1) Doubling your food purchase isn't feasible. Food is often 50-75% of the cost of a conference. At least in the US, most conference venues don't charge a ton for space and make all of their money on food. Source: I organize multiple events from 200 people to 2300+ people and see the costs directly. I've talked to other organizers about this in detail too.
2) Asking for food restrictions lets you order specialty things ahead of time and make sure the right people get them. I've had people eat the wrong meals and someone went without.
3) If you give people gift cards and they leave the conference venue to eat, it's going to take a while. A lot of conferences give way too much time for a lunch in the main conference room, but that turns into too little time if you have to sit down at a restaurant.
1) Doubling your food purchase isn't feasible. Food is often 50-75% of the cost of a conference. At least in the US, most conference venues don't charge a ton for space and make all of their money on food. Source: I organize multiple events from 200 people to 2300+ people and see the costs directly. I've talked to other organizers about this in detail too. 2) Asking for food restrictions lets you order specialty things ahead of time and make sure the right people get them. I've had people eat the wrong meals and someone went without. 3) If you give people gift cards and they leave the conference venue to eat, it's going to take a while. A lot of conferences give way too much time for a lunch in the main conference room, but that turns into too little time if you have to sit down at a restaurant.