In your company, are you responsible for booking venues, facilities, restaurants and organizing transportation for meetings and events?
| Dining in Houston Style |
Next time you want to add that special ambiance or a heap of mysterious fun to a dinner, consider one of Houston’s themed dining destinations.
Meeting for breakfast
Good parents and teachers know starting off the day with a good breakfast helps students learn and be attentive, so why wouldn’t the same apply to professionals at meetings? Corporate breakfast meetings can be held in conjunction with another meeting or presentation, or they can be separate events altogether. Book them in your hotel banquet room or at a convention center, or consider breakfast restaurants or eateries not generally open or busy in the mornings that might be available and would love the business. Done well, breakfast meetings can be productive and motivating, but they take planning.
Breakfast meetings are a great place to meet with colleagues in a more casual environment. Focus them on brainstorming or jumpstarting new projects or simply networking. It is an opportunity for informal, inspirational dialogues and building relationships when people’s minds are fresh and relatively free from workday pressures that arise. Setting an agenda can be kept informal, or it can be sent out beforehand so people know something will be accomplished. Regardless, leave printed agendas off the tables. There’s no room with all the breakfast delights.
Like any meeting, set firm start and end times. People have busy days ahead of them, and encroaching on their schedules could set them on a negative path all day. Plan for time before the meeting, or at the beginning, for people to get settled, get their food and say hello. Limit the meeting to under an hour; overly long morning meetings come off as inconsiderate, and you lose attendees’ focus.
Decide the organization of the tables depending on your goals. For a presenter-focused meeting, face rows of tables toward the front with a buffet at the back. For a more interactive networking meeting, try large round tables spread throughout the space. Waitress service is not only more costly than a buffet, it also takes up time and focus from the meeting. Consider the buffet benefits of allowing attendees immediate access to their choice of food and eliminating a gratuity charge. If a buffet does not quite fit your needs, family-style platters set on each table allow attendees to serve themselves without getting up.
By definition, breakfast meetings have food, but what is best? First of all, keep it simple. Formal multiple-course meals are out of place early in the morning as they take time and money. Provide dishes that aren’t messy and possibly can be picked up. Dishes that require focus and cutlery create background noise and inhibit networking. Lastly, make the food worthwhile and memorable so consider variety beyond the standard selections.
Typical beverages always should include coffee, tea and water (bottled or in pitchers), but also add assorted milks and juices. Provide healthy options, including trays of fresh sliced fruit or vegetables with breakfast-friendly dips. Include bite-size hearty foods—deviled eggs, mini quiches or squares of egg soufflÈ; handheld waffle sticks with toppings or syrups; cheese cubes wrapped in bacon or ham; or egg-and-sausage finger sandwiches and peanut butter-and-jelly mini muffins. Don’t underestimate the draw of build-your-own yogurt bowls with a topping bar of dried and fresh fruits, nuts and cereals.
Dining can and should be one of life’s greatest pleasures, and Houston is ripe for the picking with abundant and diverse options for any palate and purpose. For your next early morning meeting, help attendees wake up with a business breakfast that will inspire and nourish creativity and motivation for your meetings.
Breakfast venues
If you want to host a breakfast meeting outside a hotel banquet space, consider booking a restaurant for your event. The following Houston-area restaurants are open for breakfast, and they have private dining spaces to accommodate a meeting with excellent food to match.
At the Alden Houston Hotel, the *17 Restaurant serves breakfast from 6:30–11 a.m. and offers its space as a great environment for meetings and intimate social gatherings. *17 Restaurant has a private dining room for up to 30 that features flat-screen TVs with built-in audiovisual capabilities, free connectivity and direct phone lines for teleconferencing. The seasonally influenced menu uses locally produced ingredients fused with the approachable cooking techniques that define today’s modern American cuisine with special menus for large parties.
The Daily Grill Houston starts serving breakfast at 6:30 a.m., so it is the perfect place to hold a breakfast meeting as well as a brunch, lunch or dinner in the private dining room. Daily Grill Houston’s private room can accommodate seating for up to 40 guests. With no additional charge for linen or facility use, room setup and table arrangements can be customized to your event without breaking the bank. The private dining menus include Daily Grill Houston’s most requested dishes, and a special events manager will help you choose the perfect menu and answer all your questions.
Meeting for breakfast
Good parents and teachers know starting off the day with a good breakfast helps students learn and be attentive, so why wouldn’t the same apply to professionals at meetings? Corporate breakfast meetings can be held in conjunction with another meeting or presentation, or they can be separate events altogether. Book them in your hotel banquet room or at a convention center, or consider breakfast restaurants or eateries not generally open or busy in the mornings that might be available and would love the business. Done well, breakfast meetings can be productive and motivating, but they take planning.
Breakfast meetings are a great place to meet with colleagues in a more casual environment. Focus them on brainstorming or jumpstarting new projects or simply networking. It is an opportunity for informal, inspirational dialogues and building relationships when people’s minds are fresh and relatively free from workday pressures that arise. Setting an agenda can be kept informal, or it can be sent out beforehand so people know something will be accomplished. Regardless, leave printed agendas off the tables. There’s no room with all the breakfast delights.
Like any meeting, set firm start and end times. People have busy days ahead of them, and encroaching on their schedules could set them on a negative path all day. Plan for time before the meeting, or at the beginning, for people to get settled, get their food and say hello. Limit the meeting to under an hour; overly long morning meetings come off as inconsiderate, and you lose attendees’ focus.
Decide the organization of the tables depending on your goals. For a presenter-focused meeting, face rows of tables toward the front with a buffet at the back. For a more interactive networking meeting, try large round tables spread throughout the space. Waitress service is not only more costly than a buffet, it also takes up time and focus from the meeting. Consider the buffet benefits of allowing attendees immediate access to their choice of food and eliminating a gratuity charge. If a buffet does not quite fit your needs, family-style platters set on each table allow attendees to serve themselves without getting up.
By definition, breakfast meetings have food, but what is best? First of all, keep it simple. Formal multiple-course meals are out of place early in the morning as they take time and money. Provide dishes that aren’t messy and possibly can be picked up. Dishes that require focus and cutlery create background noise and inhibit networking. Lastly, make the food worthwhile and memorable so consider variety beyond the standard selections.
Typical beverages always should include coffee, tea and water (bottled or in pitchers), but also add assorted milks and juices. Provide healthy options, including trays of fresh sliced fruit or vegetables with breakfast-friendly dips. Include bite-size hearty foods—deviled eggs, mini quiches or squares of egg soufflÈ; handheld waffle sticks with toppings or syrups; cheese cubes wrapped in bacon or ham; or egg-and-sausage finger sandwiches and peanut butter-and-jelly mini muffins. Don’t underestimate the draw of build-your-own yogurt bowls with a topping bar of dried and fresh fruits, nuts and cereals.
Dining can and should be one of life’s greatest pleasures, and Houston is ripe for the picking with abundant and diverse options for any palate and purpose. For your next early morning meeting, help attendees wake up with a business breakfast that will inspire and nourish creativity and motivation for your meetings.
Breakfast venues
If you want to host a breakfast meeting outside a hotel banquet space, consider booking a restaurant for your event. The following Houston-area restaurants are open for breakfast, and they have private dining spaces to accommodate a meeting with excellent food to match.
At the Alden Houston Hotel, the *17 Restaurant serves breakfast from 6:30–11 a.m. and offers its space as a great environment for meetings and intimate social gatherings. *17 Restaurant has a private dining room for up to 30 that features flat-screen TVs with built-in audiovisual capabilities, free connectivity and direct phone lines for teleconferencing. The seasonally influenced menu uses locally produced ingredients fused with the approachable cooking techniques that define today’s modern American cuisine with special menus for large parties.
The Daily Grill Houston starts serving breakfast at 6:30 a.m., so it is the perfect place to hold a breakfast meeting as well as a brunch, lunch or dinner in the private dining room. Daily Grill Houston’s private room can accommodate seating for up to 40 guests. With no additional charge for linen or facility use, room setup and table arrangements can be customized to your event without breaking the bank. The private dining menus include Daily Grill Houston’s most requested dishes, and a special events manager will help you choose the perfect menu and answer all your questions.
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If accepted, your submission will be edited for length and clarity. There is no monetary payment if your item is used; instead, you can publicize yourself through a five-line biography with your contact information that will appear at the end of the article.
Send submissions to
editorial@MeetingPlannerResources.org. We will contact you if your submission is chosen.