--- title: "Plan crew meal times and food needs for your event | Ticket Fairy Guides" description: "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." canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/plan-crew-meal-times-and-food-needs-for-your-event" --- 1. [Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/) 2. [Guides](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides) 3. Plan crew meal times and food needs for your event Crew and volunteers # Plan crew meal times and food needs for your event At your event, the kitchen needs to cook the right number of meals for crew, volunteers and suppliers, with the vegan and allergy portions counted, at the times people are actually on shift. When you build meal times from your rota and your crew give their food needs once, the kitchen gets numbers it can cook to. Takes: 6 minutes - [Open Meal times](#step-1) - [Get meal times from the shifts](#step-2) - [Add the meals you serve](#step-3) - [Add a meal time of your own](#step-4) - [Food needs on each meal](#step-5) - [Share the kitchen count with the kitchen](#step-6) ## Before you start - You are an owner, admin or producer on the event. Only those roles can open the event's **Operations** page. - Your shifts are on the rota, so the meal times can count who is working at each one. 1. ## 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 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) *Meal times with the people on shift at each one.* 2. ## Get meal times from the shifts Select **Suggest times from the shifts**. **Note:** We suggest breakfast, lunch, dinner and a late meal 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 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) *Meal times suggested from the shifts.* 3. ## Add the meals you serve Untick any meal you don't serve, then select the add button, which shows how many meal times you're adding. **Note:** Nothing is saved until you add them. Each one then shows **Suggested from the shifts**. 4. ## 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:** If the end is earlier than the start, the meal runs past midnight. A day can have up to 8 meal times. ![The Add a meal time dialog with the day, the meal, the common meals, the start and end times and where it is served](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-crew-meals--add-a-meal-time.png) *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 shows who hasn't given their food needs tells you who to ask. 5. ## 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. ![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) *The kitchen count on its own link.* ## Or have it done for you Fai, your AI teammate, can check sales, update your event or change a ticket when you ask. 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 , and tell me how many vegan meals the kitchen needs for Saturday lunch ``` ## Change or remove a meal time 1. ### Change it Select **Change** beside the meal time, change it, then select **Save**. 2. ### Remove it Optional: Select **Remove** beside the meal time, then confirm. **Note:** The kitchen count stops showing it. Meals already given stay in the history. Fai changes or removes a meal time when you ask, after you confirm. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` Move Sunday lunch at to 12:30 to 14:30 ``` ## Record someone's food needs at the desk 1. ### 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 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. [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required. ## Related guides - [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features) - [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) - [Build your event rota and check staff in](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/build-your-event-rota-and-check-staff-in) - [Recruit volunteers for your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/recruit-volunteers-for-your-event) - [Give your event volunteers their own page and track their hours](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/give-volunteers-their-own-page-and-track-hours) - [Every Ticket Fairy guide](https://www.ticketfairy.com/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. [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) ## Sell tickets with Ticket Fairy Start free with unlimited events and no monthly fee, and choose a paid plan when you need more. - Set up your event in minutes - Free events are free - Fai, your AI teammate, is built in [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required. ## See it on a call Book a demo and we will show you how Ticket Fairy handles your kind of event. [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features) ### Tips for selling more tickets Practical advice from working event organizers, and every new guide as it is published. We respect your privacy. 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