Catering for Guests With Food Allergies: A Checklist to Use Before You Order Snack Boxes

Once a meeting reaches thirty people, the odds that at least one of them has a food allergy or cannot eat something are fairly high. This guide is a checklist for catering a break when guests have food allergies, from asking attendees and passing the details to the organiser, to checking the boxes on the day. It is written from the point of view of someone who orders breaks regularly, not from a doctor's. Anyone with a severe allergy should always talk to their own physician.

Why tell the organiser before ordering, not at delivery

The menu inside the boxes cannot be changed once preparation starts, and the organiser needs time to check ingredients before confirming. If you mention an allergy only after the boxes arrive, the guest has exactly one option left, which is not to eat.

People with allergies often do not speak up in a meeting. Some quietly take a bottle of water, and some nibble politely because they do not want to cause trouble. That is why asking is the host's job, not the guest's.

Early information also helps the budget. If you know a week ahead that five boxes need to be handled separately, the sets and quantities can be planned around it. If you only find out on the day, the host has to find extra food alone, with no time to plan it or check where it came from. Our 50-box minimum does not change with the number of guests who have allergies, so always look at the total count for the event first.

How to ask guests so the answers are actually usable

Send a short form with three questions, by email or in a group chat, and do not wait until the last day. A broad question such as "Does anyone have food allergies?" tends to produce answers that are too vague to act on.

1. What do you have to avoid? Tick any that apply: milk, egg, nuts, gluten, seafood, meat.
2. Is this a medical allergy, or something you avoid by preference or belief?
3. If you accidentally ate it, what would happen? A mild reaction, or something that needs a doctor?

The third answer sorts people into groups straight away. Guests with severe allergies need all of their food handled separately. Guests who avoid an ingredient by preference may be fine with a box that simply does not contain it, so no separate preparation is needed.

What to send the organiser when you tell them about allergies

Send four things: what each person cannot eat, the number of people, the severity, and the date and time of the event. Put them all in one message and the organiser can reply properly without several rounds of follow-up questions.

Information	Example of what to write	What the organiser does with it
What they cannot eat	Peanuts, egg, cow's milk	Checks the ingredients of the menu in the order
Number of people	3 people out of 40	Plans separate boxes, or suggests you arrange extra food yourself
Severity	1 person with a severe allergy who carries emergency medication	Advises whether our boxes suit that person or not
Date and time	Friday, 10:00, venue in Bangkok	Checks that day's menu and the delivery time

With this information the team will tell you which ingredients in your order's menu they can confirm and which they cannot. After that the decision is yours. You can send it by LINE or through the quote request form. Both reach the same team.

Which kinds of break snacks need extra care with milk, egg and nuts

Almost every bakery item contains at least one of milk, egg or wheat flour. So a guest with an allergy should never choose by how a pastry looks. The ingredients need to be asked about piece by piece, every time.

• Croissants and pastries usually contain butter and milk, plus an egg wash on top.
• Muffins and small cakes usually contain egg, milk and wheat flour. Some recipes have ground nuts mixed in or scattered on top.
• Cookies and brownies often contain nuts, or chocolate made on equipment shared with nuts.
• Anything with a cream or custard filling almost certainly has milk and egg.

These are general traits of each type of baked goods. They do not mean our boxes contain all of them. The team confirms the menu for each order, and items may rotate over time, so asking "what is in my order?" gets a better answer than asking "what is usually in your boxes?"

What to say when ordering a vegetarian snack box

The word vegetarian covers a lot of ground, so tell the organiser exactly which kind you mean. Some people eat milk and egg, some avoid both, and some follow the strict Thai Buddhist vegetarian festival diet, which also leaves out strong-smelling vegetables.

What the guest eats	What to tell the organiser
No meat, but eats milk and egg	Ask them to check for animal fat or gelatine
No milk or egg either	Say clearly that both are avoided, and ask about butter and egg wash
Follows the vegetarian festival diet	Ask whether the recipe and equipment are kept apart from meat

BreakHub does not yet have a set that is certified as vegetarian or festival-diet. The team will tell you the ingredients they can confirm for your order. Take a look at the plant-based options page to see the closest approach.

The host's checklist, from a week ahead to the day itself

Work through it in order, because each step depends on the one before. Feel free to copy this list into your own event plan.

1. 7 days before: send the three-question form to attendees.
2. 5 days before: list everyone with a restriction and split them into severe allergies and preference-based avoidance.
3. 3 days before: send the four pieces of information to BreakHub by LINE or the form, whichever suits you.
4. 2 days before: confirm the order, menu, delivery fee and total. Two days is our minimum notice. Payment in full is due before delivery, and if learning about extra allergies means you need fewer boxes, tell us at least 48 hours ahead.
5. 1 day before: prepare backup food for anyone with a severe allergy, for example fruit or packaged snacks whose labels you have read.
6. On the day: check the boxes you set aside, put a name label on each one, and keep them apart from the other boxes on the table.

The timing above is a suggestion, not a hard rule. If your event is already close and you have not yet asked your guests, message the team on LINE to check availability first. Do not order now and fix it later, because a menu that has been prepared cannot be changed.

On the day: keeping allergy boxes from getting mixed up

The most effective precaution is separating the boxes when you receive them, not when you hand them out. Once every box is piled together, sorting them at a meeting table is easy to get wrong.

• Have the person who receives the boxes be the same person who holds the allergy list.
• Write the guest's name on each box set aside so nobody picks up the wrong one.
• Put those boxes on a different table from the general ones, which reduces crumbs crossing over.
• Keep any ingredient information the team gave you at the registration desk, in case someone asks to see it.

For a guest with a severe allergy, treat our box as an optional extra, not their main meal. We do not prepare food separately to avoid allergen contact. To read more about the reasoning behind this limit, see the allergy-aware snack box page.

How much does the budget change when some boxes are handled separately?

Separating a few guests does not add much to the budget if you plan from the start. Take a training day for 60 people where 6 need special care. The figures below exclude delivery, which is charged by real distance, and an order with us cannot be below 50 boxes.

Item	Quantity	Price per box	Total
General attendees receive the Best Seller Set	54 boxes	฿85	฿4,590
Guests needing special care, with food you arrange yourself	6 people	-	Whatever you arrange
Total ordered from BreakHub	54 boxes		฿4,590

If some guests only avoid a single ingredient and are comfortable with a set whose ingredients the team has confirmed, you can also mix in the Value Set at ฿42 within the same order. Tell the team when you order. The combined minimum is still 50 boxes. For help choosing between sets, read how to choose a snack box and the meeting break page.

What to know before ordering when guests have allergies

BreakHub checks the ingredients of the menu in your order against what you tell us, but we do not guarantee that any pastry or box is free of allergens. Other limits worth knowing are below.

• No allergen-separated production: Pastries are baked in one kitchen, so a guest with a severe allergy should have separate food from a source they know, and treat our box as an optional extra only.
• Minimum of 50 boxes: Sets can be mixed in one order, but the total cannot fall under 50. We do not take small orders made only for a few guests with allergies.
• Order at least 2 days ahead: Rush options cover only some pastries and depend on the queue, which narrows the choice further. If ingredients need checking, tell us when you ask for a price. See the rush order page.
• The menu can change from round to round: Rely on what the team confirms for your order, not on a menu you saw before.
• Reductions need 48 hours: After that the original count stands, and payment in full is due before the delivery day.

Read next: the reasoning behind these limits is on the allergy-aware snack box page, and common ordering slips are covered in snack box order mistakes.

Summary

To cater a break when guests have food allergies, ask attendees about a week ahead and then send the team four things: what they cannot eat, how many people, how severe the reaction is, and the date and time of the event. BreakHub checks the ingredients of the menu in your order against that information, but does not guarantee any box is allergen-free, so guests with severe allergies should have their own food. Orders have a 50-box minimum, need at least 2 days' notice, and cost ฿42, ฿70 or ฿85 a box.

When you have the details, send them through the quotation form or the LINE order button, and the team will tell you what they can confirm, the delivery fee and the time.