With rising costs and increasing expectations, planners are being asked to do more with less — especially when it comes to food and beverage.
This free one-hour session, led by meetings industry F&B thought leader Tracy Stuckrath, founder of thrive! meetings & events, focuses on “smarter" F&B planning, helping event professionals balance budget realities with guest needs, safety considerations and experience goals. Tracy shares insights from across the meetings and hospitality industry to show where planners can make intentional choices that save money and improve outcomes.
Learning objectives:
- Where cost pressures are showing up most in F&B
- How to avoid common planning mistakes that increase risk
- Ways to deliver inclusive, thoughtful menus without blowing the budget
- Tools to support stronger conversations with venues and stakeholders
Food Inclusion Expert. Food Safety Trainer. Certified Meetings Manager. As founder of thrive! meetings & events and host of the Eating at a Meeting podcast, Tracy Stuckrath, CMM, CSEP, works with organizations worldwide—in-person and virtually—to create safe, sustainable, and inclusive F&B events that deliver experiences where everyone feels valued.
Twenty years into planning events and six years after being diagnosed with a food allergy, she changed the trajectory of her career in 2009. Bringing her passion for food and beverage, expertise through research and analysis, and real-world strategies, Tracy helps clients worldwide establish best practices, mitigate risk, improve experiences and increase profit with the food and beverage they serve.
She has co-authored two books, published over 100 articles and has recognized as a meetings and event industry leader, including Top 25 Women in the Meetings Industry and a Top 500 Event Professionals in North America.