Considering Options for Writing Group [North]

I'm president of the Midwest Writers Association, and as such, I'm responsible for making sure things happen -- including directing such activities as setting up meetings.

The board is currently having a discussion about places to meet. We have long met at Hackney's on Lake in Glenview, with occasional forays to local libraries, when we were doing programs that involved technology. But members are beginning to ask if we could consider other locations. The majority of our members are in the northern and northwestern suburbs, but a few are in Skokie and even in the city. So moving it around sounds reasonable.

The problem is finding places that have meeting rooms and are willing to create reasonable fixed-price menus for groups of 20 to 40 people. Board members suggest places but rarely know if there are meeting rooms available, or if all-inclusive menus can be arranged. (We generally include non-alcoholic beverages, appetizers, and main course. No dessert. Alcohol bought individually. Usually around $20-$25, tip and tax included.)

And it doesn't have to be a restaurant. I know some local golf courses have dining facilities. Hotels might work -- but Bar Louie in Skokie, for example, though they hosted us a few years ago, are now saying the bar is too busy to consider serving food in the meeting room (?!).

Meetings are on weeknights (generally Wed. or Thurs.), and run from 6 to about 9pm.

So, does anyone operate or know of a restaurant or other dining facility that has an adequately large room for 20 to 40 writers, that would be willing to discuss a fixed-price menu (with the usual considerations -- one vegetarian dish, one meat dish, something with chicken), that is within the range of north to northwest suburban Chicagoland? Also, fairly accessible by highway, since lots of folks would be driving. Our demographic stretches pretty much from the north side of Chicago up to Highland Park and Lake Forest, and west to Wheeling. (There are a few of us farther west, but we've learned that attendance is hurt by going too far west.)

If you're interested in the group, it's for professional (actually writing for money), nonfiction writers (any genre of nonfiction, and any format), and dues is just $30 for the first year and $25 after that. http://www.midwestwriters.com

Any and all suggestions of places we should look into would be greatly appreciated. (And just so you know, I'm not asking you to plan or negotiate the menu, just let me know that the restaurant has the space and does that kind of thing.)

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Prairie Moon in Evanston has a back room that might accommodate you - a friend of mine had his engagement party there. I'm not sure of their prices on something like that, but it seems like it should be in your range or close.

Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook fits the bill very well in about every respect. They have a private room that holds up 40. I'm not 100% sure about the price point, but I think they could probably hit it, especially for a fixed menu. I'm a very minor investor there and if you'd like me to ask them about it, I'd be happy to.

=R=

Prairie Grass Cafe
601 Skokie Blvd
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 205-4433

Thanks. Both places I have enjoyed in the past -- but didn't know they had back rooms.

Much appreciated.

Here are two more possibilities, and I've booked the private room at both places for groups of that size:

Cooper's Hawk in Arlington Heights
Pete Miller's in Wheeling

There's a Cooper's Hawk in Wheeling as well as in Arlington Heights. We've used the one in AH because the minimums required for their upstairs room are significantly lower, because it's not handicapped accessible (stairs only, no elevator). If this is an issue for you, you may consider their downstairs rooms or the Wheeling location.

Their websites usually give good information about their private rooms and how many people they seat. You'll have to negotiate with the restaurant to come up with a menu that will meet your price point. The good news is, most private rooms don't get used during the week, so restaurants are dying to rent out their rooms to private parties. You'll also find that they rarely worry about minimum commitments for weekday dinners, unlike weekends. Some places (including Cooper's Hawk and, generally, the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants - it may be a chain thing) are pretty strict about going by the prices and minimums on their website banquet menus, although they may still be able to suggest something within your budget, while others will negotiate some nice discounts in order to win the business (PM was like this but this was a few years ago under their previous ownership). Bottom line is, you won't really know what they can provide until you actually talk with their banquet coordinator. Most of these places have a designated private party coordinator that will ask you all the right questions to tell you what they have to offer and help you make a good decision.

http://www.lwoodsrestaurant.com/private-parties/ - can handle up to 40 people in Lynn’s Back Room.

One other thing to consider, and this isn't about any one place in particular. Will you know in advance exactly how many people they will be serving? (I'm not asking you to answer this question, but it's something you'll want to think about.) Some places will need a committed headcount several days in advance, and will require you to pay for that many people, regardless of how many actually show up, so you're stuck paying for no-shows. Others will be more flexible, so you can say "20 to 40" and they will only charge you for however many are actually there. This is something you'll want to discuss with the venues when you do your advance planning.

With our group, when we moved venues from a flexible place that only charged us for those who showed up, to one that didn't have that flexibility, we needed to begin requiring people to pay in advance, so we didn't have to pay for dinners for no-shows out of group funds.

Wow. A wealth of possibilities. Thank you.

You may want to consider The Continental on Buffalo Grove Road at Dundee in Buffalo Grove. They have a separate meeting room, definitely adequate for 20-40 (website says they do groups from 10-136), there is a banquet menu available for groups, plus beer and wine are available for those who wish.

The Continental