
Doesn't mean that gluten free. A gluten free granola bar does not mean that it is healthy. It's still got lots of sugar in it. Could have lots of sugar in it. Okay. One thing you wish you could always splurge on for food and beverage.
Julie Wong [00:46:28]:
Good wines.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:30]:
Good wines. Okay.
Shannon Ryan [00:46:31]:
That's a good one. I would say a really nice coffee bar with.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:36]:
Okay.
Shannon Ryan [00:46:37]:
All the amenities.
Janet Hopenstein [00:46:39]:
Sushi at receptions for the group. Okay.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:43]:
Do you have a lot of sushi eaters at your events?
Janet Hopenstein [00:46:46]:
Some of them a decent amount, yeah.
Shannon Ryan [00:46:48]:
And.
Janet Hopenstein [00:46:48]:
But I can't like it. It's very expensive. And then when you do have it, they tend to eat a ton of it. So they'll like pile up their plates so you don't have to have it attended. Anyway.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:46:58]:
Okay. What's your. This was in my main questions that I sent you. What's the biggest pet peeve when reviewing a menu proposal?
Janet Hopenstein [00:47:05]:
Add on price for coffee at a breakfast on a breakfast package. Like not including it.
Julie Wong [00:47:11]:
I think for me on menus I related to food is just couple things. More options and items that are served with. It's the best way to describe like that are hard for. For restrictions or allergies or dietary preferences. Meaning lots of cream sauces or spices. Even though like I'm in the Southwest, I'm in Arizona and it tends to be spice heavy. But it doesn't have to be. There's so many other foods here that still.
Julie Wong [00:47:41]:
Still Southwest that I don't think are listed there. So again, I think it comes down to a little bit of cost and creativity from the culinary side. But you know, having items where it's like, oh, we want to modify that there. I think there are more friendlier ingredients that majority of the population can have, you know, sauces with citrus versus dairy, you know, cream sauce, that type of stuff. Or avoid peppers as a garnish for everything. Or that type of stuff where it's like trying to. Because then again, it comes down to timing and us taking the time to then dissect the menu, change it to accommodate the majority of the people or food allergies.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:48:21]:
Yeah. Shannon, did you say one?
Shannon Ryan [00:48:24]:
I would say lack of creativity and having menus that are don't have maybe anything gluten free or vegetarian on the menu or just have one option.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:48:35]:
I want to bang my head on the wall about that. I mean, every single day. Because it's like, why do you only have one vegan option? I'm here for three days and these are the exact same appetizers I'm supposed to serve for three different app for three different receptions or lunches. And you know, things like that. Boggles my mind. Okay, so Alvin over here on LinkedIn just popped in here and said sushi is very popular. Alvin Valencia. And then he also said pet peeve.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:06]:
His pet peeve is push button coffee machines. Oh my gosh. I haven't seen one of those at an event.
Janet Hopenstein [00:49:10]:
Right.
Julie Wong [00:49:11]:
Yes, I've had that and I agree. I would rather have the drink coffee. I have seen the Nespresso or the Keurig machine be put as the coffee station and that drives me crazy. So thank you.
Shannon Ryan [00:49:27]:
Wow.
Janet Hopenstein [00:49:28]:
Okay now. Okay, I'm. Yes, that's processing that. How that.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:33]:
Okay.
Janet Hopenstein [00:49:34]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thankfully.
Julie Wong [00:49:36]:
Okay.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:49:36]:
That's going to take a lot longer than just having the. The free. The urn.
Julie Wong [00:49:41]:
Yeah, I'm feeling my water. Where I've seen. It was like smaller meetings, you know, breakout. Like we had a board meeting before the regular meeting and we had had coffee. Coffee. And the Nespresso machine came out I thought, what is this? So. And I've seen it as a small. As large of a small group for like 40 people.
Julie Wong [00:50:04]:
Yeah, no, we're talking, you know, I'm not gonna say that particular hotel, but two brands, Fairmont and Four Seasons. I was shocked.
Janet Hopenstein [00:50:12]:
Fair.
Julie Wong [00:50:13]:
And I thought I would rather have them brewed coffee in the urn than the push bus button.
Janet Hopenstein [00:50:18]:
Hashtag lazy.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:20]:
Right? Yeah. Yes. Or staff. Lack of staff. You know, that may be that. That first thing of it. Okay. Signature dish you love seeing on a menu or would love to see on a menu.
Julie Wong [00:50:31]:
Oh, signature dish. That was a tough one.
Janet Hopenstein [00:50:34]:
It depends upon where you are in the country, in the world.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:37]:
Right. I agree.
Julie Wong [00:50:38]:
I agree.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:39]:
It really depends on where you're at.
Janet Hopenstein [00:50:41]:
So.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:41]:
Okay.
Janet Hopenstein [00:50:42]:
But I would say on a. On a meeting break, and this isn't a signature dish. This is something that I just love. And make your own trail mix.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:50:49]:
Okay.
Janet Hopenstein [00:50:50]:
Make your own droplets is the best break. And then you can customize it and use regional, like two car cherries in Seattle, dried two cartiers and then. But I love. I love when they've already got that and they're not like, what I have to create this.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:02]:
Right.
Julie Wong [00:51:04]:
I mean, I. I definitely love where menus have items that are indicative of their. Of their location. A taste of their local flair. I think is. Is always appealing, especially when you've got that kind of move locations year to year or Right.
Janet Hopenstein [00:51:19]:
Throughout the year.
Julie Wong [00:51:20]:
Is you want to kind of have something that's in their backyard.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:24]:
Yeah, No, I love that too. Okay, last question. What is the most overused item on event menus right now?
Shannon Ryan [00:51:32]:
I. So I'm the opposite of Janet. I feel like nuts are way too common on event menus, and they terrify me. So I. Every time I see nuts on a menu, I get a little like, oh, I want to stay away from that. So. And I feel like, I guess because I'm scared of them. I see them everywhere, but I generally just don't order anything with nuts.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:51:53]:
Awesome.
Janet Hopenstein [00:51:54]:
For a while it was cheeks, you know, and the beef cheeks and the pork cheeks and all the cheeks were hot. Think of anything being overused. But I felt like that was like, you know, a big player on restaurant menus and banquet menus, and then it faded.
Shannon Ryan [00:52:09]:
But I feel like avocado toast is everywhere now, which is like three years past ex, guys, so.
Janet Hopenstein [00:52:17]:
And it can be so creatively done. I don't mind the avocado toast, but I hear you.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:22]:
Yeah, well, over making it too. I mean, we did what I did one this was in 2022. And they did a gluten free bar with gluten free thing. But they had three bowls of guacamole of avocado, like this big. For the. Just the gluten free thing, I'm like, we only have like 10 people that are gluten free. Why are you. And then three bowls on the, you know, I mean, you don't.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:52:41]:
That was food waste management or food waste big time. All right, Julie, what about that question?
Julie Wong [00:52:48]:
Well, a little spin on that is one thing I wanted to add is. And this was a discussion with a couple planners recently is I one wish I had for culinary was either a separate or a standardized menu that you could provide for staff meals. If you have a large staff. Okay. I know a lot of us tend to piggyback on it or if I, I'm. I would love to myself create something where I can say here's what I love to do for the staff. Because it's something quick, it's something easy, it's something that's a little bit less than the standard menus. And I think it's something that, that they would eat either on the run or keeps them fueled and going.
Julie Wong [00:53:29]:
Is something for us to have kind of like in perspective. You know, when you go to a kid's menu, when you see a kid's menu at different restaurants, we all know it's always got the burger, it's always got the chicken tender stuff. Spaghetti. Be nice for maybe a one page similar to like a page of vegetarian vegan items for, for your staff. Because staff meals can get expensive.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:53:51]:
Oh yeah, yeah. I negotiated like, like they, well, the meal, the menus at some of these hotels, the lunch starts at 82 a person plus plus. And I've kind of on some of the notes, Shannon, you said take that salad and put that on a break. I love that idea. But I'm like, okay, no, I want to cut a protein and I' want to pay 50 bucks. So what can you do for $50 for our staff meals? Right, because it's just that's feeding a lot of people. I mean, you're feeding 1200 otherwise, right? But still feeding, feeding 50 people, 20 people, you know, for your staff meals, that adds up over the course of seven days.
Julie Wong [00:54:28]:
Yeah.
Janet Hopenstein [00:54:29]:
Another thing that, that I find in a lot of our contracts that we negotiate is that the staff, the group meals are complimentary for staff up to 12 people. We have a 30% discount on thereafter or something. So. And that that is helpful as well. Can be helpful yeah, can't always get that. It's a smaller event. That's our, you know, the big one.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:54:47]:
Yeah.
Janet Hopenstein [00:54:47]:
So much revenue.
Julie Wong [00:54:49]:
Right.
Janet Hopenstein [00:54:50]:
Yeah.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:54:50]:
And I negotiate. And I negotiate this price of sodas and bottled water down to $5 and coffee down to 100. So every.
Janet Hopenstein [00:55:00]:
That's, that's usually. You're usually successful in that, Tracy.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:04]:
My clients have been. Yep. And. And getting it down at least not at the $160 or $200 a gallon. Right. I'm like you, it doesn't cost you that much.
Janet Hopenstein [00:55:14]:
Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:15]:
So. Or I'm going to cut it all together.
Janet Hopenstein [00:55:18]:
Right.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:18]:
Like Shannon, I. I mean, I like that you fat. Cut it for the afternoon. So. Well, there's lots of nuggets of information in this email, in this blog, in this podcast. Not blog, email, whatever it is. But I thank you so much for joining me today, and I think people have learned a lot. Alvin, thank you for joining us.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:55:38]:
Amy F. For joining us as well. And then Keith and Adia and Marie on Instagram. Thank you for joining us. I really appreciate it. But the knowledge of these certified meeting professionals that you're talking here is elaborate. And if you want to reach out to each one of them, let's see, I've got. You can reach out to Julia, she's Julie Wong, CMP on LinkedIn.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:56:01]:
Janet, is Janet Hopperstein on LinkedIn? Did I said Stein earlier? Is it Steen or Stein Hoppenstein? Okay, and then. And then Shannon Ryan. Is Shannon Ryan, CMP on LinkedIn? So please reach out to all of them if you have any questions, as well as me. And actually we have one more comment in here. This, I think it is from Alvin. Do you negotiate for foc for number of passengers times number of passengers? Alvin, what's foc front of. Can you pipe that in? Reply to your own note on there? What FOC is there? Have you guys heard that term?
Julie Wong [00:56:42]:
I know I have not.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:56:44]:
Okay, Alvin, put that in the comments and we'll respond to you on your comments.
Julie Wong [00:56:49]:
Okay.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:56:50]:
Because none of us know what that term is. Oh, he just said thanks to all of us for chiming in, but we will get back to you on that. Alvin, thank you for tuning in. And ladies, until next time. And everyone else, until next time. Stay safe and eat well. Oh, free of charge. Yeah.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:57:07]:
Yes, free of charge for a number of passenger. Number of people. Yes. Kind of negotiate that for the staff meals, etc. Oh, yeah. So, okay, sounds good. All right, ladies, stay with me for one second when we close down here. But everybody, until next time, stay safe and eat well.
Tracy Stuckrath [00:57:23]:
And thank you for in tuning Tuning in. Thanks for listening to the 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@ameeting.com.
Janet Hopenstein [00:58:15]:
SA.



Shannon Ryan
Associate Director, Conferences and Meetings, National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®)
Meeting professional with a penchant for blowing up the tried and tired. I'm sharply intuitive, highly efficient and organized, with a long history of managing medical association meetings. Skilled in Event Design & Management, Financial Management, Contract Negotiation, Risk Management, Strategic Planning, and Volunteer Management. Impeccable organization skills, attention to detail, and ability to work under pressure.