Food Break: Doughnuts Don't Cut It Anymore

By Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 1/10/2005

The "rubber chicken" days are, thankfully, a thing of the past at most conventions and exhibitions. Dietary, health and religious concerns, plus a demand for quality, have entered into the culinary decision-making process of organizers in a big way.

Ten years ago, doughnuts, sticky buns and high-test coffee were the norm for most morning conference breaks; today's attendees typically choose from granola bars, yogurt, fruit, juices, decaffeinated coffee and green tea.

"Part of this is driven by what distributors make available, but much of it is to offer choices to more diverse groups of attendees," said Chris Brown, senior tradeshow manager for Talley Management. "Meeting planners perceive a demand for it," even if budgetary issues occasionally come into play.

Today's various diets — vegetarian, vegan, kosher, low carb, low fat, etc. — make feeding attendees more of a challenge and, as Angela Talbot, operations director for VNU Expositions, points out, not every facility is either equipped or willing to offer every choice. What's more, the cost of feeding attendees can be significant and vary wildly from city to city. In New York, San Francisco and Boston, a $50-per-attendee cost for food is not unusual; $30 per attendee is more the norm in cities like New Orleans and Atlanta.

Still, it behooves show managers to ensure that attendees with special dietary needs get what they want. If a registrant has specified a fish allergy prior to the event and is then served something that makes him or her sick, a major liability problem could result.

And despite a belief that people today tend to be more conscious of what they eat, it remains rare for a conference coordinator to tailor a menu to a specific group. Cathy Arevian, vice president of operations for tradeshow and event management company The Bridge Group, has also been catering manager for the Watergate Hotel, a corporate events manager for a federal agency, and a restaurant employee. She said she's likely to offer more adventurous fare to medical conference attendees, who are more sophisticated and have presumably experienced a wider array of cuisines, than perhaps to a group of tax accountants, who are typically more conservative, mostly male, and usually middle-aged. Talbot's on the same page, offering healthier choices at a medical event than, say, a contractors' convention.

But the main criteria for setting a menu are taste and portability.

When lunch is served on a traditional tradeshow floor, it's with an ulterior motive: to keep attendees there — and moving through the exhibits. Consequently, Arevian said, "Food that requires attendees to sit down and eat should be avoided, because even if you provide a dining area on the showfloor with tables and chairs, many attendees will either sit down and just stay there, or eat and still leave the show."

Breakfast, before a morning of conference sessions or as a networking break, presents special challenges. Small, easy-to-eat foods should be offered here too. McDonald's McMuffin-style breakfast sandwiches, smoothies, yogurts, juices, coffee and fruit all allow attendees to eat, circulate and talk at the same time.

For networking lunches or afternoon snacks between conference sessions, soups in demitasse cups, skewered foods, tea sandwiches, and puff pastries aren't drippy or messy.

Because of her background, Arevian works with her caterers, but some show managers merely tell suppliers how much budget they have to work with and let them take it from there.

That's a mistake. Aside from dietary and religious requirements, there are real considerations to think about with event food. Arevian noted that some standard rules should apply:

• Make some low-carb choices available.
• Avoid pork and shellfish altogether, to sidestep both religious and allergy concerns.
• No matter what you do, some attendees with special food needs won't make such requests at registration, so offer at least a partial selection of foods that don't impinge on any taboos. For example, vegetables and cheeses are OK for most attendees (except those who are lactose-intolerant).
• Make sure the caterer knows vegetarian meals don't just mean the main course sans the meat, or simply some vegetables or potatoes. Vegetarian lasagna, for example, is a popular item.
• And certainly far from least, always provide for the needs of physically challenged attendees at meal functions.

Finally, there's the issue of alcohol. "Some organizations don't encourage drinking; some don't discourage it," Talbot said. "No matter what, there should be a liability disclaimer about this in any contract: Liquor must be served responsibly at all events; that is, not to anyone underage and not to anyone who's had too much to drink."