Food and Beverage Overview

As an Agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, George Mason University has a public obligation to ensure that all expenditures are necessary and reasonable and that they support the mission of the university. As such, state rules prohibit expenditures for employee personal expenses, including meals, snacks, entertainment, and refreshments. There are limited circumstances in which it is considered appropriate to provide food and beverages to personnel who are not in travel status. Food/Beverage may not be provided at regularly scheduled or routine meetings (i.e., monthly staff meeting, quarterly unit meeting) or as a way to boost morale or promote goodwill among employees. Alcohol and Flowers are prohibited. Participant Funded events, where the food/beverage costs are paid solely from participant fees (i.e., registration fee) are not subject to the policy.

For official business purposes there are three basic types of food purchases that occur at Mason

1. Catering is the activity of providing food and drink for a group of people, typically with services such as setup, staffing, and cleanup included. Catering should be paid with a Mason P-Card (Food and Beverage lift required before purchase) or must be billed directly to the university through a Purchase Order. Mason does not create “House Accounts” and Catering expenses are not a reimbursable expense.
   • For your catering needs, we always encourage you to utilize Sodexo, https://masoncatering.catertrax.com/.
   • A List of Mason approved caterers can be found, here: https://shopmason.gmu.edu/approved-caterers-list/ for questions about approved caterers, please reach out to the Office of Operations and Business Services.
2. Business meals are defined as a meal provided at a commercial dining establishment open to the general public, or at a university location as long as no service other than delivery/pickup is provided. A business meal may occur in travel or non-travel status.
3. Supplies/Food and Drink is the purchase of food, drink and supplies that does not include any vendor-provided services.

Please Note: A listing of the names and organizational affiliations of each person in attendance is required for all events. If a listing is impractical to provide, a written explanation must be submitted. For example “Attendees/Affiliations list impractical – Student focused open event within per diem.”

Click here for the Food and Beverage Purchasing Procedures Guide

Per Diem Limits: All food and beverage purchases are limited to the per meal dollar maximum for the location (which includes applicable tax and tips – up to 20% – or for hotels, the negotiated service fee). Maximum amounts per person are limited to one-and-a-half times (x 1.5) the per diem meal allowances for travel. All rates are available on the GSA Per Diem webpage.

The rates listed below reflect the local area rates for Mason Campuses at the Maximum rate (GSA Basic x 1.5) —

Meals while Traveling

As with lodging, the Commonwealth of Virginia utilizes per diem rates for domestic meals and incidental expenses that are governed by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). The meals and incidental expenses (IE) breakdown for the 48 contiguous United States is available at www.gsa.gov/mie.

• The meals and incidental per diem must correspond to the location specified for the overnight lodging. Please remember reimbursement claims for day trips are only eligible for ground transportation expenses, such as mileage, and are not otherwise eligible for reimbursements related to meals and incidental expenses.

If your Pre-Approval includes P-card purchases, or are otherwise not reimbursable, you must delete those line items from the Expense report. Local lodging has to be approved by the travel office in advance.