Running the production
Plan crew meal times and food needs for your event
Production and catering managers feeding crew, volunteers and suppliers at an event need the kitchen to cook the right number of meals, with the vegan and allergy portions counted, at the times people are actually on shift. Meal times built from your rota, and food needs your crew give once, turn that into numbers the kitchen can cook to.
Set when your event's crew catering serves each day, with meal times suggested from the shifts, and see how many people are on shift at each meal and what food needs they have. Crew give their food needs once, and the kitchen follows the day's counts on its own link, with no names on it.
- For
- Telling your crew kitchen what to cook and when
- Takes
- 6 minutes
Before you start
- You are an owner, admin or producer on the event. The event's Operations page opens for those roles only.
- Your shifts are on the rota, so the meal times can count who is working at each one.
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Open Meal times
Open the event, select Operations, select Meals, then select Meal times.
Note: Each day lists its meal times with the people on shift, their food needs and how many have not given them yet. If Meals is not in the list, select More sections and open it there.
Meal times with the people on shift at each one. -
Get meal times from the shifts
Select Suggest times from the shifts.
Note: Breakfast, lunch, dinner and a late meal are suggested on each day where people are on shift at that time. A day that already has a meal of that name gets no second one.
Meal times suggested from the shifts. -
Add the meals you serve
Untick any meal you don't serve, then select the add button, which counts the meal times.
Note: Nothing is saved until you add them. Each one then shows Suggested from the shifts.
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Add a meal time of your own
Optional: Select Add a meal time, choose the Day, enter the Meal, Starts and Ends, then select Add.
Note: An end earlier than the start runs past midnight. A day can have up to 8 meal times.
Add a meal time.
Food needs on each meal
Each meal time counts everyone whose shift overlaps it by at least 30 minutes, and their food needs, such as vegetarian or nut allergy. Crew and volunteers give their food needs on their My shifts page, a volunteer's application answer counts until they do, and the hand-out and meal desks can record them at the counter. The line that counts who has not given food needs tells you who to ask.
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Share the kitchen count with the kitchen
Select Share a kitchen count link, then make the link in Desks.
Note: The kitchen opens it without signing in on any screen or tablet. It shows the day's meals expected, served and still to serve, the food needs and the meal times, with no names.
The kitchen count on its own link.
Try these steps on your own event
Create a free account, build your event and follow the steps above in your own dashboard. It takes a few minutes and you do not need to book a sales call.
No setup fees. No required monthly ticketing fee. No credit card required.
Or have it done for you
Fai reads the meal times and the kitchen count, suggests meal times from the shifts, adds, changes or removes a meal time, and records a person's food needs. She waits for your yes before each change.
In your dashboard, with Fai
Add the meal times the shifts suggest for every day of <EVENT NAME>, and tell me how many vegan meals the kitchen needs for Saturday lunch
Let Fai do it for you
Fai works inside your Ticket Fairy dashboard. Create your account, open Fai and paste the prompt above.
No setup fees. No required monthly ticketing fee. No credit card required.
Change or remove a meal time
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Change it
Select Change beside the meal time, change it, then select Save.
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Remove it
Optional: Select Remove beside the meal time, then confirm.
Note: The kitchen count stops showing it. Meals already given stay in the record.
Fai changes or removes a meal time when you ask, after you confirm.
In your dashboard, with Fai
Move Sunday lunch at <EVENT NAME> to 12:30 to 14:30
Record someone's food needs at the desk
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Record them
On the person's card at the hand-out or meal desk, select Record food needs, enter them in Food needs or tick No food needs, then select Save.
Note: Use their own words, such as vegan or nut allergy, carries an EpiPen. The meal times and the kitchen count include them straight away.
Fai records a person's food needs when you tell her them, after you confirm.
In your dashboard, with Fai
Ben Ode at <EVENT NAME> is vegan with a nut allergy, record his food needs
Questions you might have
- Does a meal time change how many meals a person can have?
- No. Each person's meals for the day still come from their pass type's meals per day and their shifts. Meal times tell the kitchen when to serve and how many people to expect.
- Why does a meal time count fewer people than are on site?
- It 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.
- Can the kitchen count link give meals?
- No. It shows counts only. Staff give meals from the meal desk or a meal service point link.
- Where do performers' food needs come from?
- From the hospitality answers on each act's advance. The kitchen report on Kitchen and reports lists them by act.
Still have a question?
Book a demo and we will answer it on a call, on your kind of event. Or create your account and see it for yourself.
No setup fees. No required monthly ticketing fee. No credit card required.
Related guides
Do this on your own event
Create your account, build your event and follow the steps in your own dashboard. You do not need to book a sales call.