Unusual catering challenge

Two good friends of mine who relocated to LA several years ago seek to hold a wedding party in Chicagoland on July 3 (they eloped a long time ago, and never had a wedding reception). I am looking to provide assistance in planning and staging this event.

Here's the challenging part: the groom is Polish and the bride is Korean, and they want this party to include a buffet dinner representing BOTH cuisines. Both are foodie types, so they want both aspects to be as authentic as possible.

Is it even possible that one caterer could mount that kind of meal? If not, how hard would it be to coordinate two caterers for one event? A friend has great things to say about the catering offered by Kasia's Deli, but I have no strong leads on Korean caterers.

Some details: party size will be 100-150 people. Total budget for the food/drink/venue/decorations should fall between $7-10K. No location has been picked, in part because a lot of venues make you work with their preferred vendors, so any suggestions on that front would also be welcome.

Thanks!

I don't mean this to come across as sarcastic, but if I were you I would start managing expectations. This isn't going to turn out the way they're hoping.

Kenny, I don't find your post sarcastic, just not too illuminating. Which expectations do you think need managing, and in what manner?

Kasia's Deli has some incredible pricing for pierogi in volume (I forget exactly what it is, but it's maybe like twenty cents each) and their prices, generally, are pretty good. Maybe you could get a Korean caterer (don't have any leads there, sorry) and simply have them reheat some prepared items from Kasia's. Hiring two different caterers sounds expensive and hard to manage.

Snax wrote:Kenny, I don't find your post sarcastic, just not too illuminating. Which expectations do you think need managing, and in what manner?

I think it will be a significant challenge just to find a venue that can accommodate that number of people on this short notice. I do think it can be done, but because your options will be limited, I suspect that you'll just have to go with whatever catering choices the place allows.

Why not have the event at a Korean restaurant and cut a deal to allow some Polish food to be represented? Depending on the day/night of the week, getting a space may not be a huge problem.

David Hammond wrote: Depending on the day/night of the week, getting a space may not be a huge problem.

day/ night of the week is Saturday, July 3.

Some random thoughts from someone who worked foodservice and catering for a few years back in the day. If it's planned to be a buffet, trays of food from diff places can be brought in. I'd bet my life that you already know a college student or someone else who could coordinate this for a few bucks. Your caterers will have one person in charge, and the help will be college students looking to get 100.00 and free food/drink for a night. It really ain't that hard to set up.
Buy the food, and set up a buffet table. Many serious venues have tableware at the ready. If you MUST go thru the venue's caterer, attempt to strike up a deal. If you ask them how much they need to earn for the service part to make it worth their while, you might be able to bring in food trays from two diff restaurants. Possibly easy money for them. They can bring in the food, and make their $ from setup, and service. They won't need 15 ppl on staff, it should be relatively easy $.

For a venue, I would suggest Loft on Lake. It's the perfect size for 100-150 guests and I think they can be pretty flexible in terms of caterers.

Snax

Just some quick input;
Usually 2 caterers will not work with each other due to liability concerns and ego and reputations. However you could look into a party planer and a staffing service. You could then pick up your food at your choice of restaurants and have it put out by the staff in a buffet style.
Another alternative is to just ask your caterer if you can offer some outside food some will allow it and some will not

Alcohol is something else to consider if you are offering then you would want to have some insurance, your homeowners may cover but I would speak to them to make sure. Most venues will not allow you to rent space unless you have a caterer who has insurance to cover them (Liability) and your guests that is why I recommend a party planer although I do not know one to recommend.
Your budget is adequate but your situation is unique good luck

David Hammond wrote:Kasia's Deli has some incredible pricing for pierogi in volume...

Do you think they'd sub kimchi for the saurkraut inside the pierogi? That could solve the whole problem right there.

-Dan

dansch wrote:Do you think they'd sub kimchi for the saurkraut inside the pierogi? That could solve the whole problem right there.

I had the same thought.

I'd check with Fig Catering. I know they do multi ethnic, though Polish/Korean you will have to ask them.

Enjoy,
Gary

I wonder if Smak-Tak could do catering for this on short notice: if it were me, I'd have the meal be Polish, and I'd go to the panchan bar at H-Mart or Jong Boo, load up with cold panchan to go with the cold Polish salads. Make sure you pick up a large package of disposable chopsticks while you do this. If you can run interferance, I'd guess that a hired caterer could have their staff manage a prepurchased panchan bar - specify when you talk to them that you will be bringing cold prepared foods that will need to be set out.

I'd call caterers with this suggestion - as mentioned upthread, the Figs are good for challenges and might be able to help out (it wouldn't shock me if they volunteered to do kimchi pierogi.)

Good friends of mine had an analogous situation (he's Indian, she's half Sicilian). An added plus (?) was that a chunk of his family is observant Jain, meaning that they are vegetarians who don't eat onions or garlic. Which made Italian food a challenge, to say the least. And on top of everything else, the wedding was at a City of Chicago venue, so they were stuck with a list of approved caterers.

They had a wedding planner handle it, but it involved having the Italian caterer subcontract to the Indian caterer, and two separate buffets. (The food was pretty fabulous, though I don't imagine the whole thing was cheap.)

From my experience, a lot of Korean grocery stores that have food operations (ie. Joong Boo or Dundee Market) will also make large quantities of food for parties and do some sort of catering (I don't think they do service though). We have done that before for family potlucks or parties. At my wedding last June, my parents ordered 3 huge trays of Korean kimbap (maki) and they brought it themselves and our catering company put it out on the hors d'oeuvres table for people to eat. It was a huge hit and sated the Korean folk. Also we picked up Korean dduk (sweet rice cakes in various shapes and sizes and colours, some with red bean paste fillings) and put it on the dessert table. I wish I could help you with the venue and caterer, but our wedding was in North Central Indiana. Good luck!

Eva Luna wrote:And on top of everything else, the wedding was at a City of Chicago venue, so they were stuck with a list of approved caterers.

Not all City of Chicago venues require you to use specific caterers. For example, the Chicago Cultural Center will basically let you use any provider that is licensed. They will also let you bring in your own alcohol, which is not that common.

Darren72 wrote:

Eva Luna wrote:And on top of everything else, the wedding was at a City of Chicago venue, so they were stuck with a list of approved caterers.

Not all City of Chicago venues require you to use specific caterers. For example, the Chicago Cultural Center will basically let you use any provider that is licensed. They will also let you bring in your own alcohol, which is not that common.

Well, they were in the Promontory Point Fieldhouse, which did require an approved caterer. (Or at least it did when they got married, ~ 6 years ago.)

Right - I just didn't want future readers to incorrectly infer that the city has a specific policy that applies to all of their venues.

My stepdaughter is using Prairie Production for her wedding -- they have no restriction on vendors, and the space holds up to 175. They do have a kitchen available, too.

Suzy

This is the thread I posted when planning my own wedding last year; there's some helpful info re: venues that allow outside caterers.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=24079

We ended up at the Highland Park Community House. They also allow bringing in your own alcohol, which saved us a pile of money. We had ~ 100 people, but the space holds up to 150 with dance floor.

ADDED: FWIW the HPCC did require liability insurance, but that cost a whopping $50 for a 2-day policy rider on my renter's insurance. Venue rental was $2500.