--- 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" --- # Plan crew meal times and food needs for your event | Ticket Fairy Guides 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 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 - [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. 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. 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. ![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) Meal times with the people on shift at each one. 2. ## 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. ![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) 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 counts the meal times. **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:** An end earlier than the start runs past midnight. A day can have up to 8 meal times. ![Ticket Fairy 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 counts who has not given 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. ![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) 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. Your email address [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) 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 \, 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. [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) No setup fees. No required monthly ticketing fee. No credit card required. ## 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 record. 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 required monthly ticketing 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) - [Run your event from its Today page](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/run-your-event-from-its-today-page) - [Find any performer, stage or day on your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/find-any-performer-stage-or-day-on-your-event) - [Build the running order for your event day](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/plan-your-event-production) - [Track every artist booking for your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/book-and-brief-your-artists) - [Keep the jobs behind your event moving](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/keep-your-event-tasks-on-track) - 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[See the all-in cost of each act on your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/see-the-all-in-cost-of-each-act-on-your-event) - [See what your brand spends across its events](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/see-what-your-brand-spends-across-its-events) - [Show your traders in a directory on your website](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/show-your-traders-in-a-directory-on-your-website) - [Place your traders on pitches on your event site map](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/place-your-traders-on-pitches-on-your-site-map) - [Check your traders' takings after your event and invoice their share of sales](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/check-trader-takings-and-invoice-a-share-of-sales) - [Share a power sheet with your event electrician](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/share-a-power-sheet-with-your-electrician) - [Give exhibitors a lead scanner for their booth at your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/give-exhibitors-a-lead-scanner-for-their-booth) - [Let exhibitors follow up their event leads and see their results](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-exhibitors-follow-up-their-leads-and-see-results) - 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[Run a safety induction for everyone who works your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/run-a-safety-induction-for-everyone-who-works-your-event) - [Check in attendees and print name badges at your event registration desk](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/check-in-attendees-and-print-badges-at-registration) - [Set up a self-service check-in kiosk for your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/set-up-a-self-service-check-in-kiosk-for-your-event) - [Add everyone who sends your event form to your volunteers, traders or crew](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/add-form-applicants-to-your-event-teams) - [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 Everything in these guides is in your dashboard from the day you sign up. - Set up your event in minutes - Free events are free - Fai, your co-pilot, is built in [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) No setup fees. No required monthly ticketing 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 organisers who sell out, and every new guide as it is published. We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime. --- 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) ยท [Ticket Fairy for AI assistants](https://www.ticketfairy.com/llms.txt)