Published Articles
Ground transportation: Getting from point A to B
Ground transportation is a very tricky part of the event planning industry because if done right no one really thinks to thank you. How hard is it to order a car/bus and driver? Here is the answer: harder than you think.
July 12, 2010 No Comments
July’s Monthly Morsel
As I am spending the month in Kittanning, Pa., working my father’s estate, I can’t help but drift back to the roots of this small town: farming. Since it is July and we are in the midst of “corn growing season,” I thought it would be appropriate to give you some insight on how to best incorporate corn into your banquet menus.
July 12, 2010 No Comments
May’s Monthly Morsel
I was in Indianapolis working an intense food weekend at the NCAA Final Four and I had something interesting occur that rarely happens. What, you ask? I met a chef. Well, that’s not the interesting part because it is only natural that I would be dealing a chef. But this wasn’t any executive chef; it was a female executive chef — at the Conrad Hotel, no less.
Now I know I have my dear readers confused, thinking, “What is the big deal about this?” Well it is a big deal for a lot of reasons.
May 24, 2010 No Comments
Working with off-site venues, caterers and restaurant buyouts
Typically, in my Monthly Morsel advice columns, I talk about hotel catering. But for this Best Practices column, I want to go over what you need to think about when booking off-premise venues or restaurants for meal functions…
May 5, 2010 No Comments
March’s Monthly Morsel
The step by step experience I have with banqueting managers across this country is pretty much the same everywhere. And, banquet managers: There is room for improvement. Time and time again, this is how things go…
March 11, 2010 No Comments
February’s Monthly Morsel
…I am getting out my own personal ice pick to dig a little deeper into this subject. For starters: No matter what type of ice display you are using, people always get a kick out of ice sculptures….
February 11, 2010 No Comments
January’s Monthly Morsel
Throughout the years with this column, I have written about weddings, all types of corporate parties and given tips about entertaining in the home. This month, I am going to discuss something that no one is ever really prepared for and which I’ve never seen any event professional discuss: a funeral….
January 7, 2010 No Comments
November’s Monthly Morsel
Buying out fine dining restaurants is something I am a big fan of for several reasons. But lately, I am a bit frustrated. I negotiated a buyout of a big-name chef restaurant in Orlando and very clearly told the catering manager up-front that I was going have some menu tweeks. The catering manager said, “Fine, no problem. We will be flexible.”
They were … until last week, when it was time to honor the menu tweeks…
November 5, 2009 No Comments
Octobers’s Monthly Morsel
I am currently negotiating menus at a downtown property and my client is doing lunch buffets. What a buffet is all about is choices, that is why many clients prefer this option of food instead of plated. Here is my problem: This particular property has a hefty price buffet with only ONE choice of dessert…
November 5, 2009 No Comments
September’s Monthly Morsel
As the earth is rotating into fall and we are diving in harvest season, I started thinking heavily about farm to table. After all, I was raised in a farming community and I get asked this question all the time. In searching for an answer, I decided to visit Google, and this is what I learned…
September 10, 2009 No Comments
July’s Monthly Morsel
One thing that is so important to event planners, but that we tend to glaze over, is the timing of an event. When doing an event timeline, we need to take into consideration our guests and how this timeline will affect them and their experience…
August 3, 2009 No Comments
June’s Monthly Morsel
I am sitting here writing a box lunch menu and shaking my head at the price. I know this is a four-star property, but how much does a sandwich, potato salad, chips and brownie cost, for goodness sakes? At this particular property, $32. And don’t think for a second that includes a drink, because it doesn’t.
Recently, I went to a comparable hotel and asked them to give me the cost of the various box lunch elements separately…
June 11, 2009 No Comments
May’s Monthly Morsel
May’s Monthly Morsel
Folks, this is probably one of my most important morsels to-date, so I encourage every one of you to learn from what I have to tell you.
When you are doing site selections, be sure to ask for copies of the menus. Why? Because planners tend to miss a lot of negotiating opportunities when they are focusing on the rooms portion of their contracts. Include culinary in the contracting big picture.
Sure, you may have gotten a 10 percent discount, bartender fees comp-ed or a couple of chef/attendant charges for free. But because the economy is down, there are many additional charges being added to banqueting menus…
May 4, 2009 No Comments
April’s Monthly Morsel
April’s Monthly Morsel
With the economy being what it is — and for our purposes let’s call that crappy — it never ceases to amaze me how hotels keep trying to charge new, and excessive, fees in their banqueting services.
April 16, 2009 No Comments
March’s Monthly Morsel
March’s Monthly Morsel
Folks, there’s an insidious practice that is becoming an industry standard, which I don’t think it is fair to the buyers. So cover your ears, I’m about to start screaming …
I was in Anaheim at a big-name property doing a reception for 250 people. We had some action stations that carried a $150 per attendant fee. Unfortunately, the hotel’s idea of an attendant was a banquet server with a chef’s jacket on. When I walked into the room, I saw two five-foot-tall women putting on chef’s jackets designed for six-foot-tall men over their banquet uniforms.
March 5, 2009 No Comments
February’s Monthly Morsel
February’s Monthly Morsel
This month I am going to talk about décor — which requires a different form of taste than what I usually discuss. This one we experience with our eyes, not our mouths…
February 9, 2009 No Comments
Claire’s Kudos
As featured in Plan Your Meetings Magazine.
February 6, 2009 No Comments
January’s Monthly Morsel
January’s Monthly Morsel
Top of the New Year to everyone! Since we are all going to be challenged with cost-saving measures this year, why don’t I dedicate my first morsel of the year to that? Before I begin, though, I do want to clarify one talking point: Let’s not confuse cost savings with cost cutting. To me, cost savings is doing what you would normally do, just finding more creative ways to squeeze it all in. Cost cutting is eliminating a portion of what you would normally do in order to save money. Today I am going to talk about cost savings because being able to save money while preserving the overall experience is more important than ever. Here are some of my favorite tried and true methods…
January 4, 2009 No Comments
December’s Monthly Morsel
December’s Monthly Morsel
This holiday season, we are all getting slammed by the recession, so I would like to give you some ideas on how to save some money on catering, whether you are doing a family or office gathering…
December 1, 2008 No Comments
November’s Monthly Morsel
November’s Monthly Morsel
Why is it that when it comes to planning a nice banquet dinner, chefs offer somewhat interesting food choices with every course until we hit dessert? Then, the creative culinary brakes come on…
November 2, 2008 No Comments
Food For Thought
Food for Thought
The Meeting Professional — Volume 26, Number 10
Knowing and understanding attendees is tops in the F&B game, but meeting pros say that’s not all that matters…
This article, written by Angela Chiarello, features Claire Gould and Rx for Catering in a section titled, Call For Backup.
October 2, 2006 No Comments
