8.1.1 Business Meals, Food Supplies, and Alcohol

Policy Statement

Expenses for business meals, food supplies, and alcohol must have a bona fide business purpose.

Reason for the Policy

As a major public institution, the University of Illinois System is held to a high level of accountability for its business practices. Numerous constituencies (including students, donors, taxpayers, alumni, the State of Illinois, and the federal government) have an interest in how the system spends its money. Accordingly, every reasonable effort must be made to ensure that funds are used in a responsible and appropriate manner.

In addition, the system must abide by the IRS’ accountable plan rules for business expenses found in Treasury Reg. § 1.62-2. Additional information regarding these requirements can be found on the IRS website. The accountable plan rules apply to all reimbursements, allowances, or advances to employees for authorized business expenditures.

Applicability of the Policy

All units who incur bona fide business expenses for business meals, food supplies, and alcohol as defined below.

Definitions

Alcohol: Any type of alcoholic beverages purchased for a university event or a business meal where university business is being discussed

Business Meals: A meal or pre-ordered refreshments from a restaurant consumed with university employees who are meeting to discuss official university business, or a meal including university employees and/or a university guest who are meeting to discuss official university business.

Catered Event: An event where a vendor provides catering services, including meals dropped off and chafing dishes, etc., picked up after the event by the caterers.

Food Supplies: Pre-made or pre-packaged food items purchased (e.g., cookies, cupcakes, pastries, items for charcuterie board, etc.) to be brought to and consumed during a meeting where university business is being discussed.

Participation Cost: Participation by non-employees (including students) in non-research events or non-research activities, such as meetings, conferences, symposia, and workshops or other training activities.

University Function: An event such as a seminar, retreat, workshop, orientation, or any activity in which the majority of the participants are students.

Procedure

Purchasing business meals, food supplies, and alcohol requires units to consider the procurement method, fund type restrictions, required supporting documentation, and any additional policy requirements.

See below for points to consider:

Providing business meals, and alcohol must have a bona fide business purpose. The IRS definition of a bona fide business purpose is, “[t]he employee must have actively engaged in a substantial business meeting, negotiation, discussion, or other business transaction for the university.”

Reimbursement requests or TCard transactions submitted for business meals must contain a detailed business purpose describing the benefit of the meal to the university.

The allowable maximum expenditure for business meals including alcohol is $75 per person, per meal. This limit applies to all providers (including restaurants, caterers, and system- and/or university-operated food service providers). However, this limit excludes amounts paid for tax, tips, and service charges.

Expenses in excess of the allowable limit, or associated with a virtual meeting, must have written approval from the dean, vice chancellor, assistant vice president, or provost, unless they will be attending the event. In that case, obtain written approval from the head of the next higher administrative unit not attending the event. This supporting documentation must retained in the unit’s records.

For provosts, expenses in excess of the allowable limit do not require additional written approval. The reimbursement/payment request must note that the expenses exceeding the allowable maximum expenditure limit are for a provost.

For quick-reference, please see the Business Meals, Food Supplies, and Alcohol Quick Guide, which is incorporated into and considered part of this policy.

Allowable Expenses Include, but are not limited to:

Business Meals. A meal or pre-ordered refreshments from a restaurant consumed with university employees who are meeting to discuss official university business, or a meal including university employees and/or a university guest who are meeting to discuss official university business. Examples include: all-staff meetings, annual and quarterly meetings, pre-made food dropped off by caterers/vendors, candidate meals, employee separation events for individuals employed in the unit for five or more years, seminars, team-building, trainings, etc.

Catered Event. An event where a vendor provides catering services, including meals dropped off and chafing dishes, etc., picked up after the event by the caterers. Examples include: all-staff meetings, alumni events, annual award ceremonies, annual holiday gatherings, dinners with alumni/donors, employee appreciation events, events where caterers are working/staffing an event, formal training sessions, graduation receptions, retreats, seminars, staff team-building workshops, etc.

Food Supplies. Pre-made or pre-packaged food items purchased (e.g., cookies, cupcakes, pastries, items for charcuterie board, etc.) to be brought to and consumed during a meeting where university business is being discussed. Examples include: all-staff meetings, faculty candidate presentation refreshments, etc.

Participation Cost. Participation by non-employees (including students) in non-research events or non-research activities, such as meetings, conferences, symposia, and workshops or other training activities. Examples include: meals with candidates (including meals b/w candidate and students), student-attended events related to the business of the university and system, etc.

University Function. An event such as a seminar, retreat, workshop, orientation, or any activity in which the majority of the participants are students. Examples include: alumni events, awards events, dinners with donors, student open house, unit-wide commencement/graduation ceremonies, etc.

Un-Allowable

Un-allowable events include events not focused on university business, that are purely personal in nature, or do not include a faculty or staff member. These include, but are not limited to:

Food/meals solely for the purpose of student social interaction that do not meet the criteria stated above.
Individual celebrations (e.g., baby/wedding showers, birthday celebrations, individual-focused graduation celebrations, etc.)
Registered student organizations events (RSO)*
Student-only study sessions (i.e., where professor or TA does not attend)

*Note: departments may be able to support RSOs by going through the financial assistance award process, as outlined in 8.1.5 Determine the Allowability of Specific Financial Support or Sponsorship Payments to Outside Organizations.

Alcohol

The system is subject to and complies with Illinois Public Act 95-0847, which sets forth criteria for the service or sale of alcoholic beverages in buildings under the control of the Board of Trustees. Alcohol must be served only in accordance with all applicable laws, policies, and regulations and only to those guests and participants twenty-one years of age or older.

Employees must follow policies and procedures controlling the possession, service, sale, or consumption of alcohol at their university or the system.

For the University of Illinois Chicago, alcohol served at unit events must fill out and submit the Alcoholic Beverage Service Request Form.

For the University of Illinois Springfield, alcohol served at unit events must be pre-approved following the process outlined in the Alcoholic Beverages Regulations and Procedures.

For the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, alcohol served at unit events must be pre-approved following the process outlined in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Alcohol Management Policy .

Allowable Funds for Alcohol Purchases
Alcohol purchases are only allowed from the following fund types:

Fund Type	Fund Title	Notes
2A	Administrative Allowance
4J	Endowment Income Fund	*when the expense is in compliance with donor intent restrictions
2G & 4M	Gift	*when the expense is in compliance with donor intent restrictions
2C	Institutional Cost Recovery (ICR)
2E	Royalty
3Q, 3J, 3M (not 3E)	Self-Supporting Fund	*when the expense is directly related to the fund's revenue generation
4S, 4T, 4U, 4W	Service Plan	*when the expense is directly related to the fund's revenue generation

Travel

While in travel status, employees are required to claim per diem reimbursements for their meal, instead of claiming reimbursement for actual meal costs, even if the actual meal costs were lower than per diem. See Per Diem for Domestic Travel for further details on these per diem allotments.

However, if the employee who is in travel status is participating in a Business Meal (as defined above) with at least one external participant and if official university business is being discussed during the meal, then it is allowable to claim the actual cost of the meal, instead of per diem.

Supporting Documentation

Include the following information when processing payments:

The business purpose of the meeting/activity (i.e., how it benefited the system and/or university) as required by the IRS.
Itemized receipt or invoice detailing all food and beverage purchases.
The number of attendees.
Affiliation of attendees (such as employee, guest/non-employee, student, etc.). Do not list by name, but indicate whether they were employees or non-employees.
Whether or not Alcohol was served.

How to Purchase

Alcohol may be purchased using

TCard
Reimbursed personal funds

Business Meals may be purchased using:

TCard
Reimbursed personal funds

Catered Events must be purchased using:

Purchase Order
TCard, with approved TCard Exception Form*
*If a caterer has a contract with the system allowing for payment via TCard, the Exception Form is not required. If a caterer has a contract with the system allowing for payment via TCard, the Exception Form is not required. As of date of publication, only UIUC has two such contracts. To see if such a contract exists, please contact the unit’s relevant purchasing office.

Food Supplies may be purchased using: