Somewhere in the RSVPs for any event of thirty or more people, there is a vegan. Usually several, plus a vegetarian, somebody gluten-free, and one person with an allergy that genuinely matters. The host who plans for this in the first week has an easy event. The host who discovers it at the door has a problem the kitchen cannot fully solve on the night.
This is the practical checklist. It is written around our banquet room in Buffalo, but most of it applies to any venue.
Step one: ask the question properly
The RSVP question most people write is "any dietary restrictions?" It gets you a list of words with no priority. Ask it in two parts instead:
- "Do you eat vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free by preference?" This is menu planning. It tells you how many plant-based portions to order and whether a vegetarian option covers the person or not.
- "Do you have a food allergy or a medical dietary requirement we must plan around? Please name it." This is safety planning. It is a different conversation with the kitchen, and it needs the specific allergen, not the category.
Keep the two lists separate. A vegan guest who ends up with a dish containing butter has had a bad evening. A guest with a tree-nut allergy who ends up with a dish containing nuts may have had a dangerous one. The kitchen treats those differently, and so should you.
Preference goes on the menu. Allergy goes in the kitchen's notes. Do not put them in the same sentence.
Step two: count, then add a margin
Take the vegan and vegetarian responses, add the people who did not answer but you suspect, and round up. Plant-based dishes at a buffet get eaten by non-vegans too, particularly if they are good, which means the vegan guest at the back of the line finds an empty pan. Order more plant-based portions than you have plant-based guests. At a plated dinner this matters less, because each plate is assigned.
Step three: pick the format
The format decides how the two menus coexist.
- Buffet. The easiest way to serve a mixed group, provided the plant-based dishes are clearly labeled and served with their own utensils, and provided there are enough of them. A single tray of roasted vegetables next to a carving station is not a vegan dinner; it is a side. Ask whether the venue offers a plant-based buffet as a unit rather than a scattering of vegan-adjacent sides.
- Plated, with a choice. Guests choose their entrée in advance. Cleaner for allergies, and each vegan guest gets a real plate. The cost is administration: you need every guest's choice a week or more ahead, and the kitchen needs a way to know which plate goes where. Place cards with a discreet mark solve it.
- Family style. Lovely for a rehearsal dinner, hardest for a mixed group, because platters get passed and cross-contact happens at the table. It works if the plant-based platters sit together and everyone knows which they are.
Step four: choose dishes both sides will actually want
The mistake is to build the non-vegan menu first and then find something for the vegans. Build both at once, and hold the plant-based side to the same standard: would a meat-eater take a second helping? If not, keep looking.
What that looks like on our July 2026 banquet menu, which is the reference for this section and is subject to change:
- Hors d'oeuvres that work for everyone: plant-based fritters with hemp ranch, stuffed mushrooms in a vegan or traditional version, a vegetable platter with house ranch or vegan hemp ranch, and bruschetta rounds for the non-vegan side.
- A plant-based buffet as a unit: lentil meatloaf, vegan pasta primavera, vegan fritters, house salad, sweet potato fries, fresh rolls and a seasonal vegetable. Set alongside a carving station or the Buffalo favorites buffet, both halves of the room eat a full meal.
- Plated: the artisanal vegetable primavera sits on the same choose-three entrée list as chicken Marsala, Italian haddock and the wood-fired New York strip, so a plated dinner carries a vegan choice without a separate order.
- Pizza: the vegan pizza is on the banquet list next to the classic, and gluten-free dough is available on request.
- Dessert, which is where vegan guests are usually forgotten: a vegan chocolate cream pie and a vegan almond joy cookie are on the list, alongside the cheesecake and the ganache cake.
The banquet menu's own instruction is worth repeating: dishes are vegan or can be prepared vegan on request, and you should specify any dietary restrictions or preferences when booking. That sentence exists because the kitchen plans from it. If you want to understand the dishes themselves first, the vegan ordering guide compares them by flavor and appetite.
Step five: confirm preparation with the kitchen, in writing
This is the step that separates a menu that says "vegan" from a plate that is. Before you sign, ask the venue and write down the answers:
- Which dishes are vegan as written, and which need to be made vegan on request? Our own menu draws this line explicitly, and any honest kitchen will.
- Are the plant-based dishes prepared and served separately from the meat? Separate utensils and separate pans at the buffet are the minimum.
- For each named allergy: can the kitchen accommodate it, and what can they not guarantee? A shared kitchen, ours included, cannot promise an allergen-free environment. What it can do is know in advance, plate carefully, and tell you plainly where the limits are. Ask for the limits.
- When do you need final counts and final dietary notes? Ours is one week before the event, when the guaranteed number and the menu are confirmed. Other venues differ.
- How will the servers know which guest gets which plate? Place cards, a seating list, or a colored napkin. Agree on it.
Several of the plant-based dishes above are fried. If a guest is both vegan and coeliac, the fryer matters more than the recipe, because it is shared with breaded and battered food. Name that guest specifically when you confirm the menu. The same caution runs through our notes on eating gluten-free at a steakhouse.
Step six: the day of
Bring your list. Not the RSVP spreadsheet: a one-page version with counts by category, named allergies beside the guest's name, and where each of those guests is sitting. Hand it to whoever is running the room. It takes a minute, and it is the single most useful thing a host does on the day.
Where this fits in the bigger plan
Dietary planning is one line in a longer checklist. If you are still sizing the room, start with how many people a room really holds. If you are comparing venues, how to compare banquet quotes shows where dietary accommodation should appear on a quote, which is usually nowhere until you ask. And if the occasion is a retirement party, a baby shower, or a corporate dinner, those guides fold this checklist into the timeline.
Our private dining space at 3151 Main Street seats 20 to 100 and books seven days a week. The vegan dining page lists every plant-based dish on the regular menu, most of which carry over to events, and the enquiry form and banquet menu PDF are on the banquets page. Or call, tell us the counts, and we will build both halves of the menu with you. Our kitchen has been doing mixed tables for a long time.