As budgets tighten in 2009, meeting planners are faced with balancing a lower spend with the need to maintain quality, especially when it comes to food and beverage programming, which tends to be among the first areas to be trimmed. With a little strategic planning and whole lot of creativity, planners can still maximize their food and beverage budget without sacrificing quality.
Following are a few tips I’ve learned during the last 20 years while plying my trade as an F&B director:
Deconstruct Your Food and
Beverage Programming The first step is prioritizing. Rank each food and beverage event on a scale of 1-5 and decide where the funds should be best allocated. This allows your catering team to help develop options that best suit your needs while maximizing your dollar.
Don’t Downsize Your Menu, Enhance It Planners will select a $50 menu and attempt to turn it into a $40 menu by removing items. This compromises the integrity of the menu and can dilute the experience. A better strategy is to select a less expensive menu but add enhancements. For example, select a standard, relatively inexpensive deli menu for lunch and add a brisket carving station, a fresh Reuben station or even a pizza station.
Reception vs. Afterglow The one food and beverage event that consistently provides the least bang for the buck is the pre-dinner reception. The reception doesn’t leave an impression and many don’t attend. As an alternative, consider going directly to dinner and replacing the reception with an afterglow party. An afterglow party offers attendees a break from the traditional, costs less and will be better attended. It’s an opportunity to add some meeting flair at a lower cost. (It also gives the attendees more free time before dinner!) Also, try eliminating dessert from the dinner and serve a selection of petit fours, truffles and other finishes at the afterglow event. They look good, taste good and cost less!
Vet Your Venue Perhaps the most important step to take to save on food and beverage without sacrificing quality is to find the right venue. Consider these three factors: natural settings, in-house decorations and level of—you guessed it—creativity! Here are 10 questions to help determine if a venue can help save you money on your F&B costs:
Natural settings
1.) Does the venue itself provide an attractive atmosphere to help save on decorating costs?
2.) Is there a beach, conservation or other areas that would provide a captivating natural backdrop?
3.) Are there outdoor dining areas?
4.) Do the restaurants offer attractive private dining rooms?
In-house decorations
5.) What choices of tabletops are available? Acrylic, metal, wood?
6.) Is there a variety of linen colors and sizes?
7.) Do the banquet bars enhance the atmosphere or need disguising?
8.) If there is no DMC budget, will the venue help secure simple decorative items needed such as chair covers or vases?
Creativity
9.) Will the catering manager, F&B director and executive chef meet with me to offer suggestions?
10.) Are there examples of cre- ative ideas the team has implemented to help planners save on costs but maintain flair?
The old adage “you get what you pay for” isn’t always true. Today’s time requires fiscally focused planning, and a little creativity can go a long way, allowing planners to trim costs while still making their food and beverage programs memorable.