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Food Allergies Laws & Regulations

Allergy Labelling in the European Union: How Confident is the Freefrom Customer when eating out?

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Food businesses and their staff need more training to better manage the expectations of the FreeFrom customer A year ago the European Union enacted EU1169 requiring that all food served directly to consumers – pre-packaged and unpackaged – list any of the 14 food allergens they contained. Our friends at Food Allergy Training Consultancy (FATC) wanted to see how the freefrom community thought food service business were doing in meeting the regulations for allergy labelling in the European Union. Below are the results from the survey they did, reprinted with permission from Food Allergy Aware. Since the European Union introduced the Food Information Regulations…

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Thrive!'s Meal Ticket System Helps Streamline Dietary Needs Management
Dietary Needs

Introducing Meal Tickets to Simplify Dietary Needs Management

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Meal Tickets Help Identify and Communicate Important Information One of the biggest challenges meeting planners and catering managers face is the efficient accommodation of the spectrum of allergies, religious restrictions, and dietary choices of attendees. As the founder of Thrive!, Tracy Stuckrath is very familiar with the increasingly common outcry around dietary needs management, “I wish there was a clear, organized system for identifying and accommodating the dietary restrictions of our attendees – without slowing down service.” In answer to this challenge, Thrive now offers standard and customized Meal Tickets! By implementing Thrive’s Meal Ticket system, dietary needs management just got easier. Through the use of diet…

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Stock epinephrine laws can help keep attendees safe at meetings
Duty of Care Food Allergies

Advancements in Epinephrine Can Actually be Valuable for Event Attendees

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New State Entity Laws Give Venues Opportunity Save Lives Since I wrote this post in May on the historic law that makes Georgia safer for event attendees, I’m excited to be able to add 15 more states to the list of those allowing places of public accommodation (hotels, convention and conference centers, restaurants) to stock epinephrine. If you have a family member or friend with a food allergy, you’re probably familiar with epinephrine. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), epinephrine is used for the emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reactions caused by allergens, whether from food…

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Waitress is carrying two plates
Dietary Needs Food Service

In the Meetings Industry, Bad Service Is a Disservice

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At some point, we have all experienced bad service at a restaurant. The exact experiences may vary, but bad service always leaves patrons feeling unfulfilled and well, sort of peeved. When we choose to spend our money at an establishment, we expect certain, basic standards to be met. The standards bar is set differently from restaurant to restaurant, but there are fundamental expectations patrons look forward to. These include going over the specials, offering drink refills, and checking in once in a while to ask if everything suits their needs. This and other tidbits of service should be the standard…

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Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho Ingredients
Meetings & Events

Do you Know What Ingredients You Need to Create a Safe Food Event?

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An Analysis of the Ingredients Used for an Event Earlier this year, I attended a meetings industry conference where I was hired to give two presentations on how to manage dietary requests at meetings and events. The challenges with managing dietary needs can be confusing, frustrating and never ending. We already have a lot on our to do list, so adding a few more ingredients might seem annoying. However, I see those ingredients as opportunities to make attendees feel safe, valued and confident in their experience. I commend the organization for taking steps to meet the needs of their more than 2,000 attendees…

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Putting out "fires" at events is part of a meeting planner's job description. What procedures do you have in place to manage them successfully?
Duty of Care

How to Avoid Food Allergy Catastrophes at Events

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I hate to be a downer, but when was the last time you thought about the worst case scenario at your event? Catastrophes can come in many forms: hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, acts of terrorism, bombings, riots, medical pandemic, attendee accidents or death. Having procedures in place to handle situations is key to ensuring guest safety, whether you’re a meeting or event planner, a travel director or representative of a corporation. It’s your responsibility (it falls under your duty of care) to your attendees while at your event. Aside from these five standard safety measure all meeting planners and travel directors can…

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Education Classes

Farm Fresh Kid’s Cooking Camp

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During three of the last four weeks I spent my days teaching a “Farm Fresh” Kid’s Cooking Camp hosted by The Cook’s Warehouse, Atlanta’s premier gourmet cookware store and cooking school. Three groups of 12 junior chefs aged 8-14 got to learn about farm fresh ingredients, how to make delicious, healthy meals with what’s in season, and how to enjoy them with friends and family. It was such a amazing experience—I cried each Friday as talked to parents about their kids—and watching the kids enthusiastically make the dishes themselves was terrific to see. A huge thanks to our sponsors who made the camp possible: OXO: creator of…

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Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar Golf & Spa Resort
Meetings & Events

3 Nights in Cabo with the DMC Network

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Last month I had the pleasure of speaking at the inaugural DMC Network Exchange event held at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Golf Resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. What an amazing experience! Who knew that the desert can go all the way to the ocean – crazy gorgeous. For two days and three nights, the staff at Terramar, one of the DMC Networks members, delivered unparalleled service with their creativity and skill in managing events for groups coming to the area, even with an impending hurricane threatening to dampen the trip. Let’s not focus on that. A few highlights from the event, especially the food.…

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Meetings & Events

50 Year Marine Corps Basic School Graduation Celebration

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Last month, I had the honor and privilege to plan and execute the 50th reunion for my father’s US Marine Corps basic school class. We had 113 retired Marines and their spouses for three days of fun and camaraderie in Quantico, Virginia and Washington, DC. This was a very interesting group to plan for. Some of the initial planning obstacles included: • Generational differences, such as whether to email, call or snail mail? • Activity timelines • Special needs accommodations • Food allergies, celiac disease and dementia • Transportation management From the first call last year to the last goodbye after the reunion, I fell…

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Event Planning Skills Meetings & Events

5 Simple Ways to Help You Save Money on F&B

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Tracy recently spoke with Meetings and Conventions magazine on how to negotiate a hotel contract in a seller’s market. Of the 12 tips “for getting what your group really needs” in the article, the three tips she provided were focused on food and beverage spend: [list icon=”icon: check-square-o” icon_color=”#d81c5c”] Custom-build your menus — work with your chefs directly Work the food angle to offset costs — “gang” menus with other groups Group events together — commingle groups to reduce duplication [/list] More from Tracy: There are few more ways I’d like to potentially help you save money on food and beverage at your next event while…

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