Is Your Event Catering Discriminatory?
20th March 2017
A recent study has shown that 3 out of 5 sport event attendees eat at home to avoid eating at the stadium. It is widely agreed that food options at events are often expensive, unhealthy, lack nutritional information, and fail to cater for different dietary requirements.
With this in mind, we want to explore the extent to which event managers are failing to cater (in terms of the food they provide) for the needs of their attendees.
Event managers must acknowledge the relevance of both The Food Regulations Law of 2014 and The Equality Act 2010. While lacking in apparent relevance to the topic, the Equality Act requires all religions and personal beliefs to be respected and catered for accordingly. Not only are we failing to comply with these standards beyond the bare minimum, our own research has shown that a vast number of event attendees (72%) agree that events are failing to provide them with useful nutritional information. The Food Regulations Law 2014 recommends labelling food in order to advise of ingredients and potential allergens. Thus, we pose the following questions:
Are we, at large, failing to comply with the recommendations of The Food Regulations Law of 2014? And, are we discriminating against our customers’ personal belief systems and choices by failing to supply a breadth of catering options?
We want to discuss what you, as an event manager, could be doing to improve catering standards for your customers.
The Problem
As event managers, we should be striving to meet the most basic needs of all of our guests, acknowledging them as individuals with varying needs and preferences, rather than choosing to turn a blind eye and remain ignorant to a broad spectrum of dietary requirements. How can we expect our guests to enjoy the intangible, experiential elements of an event, when we have fallen at the first hurdle?
Failing to satisfy basic, primal needs, will undoubtedly lead to unsatisfied guests. In fact, events are arguably losing out on a momentous amount of potential revenue. With the previously mentioned 60%* of attendees choosing to eat either before or after an event, because events have failed to satisfy their eating preferences.
How are Event Managers Currently Addressing the Issue?
Considering current industry practice, there are a few occurrences surrounding dietary requirements at events, some showing positive action from event professionals and some not so much.
In the UK, Reading Festival allow attendees to bring their own food into the campsites, and exceptions can be made in the arena for those who have special requirements. However, major sporting event, London Olympics 2012, disallowed the entry of personal food or drinks over 100ml, essentially forcing attendees to buy and eat food at the venue. With just short of 700,000 internationals attending the event, this meant that choices catering for a broad spectrum of dietary requirements were inherently limited.
In contrast, Fosters, an event catering company based in the South West, are ensuring they cater for individuals with food intolerances and dietary requirements by following the 14 common food allergens. These have been recognised by the Food Standards Agency, who state that a decade ago, allergies and intolerances were rare, but, in contrast, “allergies are now widespread in the UK with around 21 million people suffering from at least one allergy, increasing by 5% each year”. Taking this on board, Fosters are especially mindful of food allergies and intolerances when planning and preparing their menus for events.
As an event manager are you ensuring your event caterer has the same procedures as Fosters?
How Should We Be Responding?
Taking everything into consideration, and how effective the responses currently are – how should you, as an event manager respond?
Firstly, attaining a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the dietary requirements of attendees is imperative, and there are various ways to manage this. Good practice requires event managers to incorporate planning for dietary requirements by using pre-registration as a starting point. While this may not work for large-scale events, it does allow event managers to understand and acknowledge the needs of a smaller audience, providing the attendees with the option to state any dietary requirements, allowing the event manager to manage these more effectively in advance. As well as this, monitoring consumer responses and emotions on social media can show event managers where they have the potential to improve.
Additionally, flexible and adaptable caterers are better equipped to meet the needs of a variety of dietary requirements, with a more creative, exciting approach to catering. Further adding to this, with 71%* of spectators expecting nothing but fast food at large football stadiums, along with almost half (45%)* of attendees feeling uneasy about the lack of healthy options and the questionable quality of ingredients – surely it is time to stop discriminating against the varying dietary needs of our attendees, step up our catering game, and, fundamentally, give our attendees what they actually want?
As an event manager, we want to know what you think. Are you responding to recommended best practice regarding food provision at your events?
Also, how much do you, as an event manager know about allergies and intolerances? Click here to our take our test on the Food Standard Agency’s 14 allergens and comment below with your result!
* All statistics provided by Tobin (2013) and can be accessed at: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/12/19/stadium-food-bottom-league-sports-fans/
An interesting question to ask. Do you think that it depends on the size of an event. Certainly a mega event like the Olympics needs to be inclusive, but smaller events should be able to cater to the market and not be expected to have all types of food without prior notification.
A great point to make jlannon2014!
As mentioned in the blog, registration forms for smaller events can be a great way to obtain dietary requirement information from attendees. This particularly already works well in the conference industry for pre-ordered lunches.
However, should we, as event professionals, be dictating our catering choices based on the size of the event? Do you think it is appropriate to dismiss the possible minority of attendees who have a dietary requirements?
Look forward to hearing your views!
As a business, maybe we could suggest that market forces dictate our food offering (sometimes an ancillary product to the event). That said, whilst my example of the Olympics is one of the largest events and your example of conferences is on the smaller side, what about medium size events between 2,000-15,000?
Apologies for the delay, we experienced a lack of reply button to your comment! We understand that often choices are made based on availability and costs. However, we believe that it is not particularly difficult to cater for various diets. In fact, by simply catering to the vegan and vegetarian diet you are also catering for many religions and cultural beliefs. Regarding your comment surrounding medium size events, if it is possible for both large events such as the Olympics and smaller events such as conferences to have an inclusive choice of food options, then why not for the medium sized?
Especially as medium sized includes that of smaller sporting events, mentioned in our blog, which are known for lack of choices.
As a student of events management and also working in the industry I feel that larger events don’t necessarily cater to dietary requirements. I feel that smaller more intimate events/ corporate events where dietary requirements are captured are where we are ahead of the game in terms of catering for dietary requirements.
I think the places that need the most focus on offering a variety of options and catering to dietary needs are mainly venues such as sports stadiums and convention centres.
Having dietary requirements myself I often find it difficult to find something to eat at sports events/exhibitions and occasionally conferences. I think there should be more focus on catering to everyone’s needs, which will actually in tern benefit the vendors as they will create more revenue from doing so.
I believe the main perception is it’s costly, which is something I find when buying gluten free sandwiches that they are nearly double the price of a normal sandwich. But I would rather pay more and have something to eat then not have anything at all.
Thank you for your input!
It is interesting to read your personal experience of gluten free sandwiches. And it is also quite interesting how you address your willingness to pay more if it means you actually get something to eat.
However. Isn’t eating a basic human need? Something that everyone should have equal access to?
Speaking of Gluten free food, do you think that attendees without intolerances would be willing to eat gluten free food if it is the only option on offer?
Often we, personally, feel that such options aren’t particularly different from the same option including Gluten. Often texture can be different but taste can be the same. Do you think a shift could occur towards offering ‘free from’ foods as normal options?
That way, we are controlling the cost to some effect due to everybody paying the same and eating the same options. But it is simultaneously inclusive of those who have requirements.
Would love to hear what you think on this matter!
Interesting article! I am an Events Manager at a small exclusive use venue in Worcestershire. We pride ourselves in offering flexibility for our couples and offer a selection of 5 caterers to choose from rather than the usual 1 in-house caterer at most venues.
Our caterers do offer a huge range of menu options to suit most tastes, budgets & themes however it has come to my attention a few times that we do not cater for all religious beliefs and cultures.
I have been approached previously by Indian couples and most recently a Jamaican couple that wanted to use a specific catering company to offer traditional dishes for their wedding that have meaning to them.
As much as our caterers are able & willing to try and recreate traditional food for every individual, they have been criticised for simply not creating authentic dishes to the same standard as someone in that field, such as a traditional Indian chef for example.
I do think that we need to offer a larger variety of catering options to suit all cultures, beliefs and needs.
Thank you for your contribution Katie. It’s great to see it from a perspective in the wedding industry and how venues may be struggling in this area and especially in religious and cultural areas.
Do you feel like your caterers manage other dietary requirements such as allergies and lifestyle choices appropriately? Are they able to cater for everyone in that sense?
Look forward to hearing from you again!
Working in the event catering industry, dietary requirements and allergens are a constant issue. As a manager I ensure I brief staff before each event on the menu options we have on offer and about the food information regulation (FIR) documents we have.
When hosting an event we always contact the client regarding any dietary requirements there maybe. We always provide for any dietary requirements that we are pre-warned about however dependant on the size of the event if we aren’t pre-informed about dietary requirements we don’t necessarily have food on offer, but always try and more often than not succeed in providing an offer (occasionally 10-15 mins to provide). It’s easier to provide more dietary requirements for a bigger event where there are likely numerous dietary requirements.
Further to that I find when we do provide for a dietary requirement, guests can often then be picky and not be content with the fact that we have tried to offer them an alternative – they often don’t understand that we aren’t a restaurant with a chef there to make whatever they request.
An interesting article, with it being an ever growing issue, will be interesting to see how the industry keeps up with dietary requirements becoming very ‘fashionable’.
Thank you for your contribution and letting us see it from a catering perspective. It’s great to see that you are responding to the recommended best practice and catering to every individual’s need even at short notice.
However, if a guest doesn’t like the allergen free food, should we start making more options available to them?
Look forward to hearing from you again!
I personally agree that we should be offering numerous options. Having said that, we are fulfilling our duty of care by offering them an option. For example, are we expected to have numerous gluten free, lactose intolerant, and vegan options available on the off chance that an event attendee fulfils one of those dietary requirements? If so, there is a cost implication, even more so, when none of the above are required. Who is going to fulfil that cost? There has to be a limit.
Reblogged this on my eventures and commented:
For one of my modules at university, I have teamed up with some great people to address a contemporary issue in the events industry through a blog. For event professionals, it would be a great read for you, and we would love to hear your opinions and thoughts and how you deal with such issues.
A thought provoking article! I believe in compliance and of course to provide for those with allergies in all food offerings is vital in today’s society. Pre-ordering for events is the only way, of course it is easy to have a few gluten fee or vegetarian meals ‘to go’ as some just forget to plan ahead. However, more specific diets need planning for.
Larger scale events, e.g. the Olympics, should have the dietary info covered in line with the 14allergens and the way the industry is going, they should be able to accommodate all diets on demand in the near future.
Oh, and I got 100% in the allergen test!!
Great news that you got 100% on the test!
For events that you can’t pre order for, such as: festivals or sporting events, how would you combat dietary issues for these events? As times are changing and so are lifestyles, do you think that events should have more options available for allergens and intolerances instead of a few ‘go to’ meals?
Looking forward to your response!
Really interesting blog post and I think you build an interesting conversation based on very compelling facts. However I think you start to hit murky water of higher costs and more food waste when you focus on giving attendees exactly what they actually want. Partially because you are never going to be able to please everyone & even if it is a paid event you will get attendee drop-offs. A solution (no matter the size of the event) is providing options – be it from offering vegan, gf, vegetarian options not just assigned to people who express intolerance’s, to multiple catering options, or different styles of food – ie hot lunches or sandwiches & salads!
Thanks for your contribution, Caitlin! You make a great point, by providing our attendees with options we cover our own backs by ensuring everyone has a choice. By ensuring catering is flexible and provides for vegans and vegetarians, along with other common intolerances, we can provide for the majority of attendees. It would not be realistic to provide the ‘perfect’ meal for every single attendee’s personal taste, especially at larger events. However, we must strive to provide a variety of options so no one has to go hungry.
Considering smaller scale events though, how carefully should we be considering the dietary requirements of our guests to ensure they don’t feel short-changed? While we, as event managers, need to keep costs down and stick to tight budgets, we also need to provide for all of our guests.
Another contributor mentioned that her allergy often leads to her being provided with less food than everyone else. This is because the caterers fail to adjust the dish to suit her needs, and simply remove what she can’t eat.
It would be interesting to hear what you think about this!
Great article -food for thought (excuse the pun!).
12/14 Score
I think it is difficult to please all the people all the time. It is essential to clearly label all 14 recognisable food allergy/intolerance at all events selling food and to try and provide a wider range of options i.e. Healthy/veggie. However, at large events like sport matches, it is easier to fall into the trap of low cost/high turnover. Businesses look at the profits and don’t take kindly to unnecessary waste.
I think there needs to be a shift in expectations of the customers as well as providers exploring varied menus.
On smaller scale events, I think there’s no excuse for not catering for dietary needs. Personally, I have a mustard intolerance. I still expect my salad to be dressed with a non-mustard alternative and I find it irksome when I miss out because of my allergy. I pay the same for that salad!
Overall, I think there is a cultural shift to expect better quality and more choices of food in Britain. The more as customers we make demands the more providers will meet them.
Thanks for your response Samantha!
You make some interesting points. If stadiums were to implement a broader menu, perhaps they would need to reconsider their waste management strategy – a further cost. However, considering the fact that over half of attendees are choosing to eat at home in order to avoid stadium food, this suggests that by failing to do so, venues are actually missing out on potential profit. There doesn’t seem to be a clear solution, but some compromise from both parties is undoubtedly necessary.
Considering your personal experiences with your allergy, how effective has the communication between yourself and the organising party been? Our research suggests that informing event managers of dietary requirements is often a long-winded process, regularly miscommunicated between the individual, the kitchen, and ultimately, the staff serving food.
We look forward to hearing your response!
@jlannon2014 You make a good point, often food provision is not the primary focus of an event, merely a supporting function.
However, considering medium size events, such as sporting events (Kingsholm Stadium in Gloucester has a capacity of 16,000), research given within the blog suggests that many spectators have a strong, thought-provoking, point of view regarding catering at sports stadiums. The statistics show that over half of attendees are choosing to eat at home either before or after the game to avoid having to eat at the game. This is due to lack of healthy options, and insufficient nutritional information. Surely it makes good business sense to take note of what sport event attendees want, and provide the healthier options they desire, thus, delivering ROI?
Very insightful blog!
I got 8/14 on the test.. I found some of the allergens very surprising!
The company I work for outsources event catering, therefore I do not have as much knowledge of food intolerances. However I have noticed that more and more people nowadays have food intolerances or have decided to go vegan/vegetarian as a lifestyle choice. I know that it can be difficult to please everyone!
I also recently attended the Cheltenham festival and decided to eat before the event, I do not enjoy eating over priced burgers. However I was surprised to see there was a variation of other food options, for example noodles. On the other hand I did not notice if they had any vegan or gluten free etc options.
Thank you for your comment, James.
I’m glad the test helped your understanding of the 14 allergens!
Were these companies that you were using flexible enough to cater to all needs?
With this blog we are hoping to spread awareness and hopefully make a change to events such as the Cheltenham Festival, so nobody feels left out.
I have passed the test around the office and the results were very varied!
Yes, our caterers are always very understanding of food intolerances. However sometimes our clients with food allergens may have to wait a big longer to receive their food at larger events.
A very good article, it certainly makes you think deeper about how there are a lack of food options at events. I use to be an Assistant Events Manager at a venue in Herefordshire. We used local caterers from around the county and offered these as options to the bride/groom or whoever was running the particular event. They didn’t even have to take up our suggestions, they could choose whoever they preferred to make the process a whole lot fairer. Most of the caterers offered a wide variety of menus, and were even willing to change things to suit certain requirements.
As one of the above posts state, we too have had one or two problems in the past where none of the caterers would offer a particular dish that is authentic or to suit various religious beliefs/cultures. This happens very rarely, probably because of the rural location, we’re not near a big city which makes me think demographics should have a big influence on the menus on offer and of course the size/type of event.
Thank you for your comment, Matthew.
On a local level it is good to see that event caterers in Herefordshire are able to cater for all needs.
The bigger issue here is catering at large scale events, for example, Cheltenham Festival, which has been discussed as having limited food provision, in previous comments.
I found this article of great interest from a personal and professional perspective. On a professional level, I can understand that event managers want to keep production costs down and providing fewer and more basic food options at events can aid this. However, as a vegetarian with a gluten intollerance, I often find it diffuclt to eat well at events. There never seems to be enough choice to adhere to my needs and where there is a vegetarian option, it is usually something like pasta which I cannot eat due to my intollerace. I understand more complex options can be costly but I think there needs to be a balance and a compromise. It is important that the event attendees are happy with what they’re being offered at an event, however it would be impossible to please everybody and it is becoming increasingly difficult for event managers to provide food for their consumers that doesnt break the bank – especially when more and more people are following ‘diet trends’ and ‘fads’. Should event managers be catering to these kinds of ‘needs’? I am not so sure… the line needs to be drawn somewhere, but where?
Thank you for your comment Victoria.
From a personal perspective, would you as a vegetarian with a gluten intolerance be willing to pay more to eat well? Or do you think this is discriminatory?
Look forward to hearing your thoughts!
I would definitely expect it, as ‘alternative’ food always seems to be at a higher cost, but I would not be happy about doing so. I would not necessarily say it was discriminatory but I would say that in this day and age, with the increasing amount of allergies, intollerances and other dietry requirements it is a surprise that there is such a difference in price and so few options out there.
Thank you for your reply Victoria.
We definitely agree, it’s certainly interesting to see the increase in dietary requirements and lifestyle choices over recent years and therefore highlights why we need to accustom ourselves to providing a wider variety of food at events as standard!
Some really interesting points raised both in your article and the practitioners themselves. You seem to have touched a nerve. One of the key questions, raised by a few respondents, is how important to the event is the food offer? From my own experience at events here and abroad there is a whole range of expectations, largely culturally influenced. Compare for example Notting Hill Carnival, Glasgow Commonwealth Games and a rural music festival and consider the diversity of local and visiting attendees. The central focus will be the cultural, sporting or music celebration but the food offer can be key to distinctiveness of the event.
Another point is the control of input costs and resources as well as waste reduction for cost and environmental reasons that you raise. An interesting issue you have noted is the potential benefits of preregistration of dietary needs. To me with the high number of ticketed events and online booking, it is surely fairly straightforward to identify dietary needs either before or after ticket confirmation. Whilst it would be impractical in most large or medium scale events to actually book food ahead, registered dietary needs would give organisers a clear idea of the scale and scope of demand. With contingencies planned for different food offers it could demonstrate compliance with the letter as well as spirit of the law. Given a little market testing and the long lead time before the event I can see this approach aiding both enhanced customer satisfaction and reduced waste.
Thank you for your comments John.
You make very relevant points. We’ve come across the idea of understanding dietary requirements at registration from our research prior to creating this blog. We believe this idea would be a step in the right direction for medium and large scale events.
A really interesting and informative blog post. It certainly makes you think even more how important it is to make sure all dietary requirements are catered for and it’s hard to believe that in 2017 guests with differing needs and preferences can still very much be an after thought. As an Event Manager for a high end outside catering company it is always something that we chat through with guests; whilst it’s not always practical to have unlimited choice for every single dietary requirement on the day of the event due to working in remote locations and venues, it’s therefore imperative that guests pre-order if they know in advance. We also recognise that guests requirements are not always dietary but can be lifestyle led, either way as an industry this should be fully respected and professional caterers with a focus on attention to detail and putting the customer first, should be expected to ensure all guests are treated equally.
For public events caterers it’s so important to offer a wide variety of food catering for everyone and many are still missing a great marketing and profit making opportunity in staying up to date with customers needs and changing preferences. It’s an opportunity for Event Managers to have a voice in ensuring there is a level playing field for all customers, understanding that customers should be a offered a varied choice.
Thank you for your comment, Lucy.
We agree that food allergens should be fully respected and should not be an after thought. We understand your catering is primarily pre ordered, however what contingency plans do you have in place if a guest informs you on the day of an event that they have a dietary requirement?
We look forward to hearing your response!
Hi guys, great blog post! It is certainly interesting to see the facts and figures behind the research. Within the industry from a catering perspective (I work in a hotel) I do understand that there can be additional cost added to stock when adding various dietary reqs and lifestyle additions. However I completely agree that there is not enough choice often at events for myself as a vegan and when they are they are often expensive.
I think pre ordering at registration is definitely a great idea, particularly at larger events!
Hi Paula, thank you for your comment.
We hope that our blog is encouraging and informing event professionals to consider individuals with dietary requirements and lifestyle choices.
As a vegan do you feel that vegan food should not be sold at a higher price?
What a great thought-provoking blog post. I, as a catering manager, have to deal with dietary requirements on a day to day basis. To me, it’s simple. It is not difficult to cater to these requirements and needs when you have prior notice.
You mentioned pre-registration and that is the main way to solve this issue. We cater for numbers ranging from 10 to 2000, and this works. However, we do always get people on the day claiming dietary requirements which can be difficult. But by implementing a contingency and having spare meals prepared and ready, or even alternatives, you can ensure that they are fed well and not just given salad leaves as I have seen with my own eyes at other venues.
I do think this issue needs to be solved now, we should not be taking short cuts when it comes to our duty of care to our attendees and guests.
Thank you for your comment, Mark.
It is very good that you prepare contingency meals so people do not have to risk not being fed well. However, by preparing contingency meals at a large scale of 2000, how do you manage waste?
Interesting read!
Having worked in the catering/wedding industry, it is crucial to satisfy ones individual requirements/needs. As customers are becoming more demanding and excepting, not supplying a full variety of options will anger customers (I have been in this situation!), so I fully understand the purpose of this article. The Equality Act says all religions should be catered for, however, this is difficult for event managers as they would almost have to assume what religions will mostly attend.
Thank you for your comment, Laura.
We understand the difficulty for event managers to cater for all religions. For example, when we interviewed Fosters Event Catering they said that Halal food takes two weeks to pre-order, and they cannot provide Kosher food as it must be prepared under Jewish law.
A very thought provoking blog!
As part of the team that organise a large county show I know first hand the difficulties of catering for all dietary needs. We have no prior knowledge to the attendees that will arrive over the weekend so would play a guessing game of potential dietary requirements.
As a Show we do not allow visitors to bring food onto site – don’t get me wrong we are not the sandwich police – but picnic baskets would upset our large caterers and financially we risk losing out.
Following your blog it has highlighted the importance of at least catering for as many of the basic food requirements as possible and for our upcoming shows will actively seek caterers that fulfil all needs.
Thanks for your comment Sarah! So great to hear that the blog is creating food for thought within the industry.
Financial concerns from losing profit from allowing attendees to bring in their food seems to be a continuing concern, which is completely understandable.
Considering this, do you think it would be worth considering doing an online poll to see what types of catering people would like to see at your event? how do you decide on which caterers to have at your event?
Great topic, and it’s good to see that I’m not the only one who has struggled with this. I have run small sided soccer tournaments for the last eight years. The games are short and fast, and most teams never leave the park all day, which is ideal for our vendors and concessionaires. Concessions and vendors at our events are often provided by the local soccer club we are teaming with to host the event, and the funds they make from this part of the event can substantially increase their profit. So why is it always hot dogs, nachos, candy and chips? It’s an unfortunate by product of youth clubs with too few volunteers who are overworked and handling things they aren’t really knowledgeable about. Now…manning the concession stand, brings all the profit back to the local soccer club, whereas hiring vendors and food trucks, returns a percent of profit that is only 15-20%. I encourage my hosts to do both….sell “normal youth sports event concession fare” themselves….and to bring in vendors. Sno cones….fruit cups….fajita tacos (yes, I’m in Texas 🙂 )Add vendors who add variety and be sure no one is selling similar items. Normal concession stand food rarely offers anything healthy for the kids playing in the tournament. Smart parents won’t feed their kids a hotdog and chips and put them on the field in 100 degree weather, but they will happily buy fruit cups for the entire team. Coaches and spectators are also non plussed by the option of a hotdog after being on the fields all day….they will thank you for providing options that they actually want to eat! In my world, variety and good options will keep teams at the venue instead of rushing out for lunch, or skipping it altogether. Our events are about the soccer….but the general atmosphere, the vendors, and little side activities and booths are what parents will remember favorably when selecting which tournaments to participate in the following year.
Hi Robin, thank you for your contribution!
It’s good to hear from your point of view that this issue also occurs in the US and happening at smaller events as well. I like that you encourage your events to have a wide variety of fast food and healthy options for everyone. Do you believe that this will start to change within the events industry especially for mega events? Within the concession stands, is nutritional available for each product or is this still a cause for concern?
We look forward to your response!
Having worked in sport for over 10 years, this blog raises a very important issue, and it is one that may seem a easy one to solve, but it isn’t.
I personally wouldn’t use the statement ‘more inclusive’ or ‘being discriminated against’ – as this isn’t a racial, sex, sexual orientation or religious issue – this is a demand and supply, cost and profit issue. And I don’t think venues are being deliberately ‘exclusive’.
To explain, I think one of reasons there isn’t more choice, is because venues – at the end of the day – are running a business. Vendors have to want to be there; are they willing to pay the high cost for the pitch; are the margins enough for them to give the venue a profit share etc (quite often e.g. gluten free etc is more expensive – chips, burgers etc are cheap but mark-up high). For a venue, food vans have to be fast food to keep the queues down and to keep crowds moving, and they just want people to fill the pitches. Is the food easy to carry to their seats? They also want minimum amount of rubbish to pick up at the end of the day – a burger wrapper takes up less space in a bin than a plastic pot for pasta, for example.
You also have to consider the demographic of the people attending the events. If I can use Twickenham as an example – the crowd is very white and English – having a kosher or Caribbean or curry stand probably wouldn’t be in high demand (albeit nice to have the choice) – it wouldn’t be worth the vendor attending as it would be minimal return for them when you look at it from a purely cost and profit scenario – the potential for the kind of customer they appeal to is at a minimum.
Also, I wouldn’t expect a venue to have a kosher meat offering if only, say, 5 people out of the 82,000 people eat that way. That pitch could go to a vendor that has much higher footfall and revenue potential…e.g. burgers and chips.
HOWEVER, that being said…if sporting venues want to keep attracting new demographics to their events, and indeed increase interest in their sport, they do need to offer more variety in their match day offerings. Using women as an example…we don’t want greasy food, nor do we want to feed our children greasy food! But that’s choice, rather than feeling discriminated against.
Hi Vicky,
Thanks for your response, you make some great points.
Waste is an issue that has come up a lot in the feedback from our readers and is clearly of great importance and concern. Perhaps, then, it would be reasonable to suggest that event managers, particularly of larger events, need to formulate a way of understanding the needs and preferences of their guests. Thus, being more proactive in catering to their needs, rather than assuming that a burger and chips will suffice. By asking at time of ticket purchase, for instance, whether an attendee has a food allergy, intolerance, or personal preference, a database could be collated in order to evaluate, and react to, if necessary, the demand for certain foods. Obviously, this would be costly, particularly for smaller venues with less in the way of technological resources, but could be worth it for the larger stadiums.
As stated in the blog, a great number of sports event attendees would like to see some healthier options and more nutritional information on the food provided at stadiums. By providing these, stadiums could see more revenue coming in through their vendors because more people would choose to eat during the event, rather than before or after.
As you say, however, it would be unreasonable to expect an exclusively kosher or vegan vendor, for example, to agree to catering such an event because the ROI would be insufficient. This being said, however, the larger stadiums often provide catering in-house, and could certainly rethink their provision, catering towards a healthier, more nutritionally balanced preference.
This is an important issue across the board, from small, private events, to large-scale, public events such as the Olympic Games. It needs to be addressed because the primary purpose of our industry is to serve, and ultimately, satisfy, our guests.
I’m possibly the wrong person to ask about this because I get really ranty about it. I have ended up in arguments with people on the Vegan Society Facebook and have had to unfollow the page because I can’t stand them moaning on about being discriminated against when there are people who suffer real discrimination.
As a vegan, yes it is annoying that there aren’t loads of options at events but I think music festivals have got lots better. At Green Man Festival I had about 5 meals a day because I had so many options. But as someone above said, that was partly down to the demographic, it was a middle class lefty audience.
Given the fact that we are still fighting about basic equal rights in terms of women’s rights and the rise in racism I think to start claiming you are discriminated against because you have the time, disposable income, educational background and mental space to choose not to eat dairy is taking the piss. People are being shot because of their skin colour. 1 in 3 women experiences sexual violence in their lives. Not being able to buy a soya latte is not discrimination. Vegans need to stop being so pathetic. (Just to reiterate, I am one!)
On the flip side, given the rise in clean eating, veganism, allergies etc, it is poor business sense not to improve what you can offer in this way if the audience demand is there.
Hi Christina,
Thank you for your response, you give a very interesting viewpoint from a totally new perspective.
It is certainly reasonable to suggest that going into an event or venue expecting a breadth of vegan options, and claiming discrimination if foods tailored to this personal choice have not been provided, is perhaps blowing the issue out of proportion somewhat. However, we must consider the religious values of our guests too. Many religions disallow the consumption of particular meats and fish, thus, intensifying the need for the availability of vegetarian food. Therefore, taking these beliefs into account, along with the rise in allergies, intolerances, and personal dietary choices, it does indeed make good business sense to cater more carefully for these diets.
However, where should we stop? Catering for every single individual’s taste is not feasible, let alone viable in terms of expenditure and return on investment. At the end of the day, profitability is key. But, we must understand that our profitability will be determined partially by the extent to which we cater to and fulfil the needs of our guests. There needs to be some kind of balance between the needs of the customer and the needs of the business.
Let us know your thoughts!
Hi Cater Revolution,
This blog has been really interesting to read and is certainly an issue I’ve definetely been confronted with myself when attending a variety of events.
Understandably more and more people are much more health conscious, and evidently the demand for events to provide a variety of food options is increasing. Which in extreme cases may even put people off paying for a full weekend ticket at festival events for example- thus forfeiting further profits.
However, adding on to the comment made by Vicky Cheevers, those food venders catering for the minority, for example, Kosher eaters, the food vender may not get the return on investment they intended, leaving them disappointed and unsatisfied with the festival. Although having said this, it is the customers attending the event that are at the forefront of an event managers mind. Therefore i’d agree that more events should incorporate a variety of food venders to appeal to wider audiences.
Hi Lottie,
Thank you for your comment. As well as incorporating a variety of vendors, do you agree that by providing quality of choice for vegans and vegetarians that these events will also be covering those who only eat Kosher meat for example?
We firmly believe that nobody should have to feel as though they attend an entire event because they are not being catered for. Would you agree that, if events cannot provide correct meals for requirements, attendees should be able to bring their own food dependent on their requirements?
Would love to hear your views on this!
Hi Cater Revolution,
This may sound narrow-minded, but I do think that by providing vegan and vegetarian options, you generally cover most bases when appealing to wider dietary requirements, this will also keep costs down rather than hiring in more vendors.
I do agree that by giving attendees the option to bring their own food may make the event more appealing for those that have special requirements. However, I think will be only encourage abuse from attendees that can actually eat the food provided, which may sacrifice profits for the event as a consequence. 🙂
Interesting point however what about religions such as; Halal or Kosher? Should events start doing these options as well?
That is a very good point if that is the case, how should an event manager respond to this? There needs to be balance, so that all individuals have their needs met otherwise they won’t attend, so would that not also be seen as a loss in profits as well?
As you have mentioned that food at events are already often expensive, would it cost events more money as they have supply wider range of food in order to meet the demands of the customer?
Hi Kyle
Thanks for your comment!
In theory, it would cost EM’s more money to get more vendors/ranges of food at their events in order to accommodate everyone’s needs. However, this is why we believe dependent on size, some kind of pre-registration form would be beneficial so that EM’s can establish what kind of food their attendees would like to see at events.
Please do take the FSA allergens test and let us know how you get on!
Interesting read and you have raised many valid points which I don’t think a lot of event managers think about if they are not from a catering background.
Working for a catering events company dietary requirements was a must at each event, despite being difficult and increasing costs.
As an event planner, you should be prepared for the diets you might encounter and the steps you need to take to ensure your guests are happy. Such as asking for dietary requests before the event is held, understandably this may be difficult at large scale events.
This could be tackled when events are marketed online there is always a section on the website about what food is available and if you can bring food in or not. The organisers could always provide an email address for guests to highlight their dietary requirements so they can be met especially if no food is allowed to be taken into the event.
Despite being a costly process, as a catering company you should be able to cater for everyone. When speaking to event guests especially at weddings they start the conversation with ‘Sorry I don’t mean to be a pain’ and I strongly believe people shouldn’t feel like their dietary requirements are an inconvenience to event managers and catering companys, we are there to provide a service and nothing should be too much with enough advance warning.
Thank you for your comment Beth. It’s great to see it from a catering background.
Little events seem to have a page on food, do you feel like this is an issue for the industry? Do you think, as a professional, that people should be allowed to bring their own food into events or will the profits suffer?
Look forward to your response!
Nice blog! Very informative.
I work for a private club in America and we do not encounter many of these complaints since 1) We don’t do very many events; and 2) We always have SOMETHING in the kitchen to accommodate individual dietary restrictions.
In this age of so many variations of so many dietary restrictions, I would advise any caterer or event planner to gather important dietary restrictions (allergies/lifestyle/tolerances) of VIP guests in advance and have plates made up for them.
Hi Karen!
Thanks for your comment!
It’s interesting to see that even though you don’t host many events as an organisation, you still ensure that you keep options for any guests that may have different requirements.
Do you do this just as a precaution? Or have you had an experience in the past when you weren’t prepared for a guest with dietary requirements?
Hope to hear from you!
We do this as a precaution. As our members expect such high standards, we are always prepared for all allergies.
Seems shocking that so many events fail to meet basic requirements – very interesting subject topic
Thanks for your comment Chantel.
It definitely is interesting to see the scope of how many event managers are disregarding this issue! Please do take the 14 allergens test and let us know what you get!
A though provoking article, I have never thought about these catering issues apart from food hygiene, prices and choices. I find that food and drinks choices are pricey and limited. Hope more events are able to let attendees bring their own as well as making improvements and solve the issues.
Thank you for your input. We also have realised that prices are quite high at particular events. However, do you not think that this is an expected aspect of an event? Or should we be making more of an effort to lower the costs of our choices?
Although, this just shows the amount of issues that can be discussed when opening the can of worms of issues in food and beverage choices. Surely costs need to be covered, and if we are providing more choices, the costs will increase and thus, the price too.
Would love to hear you thoughts on this!