Cut F&B costs: Try the best you can to pay by the piece, not by the person. People eat a lot less these days; unfortunately, most properties only do food per person, not by the piece. If you can do it by the piece, cheapen the plate a bit without them knowing. Using breakfast food as an example, cut the muffins in half, as people only usually nibble on a piece of a muffin.
Attendance boosting: Hit all your markets, but in different ways depending on whom you are marketing to. For example, if you are using testimonial quotes from attendees, make sure they reflect the audience you are trying to market to.
Gratuities: Not really a tip, just a suggestion. When tipping, make sure you tip the housemen—the guys that set up the chairs. They are the hardest-working guys on-property and never get the credit they deserve—you try moving 500 chairs theater style!
Scott Rothschild
Director, Professional Development
American Camp Association, NY
New York, NY
I cut F&B costs by doing an all-day meeting package that includes breakfast, an a.m. break, a buffet lunch, and a p.m. break for $30-$35 or $35-$38, depending on the type of breakfast included in the package. This includes coffee and tea all day at no extra cost, along with sodas in the afternoon. All my meals include the basics only—no frills and sometimes a lighter desert of pudding instead of heavy cakes and other sweets.
For a continental breakfast, I do not include yogurt or bagels. Instead, I do breakfast breads and Danish pastries. Since we have doctors attending our meetings, protein is important to them to go with their caffeine, so I always have a small domestic cheese tray included as part of the continental breakfast—all within my budgeted amount. I always have the chef use fruit that is in season for the fruit tray. When it comes to negotiating for F&B, I indicate the amount of money that we have to spend for the all-day meeting package and then let the catering manager and chef tell me what they can provide within that budget.
Kay Bothwell, CMP
Department of Labor and Employment/Division of Workers’
Compensation/Physicians Accreditation
Denver
The main tip I would have is to try to find ways to bundle services—meaning, if you are a supplier, look for ways to share expenses between clients. If you are a planner, look for ways to share expenses between your programs. Can you save money by using fewer vendors? In many cases you can.
Terry J. Onustack, CMP
Director of Operations and Marketing
Moore Presentations
Seattle
Flirting with disaster
You have an informative publication which is of much interest to me, since we do considerable business in the Southwest and the West.
Regarding your “By the Numbers” poll (Meetings West, November 2006) asking whether meeting planners have a written emergency/contingency plan: Since the hotel or resort knows its properties best and what may have transpired security-wise, I suggest putting the task on the properties to come up with a crisis management plan. We make that a contract requirement. Then an incoming group can overlay that with its requirements.
It took the industry quite a while after 9/11 to become sensitized to emergency plans and their value. Can you imagine what one serious incident might do to a property, especially if it can be shown that the property was negligent? And to future plans of an association? And to publicity?
John P. Giacomini
Director of Special Programs
Law & Economics Center
School of Law
George Mason University
Arlington, VA
