June 29, 2010 by Jeff Hurt
Here’s the first in a series of four quick tip sheets for meeting and event professionals regarding food and beverage, and meeting room setups. It’s also a great referral sheet for those appointed to handle meeting logistics for their company’s meetings and need some insight.
Amount to serve:
Tips:
Service ratios:
Your mileage for beverages may vary based on length of breaks, outside temperature and male-female mix.
Are you using any other formulas or best practices to hydrate your attendees? How are you stretching that expensive gallon of coffee?
Filed Under: Event Planning
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Only thing I’d add is to consider providing iced tap water in jugs to cut down on using plastic bottles. (Also, bottled water isn’t always safer than tap water see e.g. http://www.ewg.org/reports/BottledWater/Bottled-Water-Quality-Investigation.)
Sometimes, helpful basic information like this collected conveniently in one place really hits the spot. Article clipped to Evernote. Thank you Jeff!
‘@Adrian Thanks for adding to the discussion. The dilemma of bottled water versus water on the tables in pitchers to large water stations is challenging. Everyone, including attendees, have their own opinons about it. Thanks for the link too.
I was recently told by a well known venue in Las Vegas that they are charging for water pitchers and water stations. I’ve never heard of this before. I think it’s unethical and just another way of padding the bill, but is it legal to deny water to attendees in the desert unless I pay thousands of dollars for tap water?
Something we have found particularly helpful the last 2 years is “all-day” beverage service. It cuts down on guessing, ordering too much or too little, and helps you plan your budget. This year we are taking it a step further in that it includes food breaks as well (including breakfast). When you do the math, it can sometimes work out to be less money, and with a lot less hassle.
‘@Pat Thanks for reading and adding your thoughts about an all-day beverage service. That’s defnitely worth exploring.
Thank you for you note on “all-day” beverage service. I sometimes struggle deciding between gallons of beverage vs. all-day beverage service. You’re right, best to cut guessing.
Jeff, great info that can have so much value to planners. I wonder how many of us who run events take the time to inventory and keep excellent history that can be referenced when planning that next event. You might want to add there are 27 1.25 oz pours to a liter of liquor. I haven’t seen a 750ML except maybe a cordial in a while and most brand hotels use 1.25 as their standard pour.
‘@Mike Great addition to this post! Thanks for adding it and we are all better off because of it!
[…] Tip Sheet: Beverages June 29, 2010 by eventgirls Here is a great quick tips sheet from Jeff Hurt’s Midcourse Corrections blog for those appointed to handle meeting logistics for their company’s meetings and need some […]
Dare I say Power Strips?
🙂
mike
[…] Here’s the second in a series of four quick tip sheets for meeting and event professionals regarding food and beverage, and meeting room setups. Here’s the first tip sheet: Meeting Planners Cheat Sheet: Beverages. […]
[…] To read all of Jeff’s tips click on Meeting Planners Cheat Sheet: Food. While you’re on the blog site, check out his first Cheat Sheet: Beverages. […]
Beverage and Food Great Cheat Sheet Information and it is really very helpful!
I would love to see a cheat sheet on selecting a venue for your event. Is there one out there it would be most helpful as well.
Thanks Again.
The Atlanta hotel I recently used charged me for 10 gallons of coffee/decaf/tea for my meeting of 26 people ($650.00). Is it just me, or does this seem high to anyone else?
Ellen: Did you sign off on a BEO for 10 gallons of coffee/decaf/tea? If not, you can dispute the charge. I’ve seen both higher and lower than $65 per gallon.
The BEO gives cost per gallon, but I just can’t see how 26 people consumed 10 gallons of anything – even a combination of coffe/decaf/tea bags. I’m thinking it’s an easy way for a hotel to pad the bill because there is no way to keep track of consumption. I was not at this particular meeting but talk about “lessons learned”!
I’ve typically listed on the BEO the exact number of gallons that the hotel is to supply. If I put on consumption, I put a note that refills must get my approval. Even when I didn’t do that, the banquet manager or her representative always brings me final tally to sign off on before it goes to billing. In this case I would have challenged the consumption then and there and probably got it removed. If your organization meeting planner did not approve this, it can still be disputed and removed from the bill.
Ellen, I agree with Jeff. If you haven’t paid this, you can still dispute. A good compromise would be to cut the bill in half. 5 gallons is still a consumption of 3 – 4 drinks per person. That’s erring on the high side of what actual consumption was for a morning coffee service…even a continuous one that’s serving semi-truck drivers.
I would have challenged the consumption then and there and probably got it removed. If your organization meeting planner did not approve this, it can still be disputed and removed from the bill.
I would love to see cheat sheet on sporting venues regarding how many ushers needed example, per 1,000 attendees?
Thank you kindly.
Gale Ash….
A little late in checking this out.
In answer to your question… recently managed a conference in a sports venue. We needed around 24 ushers per session of 1,000.
When it comes to tea and coffee service it is important for the user queue to move smoothly. The best way to do this is to ‘decouple’ the different activity stations: for instance, pouring coffee is quick, adding milk and sugar are slow, so move this station away from the coffee pouring station. http://projectthorts.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-coffee-queue-problem.html
just a note on “on consumption” beverages…. taking an inventory is only helpful if the banquet team is not re-filling the selection, as in they set a certain number of each type of beverage in the room and then do not return until the function is over. If a several of the particular type of beverages (IE diet coke, dr. pepper) run low, the banquet team will likely refill those selections, so taking an inventory of start and end is not going to accurately reflect usage. The facility should keep an accurate track of how many cans were provided in total and then how many are left on the table, the difference is the usage.
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