Let’s Eat!

Conference Event Meals

When you think of DKG conference event meals, you probably remember past events when you rushed to find your table in the large ballroom. Then, you often waited and waited for your food to be delivered to your table by the hotel staff. Or your food arrived quickly but you spent lots of time waiting for the remainder of the guests to finish their meal.

DKG has tried various options for event meals. There have been plated meals delivered to each guest at the table. There have been buffet meals where members may have waited in long lines only to find empty serving dishes for their favorite choices. There have also been food stations in various locations in the ballroom with the hope that members did not have to wait an inordinate amount of time before eating. Each of these choices has both positive and negative results.

One other piece of the meal dilemma is trying to keep the meal cost as reasonable as possible. Remember, the meal cost is not only for the food but also includes the cost of using the facility, paying servers, and the required gratuity and tax. Plated meals involve many more servers, so the price of the meal is higher. Buffets or food stations where members serve themselves require fewer hotel employees.

For the Phoenix Conference, the Saturday evening “Celebrating the GRIC through Dinner & Dance” event will have a variation of one of the meal options – food stations with a twist. For this celebration meal, members will find an assigned time to enter the ballroom on their ticket. By staggering the entrance times, there will not be such a huge group getting their food at the same time, and food servers will have time to replenish food at each station. Hopefully, this will prevent long lines and empty serving dishes.

Members may enter the ballroom at their assigned time and go straight to the food stations, or they may find a seat, place their napkin on the chair back signifying the seat is taken, and then proceed to the food stations. If your assigned time does not work with your schedule, members may swap tickets with another member who has an alternate time.

We hope that the staggered entry for the food stations will prevent previous problems and will make the celebration dinner a pleasant experience for all. Mova Sa'pe (thank you) for being flexible and helping us try to find a meal selection that works for everyone. See you in Phoenix!