If it is awesome pizza, they will eat it and have a good experience. Bonus points for a nice salad and other simple options.

With groups, when food is appropriate, the food often determines a lot of their potential to enjoy the event and may frequently enhance value perception.

My best success with this is centered on local places that deliver kick ass catering. Even simple things, sandwiches, pizza, salad, cheeze, etc... can be really great treats.

It's all in the preparation and presentation. Compare a chain pizza to oven fired, olive oil infused, pizza with fresh, high grade ingredients. It's like night and day, and the difference in cost isn't s big deal given the value added.

Finding these places can be a fun networking task, and a meet n greet to sample makes great sense too. Get to know a few and be rewarded with great food experiences with low to no hassle.

Time and place matter too. Can it be an evening affair with light drinks? Knowing the user community matters as much as anything else does. Finding ways to message, educate, and encourage everyone to network and share experiences is worth the extra effort.

I think about whether I look forward to the event, or it being work. It is work in both cases, but having a good time and looking forward to that reward of good eats, friends, and high value information is almost not work.

Target that experience. You will pay a bit more, and you will work a bit more, but everyone involved gets enough to make it all worth it and they will be more inclined to bring others too.

For a number of years, I was part of a large, regional product user group. Helped organize the event, and I was a part of many technical things related to the community. I almost never had trouble presenting material, getting others to speak, etc... we served brown bag lunches in an auditorium, and over the years it got to be almost a family event. Repeat attendees had named bags with just the right stuff in there for them, and we always ordered a little extra for new people. Many were considerate and would give names and food preferences too.

Cost was something like $8 per, and the business generated as well as the closeness of the community really was something. Many of those people have kept in touch and have brought new opportunity and contacts long after that successful run.

A bulk catering would have been less. Maybe half.

I am sure we would not have has the same long term, resonant effects with a lesser venue and more general food. Worth every penny.

A similar meetup for creative worked best in a local tech building with beer and wine.

Both groups, with the former being engineering focused, responded to personal treatment in favorable ways: being positive advocates, referrals, presenters, friends, etc... while needing very different vibes and atmosphere to maximize it for them.

Some time spent really understanding this will almost always pay big dividends.

I understand some groups won't have the same value potential, but I also suspect the positive impact on staff and alphas in the community will still make details matter. No matter what, the staff and significant contributors are going to be there and a lot of how they present and the value perception on all of that is very likely worth some effort.

Unless the business is running ultra lean for necessary reasons, damn good events are worth more than more events in my experience.