How to Manage Common Dietary Restrictions for Events
To be on top of your event management game, understanding and adapting to common dietary restrictions and preferences is crucial to a thriving events business. With more and more people following specific diets today, it’s vital to be prepared and thoughtful about how you will manage your menus in design and logistics. This article will cover the most common dietary restrictions and how to handle them in your events.
Understanding Dietary Restrictions
Before we dive into the specific dietary restrictions, it’s important to understand what they are and why people follow them. Dietary restrictions are diets that limit or eliminate certain foods or ingredients for various reasons, such as health, lifestyle, religious beliefs, cultural traditions, or personal preferences.
Common Dietary Restrictions
- Vegetarian: Excludes meat, poultry, and seafood
- Lacto-vegetarian: No meat or eggs, but will eat dairy
- Vegan: Excludes all animal products, including meat, dairy, and eggs
- Plant-based diet: Focuses on foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes
- Pescetarian: Does not eat meat but does eat fish
- Rastafarianism: Typically vegetarian, with a focus on unprocessed foods. Some Rastafarians may eat fish but not shellfish
- Keto: Low-carb, moderate protein, and high-fat diet
- Paleo: Focuses on lean meat, fruits and vegetables
- Gluten-free: Excludes gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye
- Dairy-free: Nol dairy products, including milk, cheese, and butter
- Kosher: Follows Jewish dietary laws and excludes certain foods, such as pork and shellfish
- Halal: Follows Islamic dietary laws and excludes certain foods, such as pork and alcohol
- Food allergies and intolerences: Can be a variety of food ingredients (common allergens listed below)
Dietary Restrictions Due to Food Allergies
According to the CDC, food allergies affect about 6 percent of adults and 4 to 8 percent of children in the United States. While this seems to be a small percentage, it is an safety issue that all restaurants, hotels, and unique venues should be properly trained on. Certicications on allergan compliance can be earned so that you and your staff can keep your event guests happy and safe.
Common Food Allergies
- Peanuts
- Tree nuts
- Cow’s milk
- Eggs
- Fish
- Shellfish
- Soy
- Wheat
Tips for Managing Dietary Restrictions at Events
Now that we have a better understanding of dietary restrictions, let’s discuss some tips for managing them at events.
1. Ask for Dietary Restrictions in Advance
The best way to ensure that you can accommodate dietary needs at your events is to ask for them in advance. Give your clients and event planner the ability to clearly communicate any dietary restrictions they may have. This will give you time to plan and make necessary accommodations. Event management technology, like Tripleseat, can help you manage event menus and logistics and will help you communicate effectively with event planners.
2. Offer a Variety of Options
Design your event menus considering food allergies and dietary preferences. Make sure to offer a variety of options that cater to different dietary restrictions. For example, if you’re serving a meat dish, also offer a vegetarian or vegan option. This will ensure that all guests have something to eat and don’t feel left out.
3. Seating Charts Help
Mark the guests with allergies or food restrictions on the seating chart for the event. Hospitality technology also can help with reducing manual tasks in ensuring food restrictions are met.
4. Label Menus Clearly
To avoid any confusion or mix-ups, make sure to label all your menu items clearly with the ingredients and any dietary restrictions it may meet. This will help guests with dietary restrictions easily identify which foods they can and cannot eat. Your event menus should provide information on your options and you can also produce additional documentation to supplement to event planners so that they can help with making options for their guests.
5. Operational Communication
Gather the whole event team for a briefing before the event starts to ensure everyone is informed about which items contain potential allergens or restricted ingredients, making your clients more confident. Give event planners or guests the option to speak with the head chef about how they manage food allergies, religious dietary restrictions, and special diets.
6. Be Mindful of Cross-Contamination
When preparing and serving food for your event, it’s important to be mindful of cross-contamination. This is especially important for those with severe allergies or intolerances. Make sure your team follows food safety compliances, for example, using separate utensils and cooking equipment for different dishes and clearly labeling any dishes that may contain allergens.
7. Offer Alternatives for Common Allergens or Restrictions
Some of the most common dietary restrictions are related to allergies, such as nut allergies or shellfish allergies. To accommodate these restrictions, offer alternatives for common allergens. For example, instead of using peanut oil in a dish, use a different type of oil.
8. Provide Resources for Guests
For guests with dietary restrictions, it can be helpful to provide resources or information about the food being served. This can include ingredient documention and recipes. This will make guests feel more comfortable and included at your event.
With proper planning and communication, managing your menus with food restrictions and preferences can be done successfully. By understanding different dietary restrictions and following these tips, you can ensure that all guests feel included and have something to eat at your event. Remember to always communicate with guests and caterers, offer a variety of options, and be mindful of cross-contamination. With these strategies in place, you can plan a successful event that accommodates all dietary restrictions.
Are you ready to grow your event business? Schedule a Tripleseat demo to take a closer look at our event management features.
