Inexpensive - I mean *CHEAP!* - and simple caterer needed

Part of my job includes presenting family literacy events at 12 sites each month, October through May. We focus on some of Chicago’s neediest families, from Uptown to Pullman. We serve each family dinner at the start of each night. Our partner organization provides dinner most months, but I am responsible for December and February.

Because this is a grant-funded project, we have an extremely limited budget. I have a MAXIMUM $350/site (total of $4200 each for December and February) to feed approximately 50 people at each of 12 sites. (It might be 35 at some and 60 at others, but 50 average.) That budget has to cover everything – dinner, drink, delivery, all. Because of the space restrictions we have, boxed lunches work best. Last year, we had Subway EVERY month. They were fine, and healthy enough, but we'd like to switch it up just a little bit.

Most places I have been looking at are out of our budget. I was hoping maybe someone here might have a great idea for a *really* cheap (or community minded) place that we could contact about simple boxed lunch type of meals that we could afford to feed our families. Nothing fancy, but hopefully healthy. I was thinking maybe a sandwich, fruit, and a small treat (cookie, etc.) plus water.

Other needs: We would like to have at least a little variety in sandwiches (last year, we got about 60% turkey, 30% roast beef, 6% tuna and 4% veggie). We cannot have any ham or pork because we have had a number of families who do not eat pork for cultural or religious reasons. We need some veggie option. We also have to ask for nut-free desserts, because of possible food allergies. We prefer water as the drink, as opposed to soda. Finally, the caterer has to be able and willing to deliver to 12 sites all over the City. There are 9 nights of programs, so sometimes there would be two sites (not neccessarily close to each other) on the same night. (this has effectively cut out a lot of tiny neighborhood places that only deliver within their 'hoods. But the way we can request funds to pay the invoices means all 12 meals need to come from one caterer. Oh! The joys of beauracracy!)

If anyone could point me toward any websites or caterers that might work for this program, please let me know. I have contacted Harry Caray's (who our partner agency hired a number of times before the budget was cut) and Alonti, but haven't heard anything back yet. I am fine with getting Subway one month (the guy we work with is wonderful!), but...

Finally, I hope this was the right board to post this plea on. I just wasn't sure where it should go.

Thanks in advance!

Hi bluroses - So you have about $7 a person to work with? I've had to do some meals for around that much. One, if you are getting sandwiches, you might want to also try Potbelly's as - while not great - their sandwiches are a step up from Subway. I think you can get a sandwich, chips and drink (and maybe even a cookie) for around $7. You might also want to try pizza. I did a dinner from Lou Malnati's and they were great in helping me make it affordable. I can't remember how much exactly it was, but I know it was much less than $10 a person.

Middle Eastern food can also be affordable if you stick with vegetarian. While it's not the best Middle Eastern place by far, Andie's on Clark Street has been very helpful in the past with helping me pull together a cheap dinner for a group. It may not have been as cheap as you need, but it might be worth a try.

I don't know if this would fit with their guidelines, but Whole Foods gives away food. You have to fill out an application and send it to the store close to you. I don't know if they only donate to public events but it may very well be that they would donate to something like this. It's worth checking out. Call your closest store and ask for their community relations person.

Let me know how it turns out. I feel your pain.

Hi bluroses,

From the sounds of it, you're not so much looking for a caterer as a restaurant that delivers. I do a lot of non-profit work, and we'll frequently bring in dinner to feed 20-30 people for working meetings. Because my organization's rules prohibit funding to be spent on food for internal meetings, our volunteers take turns bringing in the food. Obviously, most people are price-conscious since they're spending money out of pocket.

In my experience, calling something a "box lunch" automatically adds a dollar or two to the price point. Quite simply, it takes more time for a restaurant to assemble and uses more materials. Platters and trays with the same amount of food cost less than if that food was assembled into a box lunch. And when ordering platters and trays, you can actually get away with ordering less food because most people won't eat some of everything.

At the meetings I attend, I regularly see dinners bought from:
Pizza Capri
Corner Bakery
Potbelly's
Maggiano's
Costco (**as I recall, they have a mechanism in place for handling charitable in-kind donations)
Bucca di Bepo
Chipotle (**seems to be a very community-focused company, and gives a lot of stuff to the non-profit I work with)

I understand that all of the meals have to come from the same company. If there's any flexibility in that, and if someone from your organization could bring some basics from Jewel or elsewhere, it will also save your budget. For example, a couple multi-gallon containers of water and paper cups will be less expensive than 50 individual bottled waters. And you'll pay less for 5-pound bags of apples at Stanleys than you'd pay if you get them from Subway!