Eating at a Meeting

This week on Eating at a Meeting LIVE I'm chatting Simon McMahon, Director of Operations for Wyboston Lakes in the United Kingdom to talk about how the resort is addressing food waste and food and beverage inclusion on site. The resort's People's Pantry and composting system, are just two of the programs in practice that support its food waste reduction plan — ensuring no food waste goes off-site...

How do YOU define value when eating at a restaurant or attending an event that includes food and beverage? Food and beverage companies have tended to over-serve guests, allowing for take-home food not consumed while dining. With the pandemic cooking up pent-up demand for travel and experiences, is that a value? Alex Susskind, Professor of Food and Beverage Management, the Director of the Cornell I...

What started as the Women's International Beer Summit in 2020 to connect female homebrewers to other homebrewers during the pandemic is now the certified 501©3 The Women's Craft Fermentation Alliance (WCFA). The organization, co-founded by Melissa McCann and Michele Wonder, is "dedicated to enabling, empowering, and encouraging women, non-binary folks, and those that have been othered in all facet...

Lindsey Ofcacek, alongside Chef Edward Lee, started The LEE Initiative in Louisville, KY, in 2018 when they saw how the #MeToo movement was bringing to light what women in the restaurant and food and beverage industry were experiencing. An acronym for Let's Empower Employment, The LEE Initiative is focused on offering innovative and impactful solutions and programs when they see a need for a more...

When I posted on my Instagram account that I was searching for women to highlight for Women's HERstory month, Chef Nina Curtis was the first to reply with the name Chef Karla Ortiz. Then, OMG! The additional "votes" for Karla kept rolling in, and then someone submitted a nomination form for her. After reading that, the piece about her in Forbes and on PBS's My American story, I was convinced. Karl...

Jen Gilhoi and Cate Faulkner are the Co-Founders of the Zero Proof Collective in Minneapolis, MN. Sharing the lived experience of sobriety, they are purpose-driven and focused on reframing the "mocktail" experience so guests have plenty of elevated non-alcoholic (NA) options to enjoy, and bars, restaurants, hotels, and beverage companies can increase revenue with the new, fast-growing market. Thro...

Wanting to honor the ancestry within her, Tambra Raye Stevenson, MPH, Founder/CEO of WANDA (Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture), is addressing the challenges of our current food system with Sheros and advocating for a Food Bill of Rights. Tambra lost her grandparents in Oklahoma from diabetes, stroke, and heart disease due to diet and our food culture predicated by the policies se...

Randi Weinstein has been in the hospitality industry all her life, from being a host, bartender, and server to director of events for the Charleston Wine + Food Festival. In that last role, she noticed how many fewer female chefs there were than males, locally and nationally. It didn't make sense to her. Women — grandmothers, mothers, aunts, and others — have always been relied on worldwide to coo...

To kick off the 4th annual Women's HERstory Month (March) series and for Food Allergy Awareness/Celiac Disease Awareness Month (May), Tracy introduces you to Kayla King, founder and CEO of MyMeal, an app she created to help people with food restrictions find safe restaurant meals. Being diagnosed with celiac disease when she was 8, Kayla has grown up constantly thinking about food, but not in the...

I first met Chef Stephanie Tyson and Vivián Joiner via a Zoom call for Les Dames d'Escoffier North Carolina Chapter during the middle of the pandemic. What I did not know about them, but have come to realize, is they are one of Winston-Salem's power couples. As the owners of Sweet Potatoes, (Well Shut My Mouth!) restaurant for 20 years, they have been using their 3+ decades of customer relations e...

Recorded on Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Christian season of Lent, a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, Tracy discusses what it and other religious practices mean for serving food and beverage in the office and at events being held over the next six weeks.  Lent is a 40-day religious observance (not including Sundays), which ends three days before Easter Sunday on Thursday, April 6, 2...

According to the CDC, "Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States killing 314,186 women in 2020—or about 1 in every 5 female deaths." That equates to one woman every 80 seconds. In this episode of Eating At A Meeting I talk with Wendy Freiwald-Kirkland, Global Director of Business Development, ExpoCAD about what it means to be heart healthy because if it can happen...

Food waste is estimated at 30-40 percent of the food supply in the US. In 2010, the USDA estimated that to be approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food. That equates to 218.9 pounds of food waste per person being sent for disposal, according to the EPA. In 2021, more than 42 MILLION AMERICANS — 12.6% — were estimated to be food insecure. That means you lack reliable access to...

When Tracy saw CBRE's September 2022 Hotel Horizons® forecast in early December stating that food and beverage (F&B) recovery was lagging from pre-COVID levels while rooms revenue per available room (RevPAR) was exceeding 2019 annual levels in 2022, I wanted to find out more. Especially when the cost of food is increasing and meeting planners are spending even more on their already largest expendi...

Tracy takes a look at various reports that share the food and beverage trends for 2023. From specific food and beverage ingredients and products (CBD, dates, salts) to processes such as upcycling and cultivating meat as well as philosophies to be more intentional and purpose-driven, Tracy shares the leading food and beverage trends for individuals, organizations, and food service providers.  Tune...

We learned earlier this month how the non-alcoholic beverage market is growing rapidly not just for hashtag#DryJanuary but overall and throughout the year. One wine store owner I talked to last month said that 38% of people of drinking age are choosing not to consume alcohol or are consuming LESS of it. That is why Lauren Chitwood and her co-founders created the non-alcoholic brand Spiritless. The...

Do you have any 2023 events for which the contract was negotiated before or during the COVID pandemic? When was the last time reviewed the contract terms related to food and beverage service, menu items, staffing, and pricing? A lot has changed with food and beverage service due to the pandemic. On Wednesday's episode of hashtag#EatingAtAMeeting LIVE, Joshua Grimes, Esq. of Grimes Law Offices, LLC...

Tracy talks with Food Economist and Associate Professor at Michigan State University David Ortega who studies what people eat, how it got to their plates, and various factors that affect foods' journey from farm to people's plates. His explaination of why and how food prices are rising is important for us to all understand. It's not just one thing that's affecting the increase. It's a variety of f...

In this year-end conversation about food, Tracy chats with Dani Nierenberg, an American activist, author, journalist, and Co-Founder and President of Food Tank, a non-profit that offers solutions and environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty around the world.  Listen as Tracy and Dani chat about how the state of the US (and global) food system, our most pressing...

I stopped drinking alcohol in 2019. It was a CHOICE I made because I no longer wanted to experience the after-effects of drinking too much, spending the money, or consuming the calories associated with it. Since then my drink of choice has been a club soda with lime or water with lemon. I've tried "mocktails" before with hit-or-miss success. And, I have been "mocked" by servers and bartenders aski...

The number of confirmed cases of meat allergy — Alpha Gal Syndrome — has risen from only 12 in 2009 to 34,000 in 2019. Unlike other food allergies, alpha-gal symptoms can occur HOURS after eating meat, making the diagnosis a very tedious and long process. Candice Matthis and Debbie Nichols know this all too well. It took Candice 15 years, including mutliple trips to the ER and flatlining to be dia...

'Tis the season to be jolly. It's also the time that many of us celebrate and observe religions and cultures. While there will be many Christmas parties to attend (and Hallmark movies to watch), we must remember that Hanukkah, Yule, and Kwanzaa are also celebrated this month. Celebratory meals for each holiday vary by person, family, region, and country. Hallie Loeb, an event planner who happens t...

Do you ever feel deprived about food? With a chronic disease such as diabetes, you have to avoid specific foods to avoid reactions. While that may seem simple, there is nothing simple about it. It takes a lot of diligence to watch everything you eat (quality and quantity), constantly read ingredient labels, and ask questions of servers and chefs about what's in the menu item. What about relying on...

As the Senior Program Officer for World Wildlife Fund's Global Food Waste Team, Samantha Kenny works with hospitality and food service businesses to change the standard ways of doing business when planning events (like forecasting) to right-size food production and better serve guests. Listen as Tracy and Samantha talk about who is responsible for curbing food waste at events and the ways food was...

Elise Buellesbach was on stage at the 2022 FARE Food Allergy Summit when Tracy first heard her speak. She was getting the first-ever Young Leader Award for her work as a college student with food allergies and celiac disease to lobby and fight for systematic change on campus. As a student studying political science at American University, she's passionate about understanding the legislative proces...