F&B Deconstructed

DECONSTRUCTED
food & beverage
Tracy StuckrathCSEP, CMM, CFPM
| Thrive! Meetings & Events | @tstuckrath

Line Cooks
F&B PROCESS
Meeting  
Planner
Convention
Services
Manager
Executive
Chef
Banquet  
Captain
Attendee
Sous Chefs
Banquet
Server
Banquet
Chef
Sales
Manager
©December 2015 | Thrive! Meetings & Events | @tstuckrath

F&B PROCESS
➤ Menu Design
➤ Food Choices
➤ Ordering
➤ Preparation
➤ Service Types & Levels
➤ Labor
➤ Safety Needs
➤ Quantity

ACTIVITY
F&B Deconstructed
ACTIVITY

SCENARIO
➤ National Sales Meeting
➤ Las Vegas
➤ 14,000 attendees + 500 staff
➤ 60% Male; 40% Female
➤ 4 days
➤ 60 food functions
➤ All buffets
➤ Multinational/cultural
attendees
➤ 860 dietary requests from
previous year

TEAM PUZZLE
➤ Attendee
➤ Meeting Planner
➤ Sales Manager
➤ Convention Services Manager
➤ Executive Chef
➤ Banquet Captain
➤ Banquet Server

MEETING
PLANNER
Oversees entire event

MEETING PLANNER
You are responsible for executing the international sales meeting for your company. You have 300 staff (10 full-time
and 280 contractors) working for you. Your F&B Manager has 12 senior level event contractors working for her to
manage 60 meal functions. Last year $160k was wasted on food prepared for attendees who need special meals -
custom eaters. You need to minimize the waste while still accommodating the needs of the potential 860 attendees
(those who requested meals last year). You need to also provide meals for 300 staff and 200 vendor staff.
➤ What processes do you have to obtain dietary needs of attendees and staff?
➤ What methods of communication will you employ to inform attendees and staff on receiving their meals?
➤ Do you have a process to accommodate needs and if so, what does it entail?
➤ How do you communicate or share attendee needs with your F&B partners?
➤ How do you ensure the needs are met properly by the hotel?
➤ What do you do when the needs have not been met?
➤ What emergency procedures are in place in case someone has an allergic reaction?

EXECUTIVE
CHEF
Plans & Manages Menus

EXECUTIVE CHEF
You are responsible for all food production used in the venue’s restaurants, banquet functions and other outlets.
Included in your responsibilities are developing menus, specifying food purchases and creating recipes, supervising
front and back-of-house staff, developing and monitoring food and labor budgets for the department and maintaining
the highest professional food quality and sanitation standards.
The client has requested that all food be labeled if it contains wheat, soy, shellﬁsh, peanuts, nuts, milk and egg and if
the menu items are vegan and/or vegetarian.
The client has informed you after the contract was signed of the following special meals: (180) Gluten- & Dairy-Free,
(70) Vegan, (290) Hindu Vegetarian, (42) Kosher and (80) Halal that will be served at breakfast and lunch. No special
meals will be provided at the receptions. The client wasted $160k on special meals last year and needs to eliminate or
reduce that loss this year. Guests requesting a special meal will have a code on their badge and be asked to pick up
their meal in a designated area of the meal room.
➤ Do you have a process to accommodate needs and if so, what does it entail? 
Do you use off-site caterers to meet the needs or prepare in-house?
➤ Since the client has no additional budget to spend on special meals, how can you help them meet the needs and
keep the budget in tact?
➤ How do you ensure the needs are met properly front and back of the house?
➤ What do you do when an attendee questions the meal being served as one containing their allergen?
➤ What processes do you have in place in the case the needs are not met?

ATTENDEE
Event participant

ATTENDEE
You are a 30-year-old woman with a life-threatening allergy to seafood and you maintain a gluten-free diet. As a sales
executive for your company you must attend the event along with your staff from 10 countries, some of whom
maintain special diets as well.
During registration, it states both breakfast and lunch will be provided every day and dietary needs will be met, if
information is provided by you. There are three evening receptions, but it states no dietary needs will be
accommodated. It also states that guests requesting a special meal will have a code on their badge and are to pick up
their meal in a designated area of the meal room.
➤ Online registration asked you to provide your dietary requirements with check boxes listing allergens to wheat,
soy, shellfish, peanuts, nuts, milk and egg and the options of Gluten/Dairy-Free, Vegan, Hindu Vegetarian, Kosher
and Halal. There is also an open-ended area. How do you respond?
➤ You supplied your requirements through registration, but they have not received any communication about meals
since then. What steps do you take to ensure you have a safe meal?
➤ At the first meal function, there is not a meal ready for you even though your badge has a code on it. What do you
do? What impression does this make on you?
➤ The receptions are on the exhibit show floor and you have appointments set up with several exhibitors, so you
must attend. What will you do for dinner?

BANQUET
CAPTAIN
Oversees wait staff

BANQUET CAPTAIN
Your main duties include preparing banquet rooms or events, supervising and coordinating the work of chefs and
kitchen help and training banquet staff on proper service, sanitation and etiquette. Banquet captains also interact with
guests to ensure all their food and drink requests are satisﬁed. You ensure the proper set-up, tear-down and completion
of the event as speciﬁed in the BEO.
There are 60 attendee and staff meal functions—all buffets—over the course of the event. Your banquet staff consists
of 40% full-time and 60% “B” and “C” level servers who work part-time.
The client has requested the following special meals: (180) Gluten- & Dairy-Free, (70) Vegan, (290) Hindu Vegetarian,
(42) Kosher and (80) Halal that will be served at breakfast and lunch. No special meals will be provided at the
receptions. Guests requesting a special meal will have a code on their badge and be asked to pick up their meal in a
designated area of the meal room.
➤ What processes do you have to prepare your staff for the meal functions and handling the special meals?
➤ Do the staff know the ingredients of the menu items?
➤ How will you communicate ingredients to the attendees?
➤ What processes are in place for your staff to ensure the attendees get their meals?
➤ What procedures do you and your staff follow in case someone has an allergic reaction?
➤ What do you do when attendee tells you that the meal he was served is not to the same level and quality as his
colleagues?

BANQUET
SERVER
Serves F&B to attendees

BANQUET SERVER
Banquet servers are responsible for accommodating all guests at a function while circulating the room. Anticipating the
needs of the guests and responding politely to their requests are common required tasks. You report directly to the
Banquet Captain who has 10 banquet “area” managers working for him on each meal function.
You are a “B” level server who called in and picked up this event on Friday (today is Sunday). You will be working the
entire event (five days) for the breakfast, lunch and receptions. You will arrive for your shift at 4:00 a.m. each morning
to prep for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. The number of attendees for each meal will vary from 1,500 to 7,000.
Menu labels listing item name, allergens (wheat, soy, shellfish, peanuts, nuts, milk and egg) and vegan/vegetarian have
been created for each of the 20 buffet tables. YOU are responsible for placing them on the buffets. You have not been
provided any other ingredient list for the items. During service, you will be restocking the buffet.
➤ From whom and when do you receive training on the menu?
➤ Where will the buffet labels be placed?
➤ Do you know the ingredients of the menu items?
➤ An attendee approaches you stating they cannot eat anything on the buffet because of an allergy to fish and
gluten. What do you do?

CATERING
SERVICES
MANAGER
Coordinates venue services

CATERING SERVICES MANAGER
Your main job function is to ensure that all events run as planned, helping coordinate meetings, conventions and other
special events for the client at your property. You work to synchronize the needs of the client and the hotel staff,
including banquets, set-up, AV, security, housing and more.
The sales team handed this event to you seven months ago. With 14,000 attendees and 75% of the meeting space taken
up by this client, there are a lot of moving parts. You will have ﬁve “red” coats working with you daily to ensure the
client’s needs are met. The daily meal functions include multiple breakfasts, AM and PM breaks and lunches as well as
a cocktail receptions on the exhibit show ﬂoor each night. The client is providing food, but 10 different exhibitors are
also placing food orders.
The meeting planner told you after the contract was signed that there will be 600+ special meal requests that need to
be accommodated at the breakfasts and lunches functions. They have no additional money to spend on these meals so
the menus need to be adjusted to meet all the needs.
➤ How do you coordinate between the chef and planner on the menu?
➤ What steps do you take to ensure the food is accurately labeled and prepared?
➤ Where and how will be the special meals be presented - on the buffet? in a separate area and pre-plated?
➤ How will you handle requests during the receptions? Will there be menu items that are free-from allergens and
meet other needs?
➤ How will the exhibitors food be managed and will it be labeled?

HOTEL
SALES
MANAGER
Sold the event space

SALES MANAGER
It took you two years to land this client. After the contract was signed, you found out that the group had more than
800 special meal requests at the last event. The catering services manager and chef are in a tizzy since this is adding
more cost and labor the F&B budget that the client says they do not have room to wiggle. You want to ensure the
client is happy, the guests are fed and the client comes back next year, but you also need to minimize costs on your end
so you don’t lose money.
➤ What should/could you have done when courting the client to ﬁnd out about their needs in advance?
➤ When ﬁnalizing the contract, are there steps and/or clauses that could help alleviate the last minute request by the
client?
➤ The extra meals are going to cost anywhere from 25-50% more than budgeted. How do you work with your
client to make it work?
➤ How can you work with your culinary team to ensure the needs are met safely and deliciously.
➤ How much do you know about your culinary team’s capabilities in designing specialty meals? Is this something
you can sell in the future?
➤ The client wasted $160k on special meals last year and needs to eliminate or reduce that loss this year. How can
you help them.

An attendee calls in to say she has a newly diagnosed medical
condition that requires her to avoid all spicy food, beef, pork,
gluten, dark greens and sesame.
Lunch will be served in 1 hour. 
She needs the same for the next 3 days.
ACTIVITY
New Orders
CHALLENGE #1

Your F&B staff on level 3 and in the arena call to say they need the
following meals for staff members:
6 gluten-free, 2 peanut free, 1 vegan and 2 vegetarian.
You can not place any additional speciality food orders.
What do you do?
ACTIVITY
Staff Orders
CHALLENGE #2

An attendee picked up her specialty breakfast. Once seated, she removes
the plate cover to inspect the meal, but immediately replaces the cover
and pushes it away.When asked if there is something wrong, she says she
ordered a gluten-free, dairy-free meal and questions whether the potato
casserole served with the scrambled eggs and bacon is either.
How do you handle it?
ACTIVITY
Dietary Needs
CHALLENGE #3

Attendee has eaten something off the buffet that does not “taste right” to
her. She has a life-threatening allergy to seafood. Her eyes start to itch
and she says her throat is starting to swell. She has her epinephrine pens
in her purse.When reviewing the menu, you ﬁnd out the chicken was
marinated Worcestershire sauce.
What procedures are in place to handle this situation?
ACTIVITY
Allergic Reaction
CHALLENGE #4

This year, you have 660 special dietary meal requests.At any given meal
function, around 40% of the specialty meals are not picked up.You are
meeting your guarantees for “standard” meals.What remains are:
60% Gluten/Dairy-free 20% Hindu Vegetarian
80% Kosher 70% Vegan
20% Halal
What steps could/can you create to reduce the waste?
ACTIVITY
Wasted Food
CHALLENGE #5

1.8Million

54.5Billion

OBLIGATION Legal | Ethical | Financial

DUTY OF
CARE
➤ Food Safety
➤ Workplace Safety Laws
➤ Disability Laws
➤ Allergen Labeling Laws
➤ EU 1169
➤ Stock Epinephrine

RFPs
Pre-Con
Registration
Site
Visits
Surveys
Tastings BEOs
INFORMATION request & provide

Check the food
functions you plan
to attend
Indicate Your
Dietary
Restrictions
Disclaimers
Eggs
Wheat
Milk
Soy
Crustaceans
Fish
Tree Nuts
Peanuts
Mollusks
Gluten
Mustard
Sesame
Lupin
Celery
Sulfites
Tomatoes
Buckwheat
Peaches
Pork
Barley
Bee Pollens
Royal Jelly
Other
_______________
REGISTRATION
Vegetarian
Vegan
Halal
Kosher
Gluten-free
Food Allergy
Other________
None
Is there treatment or
accommodation you
want us to be aware of
to ensure your health
and safety at the
event?
Please complete this
emergency action plan
for yourself
Dietary restrictions must be
indicated here to receive a
special meal for the food
functions. Special requests cannot
be provided at meal functions
without a ticket.
We strive to work with our food
service vendors to provide safe
and delicious meals for those with
dietary restrictions. Despite
taking every precaution, we
cannot guarantee that menu
items are free of trace amounts of
allergens or other ingredients.
I require a CERTIFIEDKosher meal.
I require a CERTIFIEDHalal meal?
My meal must notcontain shellfish, porkand/or meat and dairytogether.
A vegetarian meal isacceptable?
A vegan meal isacceptable?
© April 2015 | Proprietary and Confidential | Thrive! Meetings & Events | @tstuckrath
Gluten-Free
I have celiac diseaseand/or non-celiac gluten-sensitivity
I’m following a gluten-free diet by choice

© August 2015 | Thrive! Meetings & Events | @tstuckrath
COMMUNICATE
• RFPs
• Contracts
• Registration
• BEOs
• Meal Tickets
• Menus
• Apps
• Labels
• Surveys
CONTRACT CLAUSES
We ask that you…….

FOOD ALLERGEN LABELING AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2004
OPPORTUNITY
© June 2015 | Proprietary and Conﬁdential | Thrive! Meetings & Events | @tstuckrath

REALITY“The shared meal is no small thing.  
It is a foundation…”
©December 2015 | Thrive! Meetings & Events | @thrivemeetings
Michael Pollen

EVERY EFFORT
Tracy Stuckrath CSEP, CMM, CFPM
(404) 242-0530
tracy@thrivemeetings.com
www.thrivemeetings.com
@tstuckrath
thrivemeetingsevents
www.thrivemeetings.com/mpiMI

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