What can I expect with regard to food?

Meal options, dietary restrictions, and more.

With the exception of the Wilberforce Award dinner (if you bought it), meals are not included in your ticket. All our meal breaks (lunch and dinner) are at least two hours long, to allow time to enjoy good food and conversation together.

• The Loews Arlington is a brand-new hotel. As more restaurant information is available, we will post it here. For peace of mind, we recommend making a reservation for any meals you take in the hotel restaurants--that way you won't have to wait in line for a table when you come out of a session.
  • Farena - an Italian restaurant at the Loews Arlington
  • The Bar - traditional hotel menu and cocktails
  • Railbird - coffee shop and grab-and-go market

• Your best offsite food option is the Texas Live! venue next door, which includes numerous restaurants. Click here to explore or get directions.

Breakfast Options

• Breakouts: Prison Fellowship is hosting a free breakfast session on Saturday, June 1st called Reviving Chuck's Vision for the Incarcerated and the Church. Spots are limited, so be sure to add this breakout to your schedule soon.
• Food trucks: we will have breakfast food trucks available at the conference hotel so you can grab a quick bite before heading into a session.

Coffee Options

• Hotel options: grab a cup of coffee from the hotel's coffee shop and market, the Railbird.
• Afternoon pick-me-up: we will have coffee available on Friday and Saturday to help wake you up and get you over that afternoon slump.

Lunch Options

• Make a reservation at one of the nearby hotel's restaurants: Cut & Bourbon, Arlington Clover Club, Flavor by Loews Hotels.
• Try out a local restaurant at the Texas Live! shopping mall next door: see here for website or here for a map.
• Purchase lunch in our dining room: the hotel will provide a hot lunch which you can sign up for as an add-on to your registration. The cost is $75 if purchased in advance ($85 at the door). While we know this isn't cheap, we wanted to make sure you had an option available that was ready immediately and didn't require walking or driving anywhere.
• Breakouts: the Strong Women podcast is hosting a free meet-and-greet lunch on Saturday, June 1st. Spots are limited, so be sure to add this breakout to your schedule soon.

Dinner Options

• Make a reservation at one of the hotel's restaurants: Cut & Bourbon, Arlington Clover Club, Flavor by Loews Hotels.
• Try out a local restaurant at the Texas Live! shopping mall next door: see here for website or here for a map.
• Register for the Wilberforce Award Dinner: this banquet is an opportunity to honor the 2024 Wilberforce Award Winner. The cost is $145 per person.

I have dietary restrictions.

So do many of our staff, and we know it can make travel stressful. With the exception of the Wilberforce Awards Dinner, meals are on your own. The on-site restaurants are good about accommodating allergies; please communicate your needs to your server upon arrival.

The shopping mall restaurants next door vary in their menus; we encourage you to have a look ahead of time on their websites (full restaurant listings here):

• Guy Fieri's Taco Joint - tacos are usually pretty easy to eat gluten-free and dairy-free, but we recommend calling ahead to make sure
• Lockhart Smokehouse - gluten and dairy allergy-friendly, not vegan friendly due to the whole smoked meats thing
• Pudge's Pizza - not a great option if you have food sensitivities
• Troy's Burgers & Beer - solid salad options, vegan Beyond Beef burger patties available, and you can always skip the bun to be gluten free
• Rangers Republic - good mix of options; evaluate the menu to see if it suits your needs

If having a more specific plan would give you peace of mind, just email our team at events@colsoncenter.org and we'll work with you to identify some options that will feed you delicious food you can safely eat.