Tips For Successful Conference Catering

Food is an important lifestyle choice today for many people, sometimes it is driven by allergies and other times by dietary, lifestyle, or religious choices. Here are four tips to help you cater for your delegate’s dietary needs. Ask your delegates if there are any dietary needs early on in your conference planning. Food at conferences is always a talking point and knowing in advance will help you make catering choices which will surprise and delight delegates at your event, while being conscious of their needs. Cover food allergies when you ask your delegates as in some circumstances these can be life threatening. Prompt with examples like dairy; nuts; fish & shellfish and wheat/gluten allergies. There are many other common allergies your venue will cater for, if you are unsure ask your event coordinator. Be mindful of lifestyle and cultural choices of your delegates. In multicultural New Zealand, we must consider our delegates religious or cultural requirements as well as their lifestyle choices. Ask by prompting with examples like vegetarian; vegan; pescatarian; macrobiotic, paleo and halal. Communicate the dietary requirements to your event coordinator at the venue. Each venue will have a range of dietary needs they are able to cater for. Be sure to provide the dietary requirements prior to the venue deadline as it’s important the catering needs are included on the event run sheet for a seamless conference experience. It is becoming increasingly important to ask your delegates if they have any dietary needs early so that you will be able to cater to their needs for your conference, sometimes on the day will be too late. Remember that the success of your event may be decided by your catering decisions. www.heritagehotels.co.nz/conferences ShelleyE@heritagehotels.co.nz