Dietary requirements and the 7pm panic

A guest sits down. The meal arrives. It contains something they cannot eat. Somebody goes to the kitchen. The kitchen was never told, or was told and the information did not reach the floor.

It happens at a large share of events, and in the worst cases it is a medical emergency rather than an inconvenience. It is also completely preventable.

Collect it properly at RSVP

Not "any dietary requirements?" as an open box. Ask specifically, and separate two different things:

• Allergies and intolerances — a safety issue, with severity. Anaphylactic is different from an intolerance and must be marked as such.
• Preferences — vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher, pescatarian. A catering issue, not a medical one.

Conflating them means a kitchen treating a life-threatening nut allergy with the same care as a dislike of mushrooms.

Build the list by name and by table

The kitchen needs a count. The floor staff need names and table numbers. Without the second, a correct meal is prepared and delivered to the wrong person.

One sheet: name, table, requirement, severity. Give it to the caterer with final numbers and again on the day.

Mark the place setting

The reliable systems are physical. A discreet mark on the place card, a different coloured menu, or a small symbol that staff have been briefed on. Relying on staff memory across a hundred and forty covers does not work.

For a severe allergy, tell the guest what the arrangement is before the day. People with serious allergies manage this constantly and will tell you exactly what they need.

Ask about the kitchen's limits

Ask directly: can you guarantee no cross-contamination for a severe allergy? Some kitchens can and some genuinely cannot. An honest no is far more useful than an optimistic yes, because it lets you plan around it.

Confirm twice

Once with final numbers, once in the final week. Dietary information gets lost between the person who took the booking and the person cooking on the night, and the second confirmation is what catches it.

Cover the late change

Ask the caterer to hold one or two spare vegetarian or vegan meals. Somebody will have forgotten to mention something, or will have brought a different plus one. Two spare meals costs very little and removes the whole scenario.