Food and Beverage Trends Shaping Meetings

Sep 08, 2025

From Buffet to Experience

For years, meeting planners could rely on a familiar formula: breakfast, a large buffet lunch, afternoon break and a plated dinner. But the way attendees eat, drink and connect at meetings is changing—and food and beverage is becoming a much more strategic part of the overall event experience.

Today's attendees are looking for food that fuels them, accommodates their dietary needs, reflects the destination and creates opportunities to network. Conversations with meeting professionals reveal several trends that are reshaping food and beverage for meetings and events.

Grazing Is Replacing Gorging

A significant change is the move away from three large meals toward smaller, more frequent opportunities to eat. The large carb-heavy lunch buffets are fading and shifting towards foods that provide energy such as lean proteins, whole grants, fresh greens, nuts, and seafood. Smaller plates with replenishment can also help reduce food waste while giving attendees greater variety. The objective is to create a menu that helps attendees stay energized, engaged and productive throughout a long meeting day.

Visit Canton Recommendation:

Consider a charcuterie spread from local favorites such as Fromage du Monde and Dioguardi's Italian Market.

Food Is Becoming Entertainment

Traditional buffets can feel routine. Interactive food experiences, on the other hand, give attendees something to talk about—and something to do. Chef-attended stations, build-your-own bowls and tacos, charcuterie cups, custom coffee and espresso bars, mocktail stations and live demonstrations from local chefs are all ways to turn a meal or break into an experience.

Food can even become part of the team's programming through a cooking school used as a team-building activity. Many organizations are choosing offsite restaurants or interactive networking receptions instead of catered dinner buffets. This reflects a broader shift: food isn't simply fuel anymore. It can be entertainment, networking, and team building all at once.

Visit Canton Recommendation:

Consider a cooking class, wine tasting, or distillery tour at Gervasi Vineyard Resort & Spa.

Keeping It Healthy

Alcohol is no longer assumed to be the primary beverage at an event. Meeting professionals are seeing attendees drink less alcohol, creating demand for beverage programs that make non-alcoholic options feel just as special as cocktails. Signature mocktails, botanical spritzes, infused waters, specialty coffee and espresso carts can give attendees memorable choices without alcohol.

Plant forward menus are making inclusion easier. Rather than creating a separate vegetarian entrée, many planners are designing plant-forward dishes that appeal to everyone. Grain bowls, Mediterranean spreads, vegetable-forward small plates and creative vegan desserts can accommodate a broad range of preferences without making anyone feel like they received a secondary option. Healthy options do not mean skipping dessert. Hosts are offering an increasingly wider variety of desserts including dessert displays with small pastry portions, gelato carts, and elaborate fresh fruit displays.

Visit Canton Recommendation:

Combine nutritious and delicious with catering from BAM! Healthy Cuisine, where everything is made as fresh as possible.

Designing Food Around the Purpose of the Event

Perhaps the biggest trend is that food and beverage is becoming more closely connected to the purpose of the meeting. For an alumni event, that might mean local flavors, an interactive coffee or chef station and reception-style networking. For a training program, it could mean food that supports energy and concentration during a long day. For a team-building event, a cooking class might become part of the programming itself. For environmentally conscious organizations it may mean incorporating sustainability features into the event. The most effective approach is no longer simply asking, "What should we serve?" Instead, planners are asking: "What do we want attendees to experience, remember and take away from this event?" The answer is increasingly found in food and beverage.

Incorporating the local flair and flavor of the region is the key to authenticity and building a connection to the region where the meeting is taking place. Today's most successful meeting menus are designed to do more than feed people. They create connections, tell the story of a destination, support the goals of the meeting and give attendees something worth remembering. That experience can be the difference between a meal attendees simply consume and one they talk about long after the event is over.

Visit Canton Recommendation:

Book your event at area museums and attractions with unique event space.

Author

Christine Benedum, Andrea Hartman, Jill Sobczak, & Dawn Stewart

Visit Canton would like to extend a special thanks to Jill Sobczak with BCD Travel Goodyear, Dawn Stewart with Parker Hannifin, Christine Benedum with the Ohio State University, and Andrea Hartman with Gervasi Vineyards & Resort for their valuable and insightful contributions to this article.