Tag: catering

An Apple a Day...Is Not for Everyone
Food Allergies January 9, 2018

An Apple Day…Is Not for Everyone

Food Allergies January 9, 2018

How One Meeting Eliminated Apple to Create a Safe Space for a Food-Allergic Attendee Last month I met a woman with an apple allergy. Yes, an apple allergy. I’m sure some of you can’t believe it, but it’s a real thing, and it can be fatal. While I’ve known others with an apple allergy, Leticia’s is the most severe I’ve encountered. As she explained in her registration form, she is “highly, deathly allergic” to apples, “both ingested and inhaled from others eating nearby.” This was vital information to know about her, since I was analyzing and coding catering menus to…

Read more

swiss chard + white bean grilled sammie from Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes
Recipes November 17, 2016

Make Your Attendees Crave Lunch with these 12 Vegan Options

Recipes November 17, 2016

Use the Vegan Lunch Ideas for Meetings to Feed Attendees Well Over the last few months I’ve gotten quite a few emails/calls from meeting planners asking me for healthy and delicious vegan lunch ideas for meetings since the hotel, convention center and/or catering companies they are working with are not making an effort to do this for them. To top the frustration I’ve heard from planners, the stories from vegan and vegetarian meeting attendees about what they were served illustrate a lack of enthusiasm from chefs to create these meals: At an awards banquet Jessie was served one – yes, one – roasted carrot. Monica was…

Read more

Community Meetings & Events Things We Love Trends April 19, 2016

What Event Planners Can Learn from Ancient Rome?

Community Meetings & Events Things We Love Trends April 19, 2016

The culinary world seems to discover a new dining trend every five minutes, but when it comes down to it, banquets haven’t changed all that much. There might be some inspiration and ideas event planners can learn from ancient Rome. I recently read this very entertaining and informative piece about history’s ten greatest banquets, and I was struck by what they had in common, all the way back to the days of Nero. They were once-in-a-lifetime events full of entertainment and surprise. They were opportunities for people to show off their wealth. But most importantly, whether it was dormice sprinkled with…

Read more

Meetings & Events Trends April 12, 2016

How to Diversify the Plate While Respecting the Palate

Meetings & Events Trends April 12, 2016

Like most event planners, I read a lot of restaurant menus. I like to keep in touch with trends and ways to diversify the plate while respecting the palate. One thing that continues to surprise me is just how similar they are. At both down-home joints and white-tablecloth establishments, Americans seem to be interested in a narrow choice of meats. We will eat any part of the chicken, but most restaurants focus on the breast. When it comes to beef, we eat about half the cow, but only about 10 percent (e.g., strip loin, tenderloin, sirloin, and rib eye) ends…

Read more

Thrive!'s Meal Ticket System Helps Streamline Dietary Needs Management
Dietary Needs December 8, 2015

Introducing Meal Tickets to Simplify Dietary Needs Management

Dietary Needs December 8, 2015

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…

Read more

Food Allergies Medical Conditions Meetings & Events Thrive! in the News January 18, 2012

Catersource “Get Fresh”: January 2012

Food Allergies Medical Conditions Meetings & Events Thrive! in the News January 18, 2012

In the latest Fresh Ideas from the ICA in Catersource’s Get Fresh newsletter, Tracy Stuckrath, CSEP, CMM, CHC talks about how to manage the dietary needs of guests in “Tolerating Intolerance.” She says its important to be proactive in your planning – ask guests about their needs in advance, update your recipes so they can be prepared multiple ways to accommodate different needs. Its also important to pay attention to cross contamination in the kitchen and on the buffets.

Read more