EDITOR'S LETTER
Set the Table
Kelsey Ogletree, editor CONTACT ME AT KELSEY.OGLETREE@TIGEROAK.COM
JUST CALL US FOOD CITY U.S.A. OpenTable lists 10,620 restaurants in Chicago, and hypothetically speaking, if you dined at a different spot every night, you could reasonably go three decades without eating at the same restaurant twice. Expand your dining area to include the entire state of Illinois, and it’s safe to say you could eat like it’s your job your entire life and never visit them all. The sheer number of options planners have in choosing F&B for their groups is both wonderful and overwhelming. It would surely be easy to keep going back to the same reliable restaurant year after year, without thinking too much about it. But the old adage, “nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy,” holds true. You can’t settle for mediocre dining if you want to continue to make your meetings and events attractive to attendees. A 2017 survey from AAA reports that 75 percent of Americans believe food and dining to be a key part of their travel experience, and four out of five engage in unique culinary activities while traveling. It makes a lot of sense, then, that building incredible F&B and culinary activities into your event agenda helps incentivize people to attend. In this issue, which we’ve dubbed the Feast Issue, we’ve done much of the legwork for you. From out-there ideas for cocktail events to chef secrets and creative menus at every budget, the stories within these pages will hopefully encourage you to get outside of your comfort zone. (Warning: Don’t read on an empty stomach.) So serve that kimchi, pour that kombucha cocktail and deliver bites on balloon trays. The time is now to reinvent your culinary strategy, and we’ll be here supporting you every step of the way.
Find, Friend, Follow
Find us online at il.meetingsmags.com, and make sure to “like” us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to stay in the loop between issues. /IL MEE TINGSMAGS
6
ILM+E
| WINTER 2019
@IL MEE TINGSMAGS
/MEE TINGSMAGS
/MEE TINGSE VENTSMAGS
P H O T O : TAT E C A R L S O N
Cheers,
