Eating at a Meeting – Details, episodes & analysis

This is episode 300 of Eating at a Meeting! After five year and 300 episodes, one thing is clear—food and beverage are never just about what’s on the plate. They’re about safety, inclusion, transparency, and creating experiences where everyone feels valued.

For this milestone episode, I’m bringing back some of the most insightful and impactful guests to unpack the biggest lessons we’ve learned about making food and beverages safer, more accessible, and more sustainable.

Join me and Tess Vismale, Erin Malawar, Ewan Phillips, Suzanne Morrel, and Laurel J. Francoeur as we dive into:

✅ The biggest event F&B challenges we still need to fix
✅ Why transparency in ingredients, labeling, and service matters more than ever
✅ What event planners and venues must do to create safer dining experiences
✅ How food allergies, accessibility, and ADA compliance are evolving
✅ What’s next for the future of food and beverage

After 300 conversations, what have we learned? And where do we go from here?

If you’re an event planner, hospitality professional, or food service provider, this episode is packed with expert insights and actionable takeaways to help you serve food and beverage that truly works for everyone.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour wasn’t just a cultural phenomenon—it was also a showcase of unforgettable food and beverage experiences. For the last three U.S. stops and her grand finale in Vancouver, Sodexo Live! delivered the perfect menu to celebrate the end of an era, crafting mocktails and drinks as iconic as the music itself.

This week, Tracy is thrilled to welcome Sam Stewart, Senior Director, Beverage Alcohol for Sodexo Live!, to talk about the magic behind those drinks and what event planners can learn from their success. From the themed beverages that struck the right chord with Swifties to the innovative strategies that turned mocktails into must-have menu items, this episode will be packed with insights.

Sam will share:
🍹 How Sodexo Live! brought Taylor’s vision to life with mocktails at the final tour stops
🍹 Creative ways to use themed drinks to enhance the attendee experience
🍹 Tips for balancing inclusivity, innovation, and style in your event menus
🍹 Why mocktails are a key ingredient for modern event success

Whether planning a corporate gala, a concert, or a small gathering, these lessons will help you create beverage menus that captivate and delight you and your attendees.

🎧 Tune in to discover how Sodexo Live! turned Taylor’s finale into a beverage experience worth remembering—and how you can do the same for your events! 

Did you know that beer, wine, and spirits can contain allergens like wheat, nuts, or even milk—and that most bottles don’t disclose this information? Consumers are often left guessing with no mandatory labeling for allergens or ingredients, putting health and safety at risk. 
 
This week, I'm discussing transparency in alcohol labeling with Eva Greenthal, Senior Policy Scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Eva has been leading the charge to ensure that what’s in your glass is as clear as what’s on your plate. 
 
Eva will explain why mandatory allergen and ingredient labels on alcoholic beverages are long overdue. We’ll also examine how the lack of transparency impacts food-allergic individuals, unpack the proposed regulations from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), and explore how these changes could reshape how we drink and shop for alcohol. 
 
If you’ve ever questioned what’s really in your glass—or how we can create safer and more inclusive dining experiences—this is an episode you won’t want to miss. Together, let’s raise awareness and raise the bar for transparency! 

Join me as I celebrate the 200th episode of my Eating at a Meeting podcast with a special gathering of previous guests.

In this milestone event — Holy Moly! 200 episodes — we will engage in a dynamic discussion on the current state of food and beverage in creating safe, sustainable, and inclusive dining experiences for all.

When I asked them to provide three words that embody what they think, here are the words I received:

Over ordering • Education • Impact • Unity •  Inclusivity • Community • Growing • Manageable • Necessary • Be flexible now • Communication • Compassion • Consideration • Hopeful • Powerful • Near Miss Reporting • Awareness • Collaboration • Innovation • Frustrating • Non-compliant • Precedent-setting • Progress • Education • Food Connects People • Wait and see • Lack of consideration • Hopeful • Frustrated • Relevant • Must do more • Resistance • Alcohol-centric • Culture • Change labeling laws • Protracted compliance • Creates Uncertainty • Disappointing • Uninviting • Tenuous • Evolving toward inclusion • Chaoti • Unstable • Exciting • Consistency • Work in progress

Don't miss what I promise to be an inspiring and informative podcast episode as these advocates, eaters, drinkers, CEOs, founders, manufacturers, chefs, event planners, directors of sustainability, consultants, and environmental strategists delve into the future of event dining and celebrate 200 episodes of "Eating at a Meeting."

Caroline Benjamin MSOFHT, Dave Bloom, Elise Buellesbach, Molly Crouch , Doreen Cumberford, Nina Curtis, Cate Faulkner, Valda Ford, MPH, MS, RN, Jen Gilhoi,
Kayla King, Alan Kleinfeld, Heather Landex ⓥ, Courtney Lohmann, CMP, Erin Malawer, Sarah Matheson, Karla Ortiz, Rachael Riggs, Jennifer Squeglia

Having just planned a multi-day event where 80% of her attendees had dietary restrictions, award-winning entrepreneur and sales coach, Shannon DeSouza shares her challenges with planning the menus.
Using her sales experience as well as this recent personal experience, Shannon will share strategies on how she thinks caterers and other food service providers can help their clients provide safe, inclusive and delish dining experiences.

Join the conversation to kick-off Food Allergy Awareness Month AND Celiac Disease Awareness month to learn how challenging it can be to plan event menus while also learning strategies to make it easier.

Connect with Tracy:
facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting
thrivemeetings.com

Managing event food and beverage (F&B) today is influenced by the supply chain, staffing, exponentially rising costs, and increased focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG ) guidelines. The struggle is real.

 
In the next episode of Eating at a Meeting LIVE I'm talking with Natalie Fulton of Tourism New Zealand and sustainability and social impact thought leader Courtney Lohmann, CMP, to dive deep into the struggles, wins, and ideas #EventProfs are experiencing when planning meetings and incentive events around the world.

Join us as we will look at how we can best feed our participants in this new world by finding balance through their food and beverage selection, tackling sustainability when planning F&B, utilizing ingredients multiple times throughout a program, and using disposable coffee cups.

Connect with Tracy:
facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting
thrivemeetings.com

Back in January Delta Airlines announced it was refreshing and enhancing its onboard F&B menu options for the new year to include premium wines, creative cocktails, espresso, plant-based, gluten-free, and locally and seasonally sourced options.

“Your onboard meal or beverage should be no different than your go-to restaurant at home, and that’s why we’re constantly reinventing our onboard service at Delta – we always want to surprise and delight our customers with seasonal and fresh menu options,” said Kristen Manion Taylor, S.V.P. of In-Flight Service at Delta.

In this episode of Eating at a Meeting LIVE, I'm talking with Kristen Manion Taylor about the refresh and what it takes to prep and deliver a premium dining experience at 35,000 feet in the air and how they are addressing safety, sustainability and inclusion in their menus. FYI...they serve 60 Million meals a year around the world. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

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 — and the long-term and comprehensive sustainability policy that recently won the miaList's prestigious 2022 Sustainability Award.

When you think about sustainability and meetings, there are a lot of things to consider — destinations, transportation, venues, properties, accommodations, audio-visual production, exhibition services, and, of course, food and beverage.

The multitude of decisions within each of those categories is broad and can be challenging to address. Yet, for the survival of our businesses, communities, and the planet, it is paramount that sustainability efforts and goals have the same level of priority as choosing what's for dinner at the event.

Join Tracy and Simon as they discuss how partnering with a resort such as Wyboston that is making no apologies decisions that buck the norm in an effort to help the resort reach ambitious sustainability targets is one way to make those decisions easier.

Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

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 Institute of Food and Beverage Management, and serving as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School, teaches undergraduate and graduate students, as well as industry managers and executives, how to address the operational and strategic elements of the food and beverage business.

Listen as Tracy talks with Alex about how food service businesses can re-imagine their service to reduce their cost while still giving everyone what they need and creating their own value proposition.

Connect with Tracy:
facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting
thrivemeetings.com

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 facets of the craft fermentation space."

Join Tracy, Melissa, and Michele for the last installment of the 2023 Women Making HERstory in Food & Beverage as they talk about how and why the WCFA came about, what they are brewing for the international WIBS: Fermentation Summit, and the importance of allowing folks to tell and share their stories, regardless of where they are from or how they identify.

Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com