Cutting the cake
How Ozempic and Mounjaro are changing event catering
Event planners once feared the empty dance floor. Today, the greater anxiety is the untouched plate.
This isn’t the consequence of uninspiring menus. Event catering is improving, not declining—no one misses the featherblade of beef days. Instead, the blame lies with the manufacturers of Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
The spread of GLP-1 drugs is creating a new type of event guest, indistinguishable from others in every respect save the one that matters most to caterers. They are, at best, unmoved by the food put before them, and at worst, actively disinterested.
For these guests, the core wisdom in hospitality that abundance meets appetite and consumption validates success, collapses. To caterers and hosts used to measuring generosity by clean plates and topped-up glasses, uneaten food registers less as indifference than rejection, however unintentional.
The scale of the issue
Current data suggests that ~3% of UK adults, or 1.6 million people, used GLP-1 injections for weight loss in the past year. With the launch of oral versions next year, uptake is expected to accelerate. A future where 10% of adults take these drugs is increasingly plausible, meaning caterers would face twice as many dietary requirements to accommodate as they do today1.
Working on the assumption that nine out of ten guests are not medicating, that tenth guest still must be taken into account in your planning, especially if not evenly distributed. Imagine pitching a six-figure wedding and the bride mentions that several close relatives are on Ozempic. What should the response be?
UK data is limited but US adoption of GLP-1s skews to affluent demographics. Nearly a third of users report household incomes of $200k+. Caterers serving ‘luxury’ events face disproportionate exposure. Big-budget events will be where this shows up first and most visibly.
Reassurance that GLP-1 guests are in the minority will do little to comfort when hundreds of pounds per head are being spent and the client is picturing her nearest and dearest pushing food around their plates.
The problem is a structural one. In an industry whose value proposition is built on consumption, even a few who are unable to consume distort the picture. If clients see untouched plates across the room during dinner service, it’s those plates they’ll notice, not the clean ones.
Caterers’ margins may not rest directly on the food itself, but the client’s perception does. A scattering of those untouched plates could easily be perceived, in the client’s eyes, as money poorly spent. A small number of appetite-suppressed guests can easily unsettle pricing psychology when it becomes evident enough to affect a client’s perception of value.
A quick clarification: at private or hosted events where food and drink are provided free of charge, the economic impact is largely perceptual. Events that rely, even in part, on F&B sales face a sharper and more direct challenge, but that lies beyond the scope of this article.
Beyond portion control
So what can caterers actually do about this?
From a menu perspective, there are some relatively simple practical solutions. Recipes can be lightened for guests with lower tolerances to high-fat or fried food, and portions can be reduced in size. Better still, plated dishes may give way to family-style or buffet formats, allowing guests to self-regulate and avoid the need to confront predetermined portions.
It’s also widely reported that GLP-1 users drink less alcohol alongside their reduced food consumption. With non-alcoholic offerings already improving, a token elderflower spritz won’t cut it anymore. Further promoting and elevating low-ABV or alcohol-free options will become as important as menu adjustments.
Yet this doesn’t answer the broader question of whether GLP-1 use should be treated in the same way as traditional dietary requirements at all. The answer matters because it shapes everything from how it’s discussed with clients to how it affects service.
My suspicion here is that they shouldn’t. This rests on the notion that traditional dietary requirements are, for the most part, declared by guests upfront. Guests will inform us, in advance, of their need for a vegan or gluten-free meal. However, a GLP-1 user is less likely to disclose their status, but would want to feel just as welcomed and considered as someone with a classic dietary requirement.
This changes our entire approach. Where dietaries were once declared and responded to, GLP-1 use is a ‘likely-present’ circumstance that must be anticipated. As their share of guest lists grows, their accommodation will shift from an exception to an expectation.
If not now, when?
When should caterers begin adapting?
Now.
Even if clients have yet to raise the subject, a ~3% GLP-1 adoption rate means we’re already serving these guests, whether we’re aware of it or not. As the barrier to entry drops from injections to pills and uptake accelerates, we likely have 12-18 months before knowing how to best cater to GLP-1 users at events becomes a baseline assumption vs an innovative differentiation.
Until we reach that point, there’s a competitive advantage to be sought, and though modest, it’s real. When two caterers pitch for the same event today, the one who can speak confidently to GLP-1 accommodation will appear more attuned than their competitor. That gap will only widen as uptake increases. Before long, every caterer will have worked this out, and the question will be who is leading the conversation and who is playing catch-up.
The consequences of waiting to adapt could prove detrimental. Caterers won’t lose every pitch, but it’s not unthinkable that they may lose one where the client views this as a significant issue. Clients may forgive many things, but indifference to something they really care about is rarely one of them.
This is less about chasing trends and more about recognising that a growing segment of the population will soon relate to food at social occasions differently than before. It would be prudent for caterers to position themselves as those who saw it coming, rather than those who are scrambling to adapt.
Beyond the plate
Events have always been about display as much as consumption, and elaborate food service was never purely functional. It has always been a theatrical performance of abundance that guests participate in through eating, and its meaning stems from what surrounds the food as much as the food itself. It’s the presentation, the pacing, the service, and the small details that make people feel looked after.
Food was always the conduit, never the outcome, and the wedding cake proves it. The tradition endures not because anyone needs cake, but because the act of cutting it marks an occasion and creates a shared moment. Appetite suppressants build on this reality, stripping away, for the guests taking them at least, the pretence that value lies only in the food itself.
This doesn’t diminish the importance of great food. Most guests derive satisfaction and pleasure from it, and most will continue to do so. But when even a small proportion cannot engage with catering’s most tangible deliverable, language is needed to explain what else is provided.
The challenge is for caterers to serve events where both the majority, who engage fully with food, and the minority who do not, feel equally considered.
A final test
If a client called tomorrow and said, “loads of our guests are on Ozempic, how will you feed them?” What would your answer be?
If it’s“we’ll give them smaller portions”, you’ve missed the point.
If it’s “the food is so good they’ll eat it anyway”, you’ve misunderstood it.
If you can’t answer at all, you’re unaware of it, ignoring it or yet to address it. Either way, you’re behind where you need to be.
Caterers who can already answer this question and can respond with more than menu tweaks will hold the advantage, for now. Not because GLP-1s are going to upend the industry, but because a supplier’s ability to navigate complexity signals authority and sophistication. Anticipate this new landscape thoughtfully, and what might have been an awkward conversation becomes instead, proof of foresight and expertise.
This is working on the assumption that caterers account for ~10% of guests who have a dietary requirement of some sort.