Ten years ago, not many people knew what foie gras was. But with the popularity of cooking programs on cable TV, celebrity chefs, and cookbooks, people's food knowledge and interest have expanded. If you visit the kitchen area of a department store, it's filled with men, women, and children of all ages. Everybody, it seems, wants to be a chef!

What does that mean for your meetings? It means attendees expect the food to be at least as good as what they would prepare at home. It also means that your food-and-beverage partners are working harder than ever to supply solutions that are tasty, new, and fun.

Here are ways you can bring excitement to your food and beverage without breaking your budget.

• Take advantage of professional knowledge

  Your F&B vendors will do whatever you ask to make you happy. But remember this: Take advantage of the experience and expertise that they possess. Work with them as partners.

• Create value

  If you're having a coffee break in the morning, ask to have any leftover pastries from the morning used for the coffee break. Refresh or replenish the platters. This isn't an outlandish request — you've paid for the food. Any vendor would be happy to do that for you.

• Should quantity ordering be per person or by the gallon?

  To decide whether to order F&B per person or by the dozen or by the gallon, you need to look at how many attendees you have. If you're doing a meeting for 10 people, does it make sense to purchase by the gallon? No. You'd be paying $45 for caffeinated coffee, $45 for decaf, and $45 for tea. You need to work with your vendor to figure out at what number of attendees it becomes cost-effective to go by the dozen or by the gallon.

  If you order by the dozen, be aware that if you have 120 attendees and you order 120 cookies, you're going to get 120 cookies. If you order by the person, typically you're going to get 1.5 or 2 cookies per person. Know your audience and what they need and want.

• Know the schedules

  If your attendees are going to be in meetings all day, you have to give them food during breaks. For a morning break, you can't just do a beverage refresh. If you don't give attendees something to eat, then the only thing your attendees will be thinking about the rest of the morning is “When is lunch?”

• Provide both sweet and savory snacks

  If you give attendees only sugar all day, by 3 p.m. they're going to be falling asleep in their meetings.

• Serve peak food for peak times

  Look at the meeting as a whole, and share that information with your F&B partner.

  For example, if popular speakers are scheduled for the first morning and the last morning of the meeting, roll out your best food for those occasions. Serve plated breakfasts on those mornings so that the attendees will be fed, seated, and ready to listen. (You don't want to do a buffet when a guest speaker is scheduled, because you don't want people getting up and going to the buffet for more bacon during the speech.) On the other mornings, you can stay within your budget by offering beverages and pastries.

• Have fun

  Be open to creative possibilities. Ask your food-and-beverage people, “What are some creative things that you've done recently?” Or ask yourself: “What have I seen that would work for my meetings?”

• Menu match

  Ask if other meetings are going on at the same time, to see if money can be saved by serving what's being served at another meeting. Menu matching is win-win: The venue saves on labor, and you save on the meal.

• Work with your vendors

  Tell them what your budget is, and tell them what your expectations are. For example, if you don't provide budget information and you ask to receive a proposal, the event professional might miss the target entirely. They might shoot high, give you an $85 dinner proposal, and offend you. They might guess low, give you a $25 dinner, and offend you in a different way.

  The goal for your F&B partners is to make you look good and give your attendees meals that they will enjoy. It's much easier for your partners to do that when they understand your budget and your expectations.

  Show your food-and-beverage partners what you have done in the past. With this information, they can do things that are different but stay on the right track with what has worked for your meetings.

• Consider health

  One out of four Americans is on a specialized nutrition program of some sort. It could be high-carb, low-carb, low-cholesterol, low-fat, or something else entirely. Keep those needs in mind.

• Look at demographics

  Demographics matter. Work to find out who your attendees are and what will satisfy them. If you have a women's group, for example, they will probably be happy with a chicken salad for lunch. If it's a men's group and you serve chicken salad, you'd better leave the building.

• Be bold

  Bold flavors are a big trend in food and beverage, and it's one that can satisfy your attendees and your budget. “Bold flavors” means food with a lot of favor, and studies indicate that human beings feel more full after eating flavorful food. So, if you are eating plain pasta, you're going to eat a lot of it, because you're not being satisfied.

• Look at better quality, in smaller portions

  Better food and beverage can mean better ingredients and smaller portions. But again, know your attendees. They might not appreciate this approach.

• Don't forget freshness

  This is another big trend. People are desiring food that gets to your table from the farm in two or three days.

• Look for ideas

  Read or skim food publications for information and inspiration for your F&B. If you see something you like, show it to your food-and-beverage partner. It helps them if they see what you visually like.

Recommended magazines: Bon Apetit, Cooking Light, Culinary Trends, Gourmet. Recommended books: The Foodlovers' Bible (a food dictionary) and The New Professional Chef, which tracks food trends.

The article was based on a past RCMA tutorial led by Lauren Geller, director of food and beverage, San Jose Marriott.