--- title: "Crew Catering Software: Meal Times, Meal Desk and Charges" description: "Plan crew meal times from your shifts, give the kitchen a live count, serve every meal from the pass and invoice outside teams for the meals they ate." canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-meals-and-safety/crew-catering" --- # Crew Catering Software: Meal Times, Meal Desk and Charges 1. [Event Operating System](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system) 2. [Crew meals & safety](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-meals-and-safety) 3. Crew catering # Feed Every Crew Member and Know What Every Meal Cost Crew kitchens cook to guesses, the vegan and allergy portions run out first, paper meal tickets get shared and used twice, and the cost of feeding a PA crew is chased by email after the show. With Ticket Fairy, meal times come from the people on your shifts, each person gives their food needs once, and the kitchen follows a live count on its own link with no names on it. At the counter, each scan shows the meals a person has left today and their food needs, every meal is counted against their pass, and each outside team gets an invoice for exactly what its people ate. [Book a Live Demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) - The kitchen cooks to real numbers and real food needs - Every meal counted against the person's own pass - Outside teams invoiced for the meals their people ate ![Ticket Fairy meal desk with a runner's pass scanned, one of two meals left today and their vegetarian and nut allergy needs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-desk--meal-desk.png) ## Get Meal Times Straight From Your Shifts Ask for meal times from the shifts, and breakfast, lunch, dinner and a late meal are suggested on each day when people are on shift at that time. Keep the ones you serve and leave out the rest. The kitchen serves at the times your crew are actually working, with no guessing from last year's plan. Add a meal time of your own with its day, start, end and where it is served, such as the crew catering tent or the production office, and a late meal for the night crew can run past midnight. Move or remove a meal time whenever the rota changes. Meals already given stay in the record, and the kitchen count follows the change straight away. Meal times tell the kitchen when to serve and how many people to expect. What each person may eat in a day comes from their pass and their shifts, so a runner on a long shift gets the meals a long shift needs without anyone working it out by hand. - **Suggested meal times**: breakfast, lunch, dinner and a late meal from who is on shift - **Your own meal times**: any day, any time, with where the meal is served - **Late meals**: a meal time can run past midnight for the night crew - [Plan crew meal times and food needs for your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/plan-crew-meal-times-and-food-needs-for-your-event) - [Cover Every Shift and Pay for Every Hour Worked](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers/staff-rota-and-shifts) ![Ticket Fairy meal times suggested from the shifts for a festival's second day, with the people on shift at breakfast, lunch, dinner and the late meal](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-crew-meals--suggested-times.png) ## Collect Every Food Need Once, in People's Own Words Crew and volunteers enter their food needs on their own My shifts page, in their own words, such as vegan, or nut allergy, carries an EpiPen. They give them once, and every meal time and kitchen count includes them. Each meal time shows how many people are on shift and their food needs, with a line counting who has not given them yet, so you know exactly who to ask before the kitchen orders. Food needs come from everyone who eats. A volunteer's answer from their application counts until they give one on their page. The hand-out and meal desks can record food needs at the counter for anyone who has not given them, and performers' needs come from the hospitality answers on each act's advance, listed by act for the kitchen. - **Food needs in their own words**: given once on each person's My shifts page - **Recorded at the desk**: for anyone who has not given them yet - **Performers from their advance**: hospitality answers listed by act - **Who still owes food needs**: the people to ask before the kitchen orders - [Advance Every Act Without Chasing Email Threads](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/artists-and-line-up/artist-advancing) ![Ticket Fairy meal times for a festival day, with a crew lunch suggested from the shifts and a late meal, the people on shift and their food needs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-crew-meals--meal-times.png) ## Give the Kitchen Real Numbers for Every Day Kitchen and reports adds up the meals expected each day, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free meals counted, the meals already served and the meals on passes you have not issued yet. Your caterer orders and preps against the numbers your rota and passes actually produce, so the last crew in from the build still find a hot meal. Choose a day to see each group's allowance beside what it ate, and every extra meal listed by the team member who gave it. Print the kitchen sheet with the counts, food needs and performer notes and no other personal details, for the pass in the kitchen or the caterer's office wall. - **Meals expected each day**: with food needs counted - **Allowance against meals**: each group's meals for the day beside what it ate - **Kitchen sheet**: the counts and food needs on paper ![Ticket Fairy kitchen and reports for a festival, with meals expected each day, dietary needs counted, meals served, extra meals by team member and dietary notes from artist advances](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-desk--kitchen-and-reports.png) ## Share a Live Count the Kitchen Opens on Any Tablet Share a kitchen count link and the kitchen opens it on any tablet or phone without signing in. It shows the day's meals expected, served and still to serve, the food needs and the meal times, so the head chef knows when to start the second batch of the vegan option. It carries counts only, never the names behind them, so you can leave it on a tablet in a busy kitchen. The link opens one kitchen count for one event and nothing else in your dashboard, and you can stop it at any time. As meals are served at the desk, the count of meals still to serve goes down. - **Kitchen count link**: live counts for the kitchen, with no sign-in - **No names**: counts and food needs only - **Still to serve**: the meals left as service goes on - [Let event staff work a desk from their phone with a desk link](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-event-staff-work-a-desk-from-their-phone) ![Ticket Fairy kitchen count opened from its link, with the meals expected, served and still to serve, the food needs and the crew lunch time](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-crew-meals--kitchen-count.png) ## Serve Every Meal From the Person's Own Pass Scan the code on a ticket or badge, or enter part of a name, and the card shows the meals the person has left today and their food needs, with their own note and any note from their artist advance. Give the meal, and the field is ready for the next scan. Nobody shares a paper ticket, nobody eats twice on one allowance, and whoever is serving sees the allergy before the plate goes out. An extra meal takes a reason and keeps the name of whoever gave it, and undoing the last meal gives it back while the history keeps both. When two counters scan the same pass at once, both count against the same allowance, so the second counter sees what is left after the first. When a stage crew or a PA supplier sends one person to fetch lunch, collect for the whole team in one go. You see how many of its people can still eat today, leave out anyone not eating now, enter who is collecting, and each meal comes off that person's own allowance, with anyone who has no meal left skipped and counted for you. - **Scan or search**: a ticket, a badge or part of a name - **Food needs at the counter**: shown before the plate goes out - **Extra meals and undo**: each with a reason and a name in the history - **Collect for a team**: one collector, every meal on the right person - [Give crew meals at your event meal desk](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/give-crew-meals-at-your-meal-desk) ![Ticket Fairy dialog to collect meals for a team at the meal desk, with a PA supplier and the stage crew and how many of each can still eat today](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-crew-meals--collect-for-a-team.png) ## Serve Meals in a Field With No Signal The meal desk carries on giving meals when the connection drops. Each meal is kept on the device and sent when the connection is back, with nothing recorded twice, and anything Ticket Fairy refuses, such as a meal for someone with none left, stays on the list with its reason. A lunch rush in a field with patchy signal never turns into a queue. Give your caterers a meal service point link for their own phone or tablet, named for where it is, such as the crew catering tent. It opens the meal desk for that one event with no dashboard login, it cannot hand out passes or open anything else, and every meal given through it is recorded under its name. Stop the link when the caterer's contract ends, or when a phone goes missing. - **Works without a connection**: meals are sent as soon as the signal is back - **Meal service point links**: caterers serve from their own phone, with no dashboard login - **Stop a link**: a lost phone stops working straight away - [Hand Out Every Pass Quickly and Keep Each Zone for the People Who Belong There](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/accreditation/pass-desk-and-staff-gates) ![Ticket Fairy meal desk with no connection, three meals waiting to send and one meal the server did not record](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-desk-links--working-offline.png) ## Give Acts Their Drinks Allowance at the Same Counter Scan a pass from an act's travel party, and Drinks today counts down the drinks left from the act's drinks allowance. Give a drink, or undo the latest one, which stays in the history. Your hospitality team stops keeping a tally on the back of a rider, and the act's tour manager gets a straight answer about what is left. When today's drinks are used up, a drink beyond the allowance needs a reason, which stays beside the drink. On a desk link that cannot let people through, a supervisor gives it instead. The allowance comes from the allowances you set for the act, so what your hospitality desk serves matches what you agreed. - **Drinks today**: the act's allowance counted down on every scan - **Extras with a reason**: a drink beyond the allowance carries why it was given - [Advance Every Act Without Chasing Email Threads](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/artists-and-line-up/artist-advancing) ![Ticket Fairy meal desk with an act's travel party pass scanned, with meals left today and 4 of 6 drinks left](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-small-items--act-drinks.png) ## Invoice Outside Teams for the Meals Their People Ate Charges to teams shows the meals each outside team's people ate and how many are not charged yet. Choose the days, enter your price per meal and the currency, and Ticket Fairy makes the invoice with a payment page. The team pays from the link, and the charge moves from ready to send, to sent, to paid, so you are not chasing a PA company for lunch money a month later. Each charge counts every meal given to people with a pass from that team, at the meal desk, a meal service point or a team collection, extra meals included. Charge a different price for different days with one charge for each run of days, and a day already charged to a team is never charged again. Ask Fai how many meals the stage crew ate on Saturday or how many vegan meals the kitchen needs tomorrow, to add the meal times your shifts suggest, to record a meal at the desk or to charge a supplier for the weekend. She reads the same counts you see, shows you each change, meal or invoice first and waits for your yes, and only an owner or admin can approve a charge. - **Charge for meals**: the meals eaten on the days you choose, at your price - **Payment page**: the team pays from the link on its invoice - **Charge status**: ready to send, sent and paid for each charge - **Ask Fai**: counts, meal times, meals and charges on your word - [Charge outside teams for the crew meals they eat at your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/charge-outside-teams-for-their-crew-meals) - [Give Everyone Who Works Your Event the Right Pass, Approved and Ready Before the Gates Open](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/accreditation/accreditation-and-passes) ![Ticket Fairy charges to teams for crew meals, with a PA supplier's 14 meals, 8 not charged yet and an invoice ready to send](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-crew-meals--charges.png) ## How Organisers Feed Their Crew With Ticket Fairy - ### A Festival Crew Kitchen in a Field Meal times come from the build and show shifts, and the caterer runs two meal service points from their own tablets. When the signal drops at lunch, service carries on and every meal is sent when it returns, with nothing counted twice. - ### A Production With Several Suppliers The PA, lighting and staging crews eat at the same tent all week. After the show, each supplier gets an invoice for the meals its people ate on the days chosen, and pays from the payment page. - ### A Headliner With a Rider Allowance The act's travel party have their drinks counted down at the hospitality counter. When the tour manager asks for one more round, the extra goes through with its reason, and the history keeps every drink with who gave it. - ### A Conference Feeding Its Event Staff Room hosts and registration staff give their food needs on their My shifts page. The venue's kitchen follows the live count on a tablet and knows exactly how many gluten-free lunches to hold back for the late shift. - ### A Sports Event With Volunteer Marshals Volunteers' food needs from their applications count until they update them, and the kitchen sheet goes up in the catering tent the night before. Marshals scan their badge for breakfast, and no paper vouchers go missing. [Book Demo Call](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [Get Started for Free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) ## See It in Your Dashboard - ![Ticket Fairy list of who ate on the festival Saturday, with who gave each meal and the reason for an extra meal](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-desk--who-ate.png) See every meal of the day with who gave it and the reason for each extra one. - ![Ticket Fairy kitchen sheet ready to print, with the meals expected and served each day and the dietary needs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-desk--kitchen-sheet.png) Print the kitchen sheet with the counts and food needs, and no other personal details. - ![Ticket Fairy dialog to charge a PA supplier for crew meals, with the days, the meals eaten, the price per meal, the currency and the total](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-crew-meals--charge-for-meals.png) Choose the days and your price per meal, and see the total before the invoice is made. - ![Ticket Fairy meal desk for the crew catering tent opened from its desk link, ready to scan a pass](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-desk-links--desk-on-a-phone.png) Caterers open the meal desk on their own phone from a link, with no dashboard login. - ![Ticket Fairy meal desk card for an act whose drinks for today are used up, with Give a drink anyway and a reason](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-small-items--drinks-used-up.png) A drink beyond the act's allowance needs a reason, kept beside the drink. ## Set It Up Step by Step - [Plan crew meal times and food needs for your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/plan-crew-meal-times-and-food-needs-for-your-event) - [Give crew meals at your event meal desk](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/give-crew-meals-at-your-meal-desk) - [Charge outside teams for the crew meals they eat at your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/charge-outside-teams-for-their-crew-meals) - [Let event staff work a desk from their phone with a desk link](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-event-staff-work-a-desk-from-their-phone) ## Questions About Crew Catering ### Crew catering #### Who can plan meals and run the meal desk? You need an owner, admin or producer role on the event, and you work from Meals on the event's Operations page. A sports event shows Meals from the start; on any other event, open it from More sections. Caterers without a login use a meal service point link. #### Where does each person's meal allowance come from? From the pass type's Meals per day, set under Zones and pass types in Accreditation. A person on the rota gets one meal for each shift that starts that day, or two for a shift of 8 hours or more, up to the pass type's meals per day. If no pass type has meals per day, the kitchen forecast stays empty. #### Why does a meal time count fewer people than are on site? A meal time counts only the people whose shift overlaps it by at least 30 minutes. Someone whose shift ends at 12:15 is not counted for a lunch from 12:00. #### How many meal times can one day have? Up to 8. A suggestion never adds a second meal of the same name to a day. #### Can the kitchen count link give meals, and can crew pre-order dishes? No to both. The kitchen count shows counts and food needs only, and staff give meals at the meal desk or from a meal service point link. People do not choose dishes in advance. #### How long can the meal desk run without a connection? Keep the page open and give meals as usual. A meal counts on the day it was given as long as it is sent within 12 hours. Collecting for a team and giving drinks need a connection. #### Which passes have drinks? Only passes of an act's travel party, counted from the act's drinks allowance. #### Who can charge an outside team, and how does the invoice work? You need an owner or admin role on the event; a producer can see the charges. The invoice has one line for the meals and is due 14 days later. The currency is never assumed, so you choose it each time, and the team needs a contact email before you send it. #### What if an invoice was not made? The charge shows Invoice not made and keeps its days, so you try again from the same charge. ## Explore More of the Event Operating System - [Certificates & inductions Ask for the certificates each shift needs, collect each document once for all your events, run one safety induction with a short test, and check it before a pass is handed over. Crew meals & safety](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-meals-and-safety/certificates-and-inductions) - [Rota & hours Plan shifts by team and hour, fill gaps with offers to people who fit, find drop-outs the day before, check your crew in and approve the hours they worked. Crew & volunteers](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-and-volunteers/staff-rota-and-shifts) - [Pass desk & gates A hand-out desk that shows everything on the pass and records who took it, staff gates that check zones, days and hours, and a live count of who is on site. Accreditation](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/accreditation/pass-desk-and-staff-gates) - [Passes & approvals Named passes for crew, acts, traders, volunteers and press, with zones, days, meals and parking, outside teams naming their own people and approvers deciding from their email. Accreditation](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/accreditation/accreditation-and-passes) [Back to **Crew meals & safety**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-meals-and-safety) [Next **Certificates & inductions**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/crew-meals-and-safety/certificates-and-inductions) Ticket Fairy im Überblick: [Ticketing-Portal](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/), mit den Funktionen, Preisen und dem Support hinter dieser Seite. ## Ready to Build a Stronger Event Business? Book a live demo, and we will set up your first event on the Event Operating System with your team. ## Start Selling Tickets Online Sign up without a credit card and build a test event before you commit. Go on sale in minutes when you are ready. No monthly subscription required for ticketing Start selling tickets immediately Ticketing tools included in the service fee [Get Started for Free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) [Talk to Fai Now](#) Ask Fai, our AI assistant, about Ticket Fairy’s features, pricing and how it could work for your event. No credit card required ## Demo‑Gespräch buchen Sieh dir das Empfehlungsmodell an, das im Durchschnitt 20 % mehr Ticketverkäufe bringt, erfahre, welche Kampagnen Tickets verkaufen, antworte Käufern schneller und halte Warteschlangen in Bewegung. Wie viele Tickets verkaufst du pro Jahr? 45‑Minuten‑Videoanruf Wähle eine Zeit, die dir passt The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is a fintech company and technology platform. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is not a bank, financial institution, or regulated financial services provider. Vault banking services are provided through regulated banking partners. Ticket Fairy Capital financing is provided by third-party private credit partners. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. does not make credit decisions, and all funding terms, approvals and conditions are determined by those lending partners. --- This page is on Ticket Fairy, a ticketing, marketing and operations platform for live events and the venues that host them: festivals, club nights, concerts, conferences and tours, and night clubs, beach clubs and concert venues. It grows revenue with fan rewards that turn an audience into a sales channel, and runs the money side with payments and payouts, Vault business banking, and working capital advanced against ticket sales. [How Ticket Fairy ticketing works](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing) · [Ticket Fairy for AI assistants](https://www.ticketfairy.com/llms.txt)