Sunday brunch for a large group?

I'm getting married on Sept. 5, and would like to do a Sunday brunch for the out-of-towners the morning after the wedding. In an ideal universe, I'd have a family member or close friend with a large dining room or backyard, and I could just make a huge-ass bagel order at Kaufman's, maybe dig up a coffee urn, and leave it at that. Alas, that's not a possibility in my smallish one-bedroom apartment.

We live, and most of the wedding guests will be staying, in Evanston. I'd been thinking of Prairie Moon, because it's the most convenient place I could think of that would have enough space (I'm guessing preliminarily that it would be maybe 50 people, but we are still waiting for wedding RSVPs). But I just called them, and apparently the only way they are willing to take reservations for a group that large for a Sunday brunch is if we do their single, standard brunch menu. Which costs $18/person. What the heck is that all about? I mean come on, most of their breakfast items are in the $8 - 10 range, and you'd think they'd be happy at the extra business, not add 100% for what should essentially be coffee and the dedicated use of some space that they aren't generally using anyway - it's never been close to full when I've been there for brunch. I asked what would happen if we just all dribbled in and ordered off the menu, and they said that would really slam their kitchen (and a buffet with the same number wouldn't? ), and they couldn't guarantee good service. Which makes me wonder how they handle it during their normal brunch if they get a lot of people?

Any other ideas for a place where they might actually be glad for the business? I'd prefer in or near Evanston, and I'd prefer somewhere where we wouldn't be in the middle of a bunch of other groups, but I am willing to think outside the box.

Not here to argue with you, but they do have a point. They will bring in more staff to serve a party of 50 all sitting at the same time, so it's costing them more money.

spinynorman99 wrote:Not here to argue with you, but they do have a point. They will bring in more staff to serve a party of 50 all sitting at the same time, so it's costing them more money.

More money, yes, but nearly twice as much? They will need to bring in more staff, but it's not like I'm asking for something for nothing. And knowing my party, they are like herding cats, so I really doubt they would actually all be sitting at the same time. I thought keeping a buffet stocked would be simpler than having a bunch of people ordering off the regular menu, not more complicated. $18 isn't a whole lot less than we are spending per person for food for a full Persian buffet for the wedding reception! And that includes food with more expensive ingredients, like beef and salmon, not pancakes and scrambled eggs.

Have you checked out Celtic Knot or Tommy Nevins? Both have rooms that can be closed off. Not sure of the price point, tho.

A buffet ends up with a lot of waste (and a lot of people eating boatloads more than they usually would). I don't think $18 per person for an all you can eat buffet is that expensive.

And I've been eating at a place when a huge group all shows up - not Prairie Moon - it was a nightmare.

Short of finding a cheap public space (park district, church) and getting a catering package from someplace like Michael's:

http://www.atraytoremember.com/chicago- ... _breakfast

You're going to have a hard time hitting your price point.

I don't care whether it's all-you-can-eat (it sure wouldn't be if I were doing it in my living room) - I just thought buffet would be simpler to manage for a group that size, even if quantities are limited. I am going to put in calls to The Bagel at Old Orchard, Wild Tree Cafe, and Dixie Kitchen, and see what they tell me, but other ideas are certainly welcome.

I'm just boggled that a place that is usually 2/3 empty at Sunday brunch would rather have no business from me at all than have some amount less than $18/person, which is more than they usually get per person for brunch anyway.

P.S. Celtic Knot is a good idea; I didn't even realize they did brunch! It doesn't look like Nevin's has much in the way of breakfasty things, though.

Eva Luna wrote:... In an ideal universe, I'd have a family member or close friend with a large dining room or backyard, and I could just make a huge-ass bagel order at Kaufman's, maybe dig up a coffee urn, and leave it at that. Alas, that's not a possibility in my smallish one-bedroom apartment.
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Why not just do this at a public park?

Kennyz wrote:

Eva Luna wrote:... In an ideal universe, I'd have a family member or close friend with a large dining room or backyard, and I could just make a huge-ass bagel order at Kaufman's, maybe dig up a coffee urn, and leave it at that. Alas, that's not a possibility in my smallish one-bedroom apartment.
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Why not just do this at a public park?

A. That woulld REALLY suck if it rained.

B. I am reluctant to deal with making friends or family get up early the morning after the wedding to pick up the food and set it up. We may be up rather late the night before.

P.S. Celtic Knot is sounding very promising - I just spoke to them, and they are willing to do custom menus, etc. within a more reasonable budget. (The chef is out of town until next week, though, so I need to talk to her first, but they said they'd call me before booking the party room for anyone else.) I've never been there for brunch - how's the food?

Our budget is not nearly as tight as it was until my fiance's parents gave us a bunch of money, or at this point I'd be scrapping the brunch idea entirely.

Eva, I was going to mention that there are a number of Evanston picnic shelters that you can rent fairly cheaply for just such a purpose - not to mention that a caterer will probably be happy to bring your food and set it up.

Mhays wrote:Eva, I was going to mention that there are a number of Evanston picnic shelters that you can rent fairly cheaply for just such a purpose - not to mention that a caterer will probably be happy to bring your food and set it up.

Oh, I know, but I am doing pretty much all the wedding planning myself, and I really don't want to take on a whole new project - I want to keep it simple. I'm somewhat open to ideas, though, if you know someone who would do a project like that.

(I am kind of leaning toward wanting to just do it in a restaurant, though, and not have to worry about the weather or anything else - plus it's within a couple of blocks of the hotels I've blocked off, and probably 75% of the guests are coming from out of town and won't know their way around.)

Just a little FYI, but my neighbor's daughter got married almost 3 weeks ago and they had a brunch the next morning at their club. 75 people RSVP'd yes (via their website) as the invitation suggested, but 150 showed up for brunch. It seems that once everyone got talking at the wedding, they decided that brunch sounded like a good idea. They were able to pull it off, but not before a lot of sweating and crazy running around.

Diane wrote:Just a little FYI, but my neighbor's daughter got married almost 3 weeks ago and they had a brunch the next morning at their club. 75 people RSVP'd yes (via their website) as the invitation suggested, but 150 showed up for brunch. It seems that once everyone got talking at the wedding, they decided that brunch sounded like a good idea. They were able to pull it off, but not before a lot of sweating and crazy running around.

Well, the brunch info was not printed on the invitations for the wedding (as those were sent out nearly 2 months ago, and I'm just figuring out brunch now, because until recently we weren't going to be able to afford it at all), and it's going to be by word-of-mouth or e-mail, and basically for out-of-town guests and immediate family only. We still have to figure out who is coming to the wedding (we are missing a BUNCH of RSVPs, less than a week before the deadline), and we are simply going to have to find a way to make it clear that if you're not specifically invited to brunch, you're simply not invited to brunch. Any ideas how to accomplish that?

(The room at Celtic Knot only holds 50, anyway.)

Sadly, unless you police it, a buffet is by default all-you-can-eat. Are YOU going to tell Uncle George he can't have thirds?

leek wrote:Sadly, unless you police it, a buffet is by default all-you-can-eat. Are YOU going to tell Uncle George he can't have thirds?

No, but I really don't think we are going to have a ton of Uncle Georges, and they will be balanced out by small children (mostly ages 2 - 10) and other light eaters.

You may know that all your guests are light eaters. If you are at a buffet the restaurant has to plan for everyone to be Uncle George.

leek wrote:You may know that all your guests are light eaters. If you are at a buffet the restaurant has to plan for everyone to be Uncle George.

I certainly understand that, but I have had other large-group experiences with Prairie Moon before, and I was shocked this time at how unwilling they were to consider any arrangement other than a single, $18/person brunch menu. My sister had her wedding reception there, and she didn't pay much more than that (she thinks $21) for a full dinner buffet, again including items that require much more expensive ingredients than pancakes and eggs. I'm not looking for anything fancy, even - bagels and cream cheese and coffee would be just fine, if I could find anyone who would even discuss options and commit to make space for my group! I was also surprised because I helped organize my Evanston High School class reunion 3 years ago, which was held at Prairie Moon, and the owners (one of whom was a high school classmate of mine) were extremely flexible for that purpose. Limited quantities would be fine, if we could even get to that point in the conversation - like I said above, if I were doing this in my living room, quantities would certainly be limited.

I like to think I'm a reasonable person, but frankly, I'm simply not willing to spend $18/person for brunch, especially when I am spending not much more than that per person the night before for a full-on Persian banquet. I'm sure I can find someone else who is more flexible about taking my money.

I'm guessing that the reception and the reunion involved liquor -- always a game-changer.

spinynorman99 wrote:I'm guessing that the reception and the reunion involved liquor -- always a game-changer.

They did, but both were consumption only, and the wedding reception liquor consumption was pretty low (though admittedly the reunion liquor consumption wasn't, but well, the ownership took a risk there - through a convoluted series of circumstances involving the original reunion organizer completely flaking out, as of a week beforehand, we only had 100 reunion reservations for a class of 700+ people, plus spouses, etc., but they agreed to close the whole restaurant that night anyway). And as for brunch, some people do drink at brunch, but that wasn't even mentioned as an option in conjunction with some sort of package. My sister was also surprised when I told her; Paul White, my classmate who is part-owner there, doesn't live in-state anymore or actively manage the restaurant, so she thought that might have something to do with the lack of flexibility.

What's boggling me is mostly the unwillingness to consider anything but one single pre-set option, especially when I've always seen them have loads of empty tables (not to mention the whole entire party room) at brunch. I really doubt the typical per-person brunch check at Prairie Moon is anything close to $18, as most of their entrees are $8 - 10. So apparently they would rather not have my brunch business at all than have anything less than $18/person.

Oh well - we will survive somehow.

Eva Luna wrote:What's boggling me is mostly the unwillingness to consider anything but one single pre-set option, especially when I've always seen them have loads of empty tables (not to mention the whole entire party room) at brunch. I really doubt the typical per-person brunch check at Prairie Moon is anything close to $18, as most of their entrees are $8 - 10. So apparently they would rather not have my brunch business at all than have anything less than $18/person.

I think this should tell you that it isn't as simple as you think. When my wife and I planned our wedding, we were really surprised at how different the pricing structures are than what we assumed. For example, every single caterer told us that it would be cheaper to have individually plated dinners rather than a buffet or family style service. (We wanted individually plated dinners, so this was perfect.)

Congratulations on the wedding. Despite this setback, it sounds like you are putting a lot of thought into planning everything. I'm sure it will be great.

Darren72 wrote:

Eva Luna wrote:What's boggling me is mostly the unwillingness to consider anything but one single pre-set option, especially when I've always seen them have loads of empty tables (not to mention the whole entire party room) at brunch. I really doubt the typical per-person brunch check at Prairie Moon is anything close to $18, as most of their entrees are $8 - 10. So apparently they would rather not have my brunch business at all than have anything less than $18/person.

I think this should tell you that it isn't as simple as you think. When my wife and I planned our wedding, we were really surprised at how different the pricing structures are than what we assumed. For example, every single caterer told us that it would be cheaper to have individually plated dinners rather than a buffet or family style service. (We wanted individually plated dinners, so this was perfect.)

Congratulations on the wedding. Despite this setback, it sounds like you are putting a lot of thought into planning everything. I'm sure it will be great.

Oh, I know that I'm not in the restaurant business, and that I don't know everything that's involved here. What I'm boggled about is that a business could get a decent chunk of money from me that they wouldn't otherwise be getting, and they aren't willing to discuss options at all, when I know they have been much more flexible in the not-too-distant past. And when another business, a 5-minute walk away, is willing to do so, and that's not even counting the other places in downtown Evanston that I haven't spoken with yet because the responsible person is out this week, or because I want to investigate these couple of options first because they are more convenient or I like their menus better. If Prairie Moon thinks it's not worth anything less than $18/person to feed my family brunch (a pretty much guaranteed group of 50 or so), and they'd rather make a business decision to rely on the possibility of walk-ins, then they are free to go right ahead - and I am then going to make the only logical business decision for me, which is to find someone else who is willing to do what I want at a more reasonable price. It's not that I'm taking it personally; I'm just boggled at their change in attitude from the last times I've dealt with them.

(And FWIW, the wedding reception food is from Noon-o-Kabab, and they have been fabulously flexible. And so has Selmarie, who is making our cake. And so has the Highland Park Community House, where we are having the reception, etc. The moral of the story is that if you are flexible, I am willing to give you my money for a large event, but if you're not flexible, I'm not.)

It's not always about a quick buck. You're trying to get the use of his space (potentially displacing walk-in customers) and food/coffee for 50 people for $500. Best case he ends up with $150 in his pocket; worst case he adds staff and clears next to nothing. It doesn't matter that you're willing to settle for less, he has 50 potential bad-will ambassadors coming out of your event. We did a birthday breakfast for my mother-in-law with simple catering from Michael's (catering, not the hot dog place in HP) for about 50 people with a space that cost us nothing and it was still more than $10/person when you added coffee, juice and paper goods. The guy doesn't want to underwrite your event; you shouldn't be getting mad at him for it.

spinynorman99 wrote:It's not always about a quick buck. You're trying to get the use of his space (potentially displacing walk-in customers) and food/coffee for 50 people for $500. Best case he ends up with $150 in his pocket; worst case he adds staff and clears next to nothing. It doesn't matter that you're willing to settle for less, he has 50 potential bad-will ambassadors coming out of your event. We did a birthday breakfast for my mother-in-law with simple catering from Michael's (catering, not the hot dog place in HP) for about 50 people with a space that cost us nothing and it was still more than $10/person when you added coffee, juice and paper goods. The guy doesn't want to underwrite your event; you shouldn't be getting mad at him for it.

I'm not mad, I'm boggled. Every time I've been there on a Sunday, they are 2/3 empty, not even counting the party room; I highly doubt I'd be displacing anyone. And who said anything about $10? I just said that's what their entrees typically cost.

If he doesn't want my business, no sweat off my nose; I'll just find someone who does. I just can't justify spending another $1,000+ for brunch on top of the wedding expenses we are already committed to.

Eva Luna-

think it's a great gesture to want to offer something the next morning for your out of town guests. I think having something in any restaurant will cost more than you're willing to pay. I'm not familiar with the Evanston park district system, but would any of their recreation centers work?

The GP wrote:Eva Luna-

think it's a great gesture to want to offer something the next morning for your out of town guests. I think having something in any restaurant will cost more than you're willing to pay. I'm not familiar with the Evanston park district system, but would any of their recreation centers work?

I don't know of any rec center spots that would work, which is part of the reason we are having the wedding reception in Highland Park to begin with rather than in Evanston. If I don't get anywhere with the various other restaurants that may be possibilities (and there are several, and as mentioned above, Celtic Knot looks promising and we plan to go there for brunch this Sunday to check out the food), I may look into that. Thanks for the idea, though.

If you can find a place to gather, GNR Winner Chuck's offers a catered breakfast buffet starting at under $10/person. Scroll down the linked menu until you get to "Breakfast Catering".

For our morning-after brunch in Milwaukee, we rented a large hospitality suite at a hotel (a "conference" type room would work, too). They provided bagels, muffins, pastries, coffee, etc. It worked out great since so many of our guests were staying at the hotel. They could just stumble out of their room! I'm guessing that the hotels in Evanston may have a similar option and I would assume that you could bring outside food as well. Another direction to consider.

If you are at a buffet the restaurant has to plan for everyone to be Uncle George.

Or, as we say, we have to plan for 50 Justins.

I think the moral is that most of us, with the exception of Eva Luna, aren't boggled by the fact that Prairie Moon seems fairly unflexible on this issue. While Noon-o-Kebab, Selmarie, and the HPCC may be used to doing catered events and know they'll still make a profit even if they drop their prices/ make a new menu/be flexible, Prairie Moon is obviously unsure if they can do this and still make a profit.

If a simple meal (bagels, etc.) is all you want, I think the hotel idea sounds like a good one. Looking in to outside venues/catering is sure to raise the price beyond your budget.

figmolly wrote:I think the moral is that most of us, with the exception of Eva Luna, aren't boggled by the fact that Prairie Moon seems fairly unflexible on this issue.

haha, apparently reiterating 500 reasons why this is the case is still mind boggling.

OK, fine, I get it - I am supposed to accept, without question, the inflexible behavior of a place that has previously been quite flexible. Whatever - I've obviously given up on that one particular venue out of the many possibilities. Now if anyone else wants to actually continue to provide helpful suggestions (and thanks very much to those of you who have), I'm all ears.

I've never known a hotel that actually has its own food service capabilities (as both the Orrington and the Best Western in Evanston, where I blocked off rooms, do) to allow outside catering, but I may check into that possibility if none of the several other potential locations in downtown Evanston work out, for whatever reason. But given what a PITA it was with both hotels to do something as simple as reserve a block of rooms, I'm not terribly hopeful. (It took three attempts for each hotel to manage to send me a contract that actually contained the terms we had agreed on.)

Or, you know, I may just say "screw it, it's not worth the hassle," and that anyone who wants to hang out the day after the wedding is welcome to join us at the Jazz Fest. It would be nice to actually be able to hang out with everyone for more than a few minutes each at the wedding, especially because many of them will have traveled thousands of miles to get there, but I don't know that I'm willing to drive myself crazy to arrange another group event.