How Global Uncertainty Drives Up the Cost of Every Meal at Your Meeting

Why does the same banquet menu cost more this year than last — and why can't anyone tell you what it will cost next quarter? Global uncertainty drives up the cost of every meal at your meeting — often before a single supply chain is disrupted. If food arrives by car or truck (and nearly all of it does), energy prices are baked into every plate you serve. When markets get nervous, oil and gas prices move, transportation costs climb, and fertilizer prices rise for the farmers growing what eventually lands on your buffet. By the time those costs reach a hotel banquet kitchen or catering contract, they've been multiplied through every link in the supply chain. On the next Eating at a Meeting LIVE, I'll be joined by Dr. Mike Walden, Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics at NC State University. For decades, Mike has translated complex economic forces into plain language for consumers, businesses, and policymakers — and now he'll do it for the people who buy, serve, and budget for food at meetings and events. Together we'll unpack how market uncertainty and volatility move food prices even before supply is disrupted, why energy is the hidden ingredient in every meal, how rising fertilizer costs today shape food prices for seasons to come, and what all of this means when it flows downstream into hotel banquet pricing, catering contracts, and F&B minimums. Whether you're a planner trying to explain a budget increase to stakeholders, a hotel or caterer setting prices in an unpredictable market, or a supplier navigating rising input costs, this conversation will give you the economic vocabulary to understand what's happening — and to have smarter conversations with clients and partners about what comes next. Join us live and bring your questions — what are you seeing in your F&B budgets and contracts? Mike and I will take them on air. Because every meal matters, and every meal has a price tag shaped by forces far beyond the kitchen.