Volunteer needed to research lunch costs

Posted by nategasser on July 7, 2009 at 8:31pm

If someone is looking for an opportunity to help, we need some quotes for a caterer to provide lunch. I would plan on 80 people.

Is anyone willing to take this on? Maybe you could post your findings here?

Thanks!
Nate

Comments

I can.

Posted by alexsokoloff on July 7, 2009 at 9:27pm

Do we have any parameters for this lunch? Vegetarian option is one I guess.

Food-Tek on cityline ave

Posted by ldpm on July 8, 2009 at 2:11pm

I would like to heartily recommend Food-Tek. They are located in Bala but do a lot of deliveries into center city. They are very good with veggie options; they even have a vegetarian cheesesteak that is so good, people routinely complain "hey, I asked for the vegetarian one!". There will certainly be cheaper options, but they do a very nice spread, and it starts at about $8 per person. Full disclosure - I know the owner. Which means I can probably get a small discount, but really the quality is good enough that it's worth the price. I'll ask him for a quote on 80 people with vegetarian option, giving two or three price points.

Catering Options from Food-tek

Posted by ldpm on July 8, 2009 at 4:05pm

Hi, folks. Below is the response I've received from Aaron at Food-tek. I'll ask, however - has Drexel agreed to allow outside catering? My recollection is that UPenn and Drexel usually require use of their own catering for any meals at conferences.

Here are three options for your event on July 31.

Option 1: Sandwich Platters

Assorted Cold Sandwich Platters consisting of Turkey, Ham, Roast Beef, Corned Beef, Chicken, Tuna Salad, and Chicken Salad on fresh baked Baguettes. Mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, sweet and Hot peppers served on the side. A large Tossed or Caesar Salad, Cookies, Chips, Sodas and Ice will be provided. We offer two vegetarian sandwiches. The first is a Cucumber and Brie with lettuce and tomato. The second is an Avocado and Sundried tomato with a honey mustard dressing Lettuce and tomato.

This option is $7.50 per person

Option 2: Bagged Lunches

Individual Lunches will speed service allowing you to return quickly to your conference. Each Bag includes a Sandwich Wrap, Garlic Pasta Salad with sundried Tomato, Chips, a Cookie, a piece of Seasonal Fruit and a Bottled Water. A selection of condiments will be provided including pickles, sweet and hot peppers, mayonnaise and mustard. Vegetarian sandwiches can be included as above.

This option in $8.50 per person

Option 3: Hot Food

We will provide chafing racks of hot food, bread and butter, a large tossed salad, cookies, and soda. We can work with you around some choices that will work best with your group but here are some ideas.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches served with baked Macaroni and cheese.

Sweet Sausage and Peppers with Baguette

Meatballs in Sauce

Roast Chicken with Tomato and Capers

Roast Beef in Gravy

For Vegetarians we can prepare a choice from:

Five Cheese Tortellini with spinach and roast Garlic

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom

Spinach and Feta Pie

For this option choose one or two selections at $9.50 per person

You can add to your Lunch from the following

Fresh Cut Fruit Bowl (320oz): $74.95

Baked Macaroni and Cheese: $1.15 per person

Cheese Tray (Cubed cheese and Crackers): $59.95

Crudités (Cut Veggies with Cucumber Wasabi and Pesto Ranch Dipping Sauces): $34.95 each

Hummus and Pita Tray with Baby Carrots: $19.95 each

I put in the catering

Posted by kat3_drx on July 8, 2009 at 7:17pm

I put in the catering exception request with Drexel this week, waiting to hear back. Assuming they allow it, we should be good for Food-tek et al.

However, here's a menu for the catering from Sodexho that we might be looking at. The price differential is not as bad as it might have been, but it's still good to have options:
http://www.drexel.edu/drexelbusinessservices/chestnutstreetcaterers/docu...

Wow - now I'm hungry!

Posted by nategasser on July 8, 2009 at 8:14pm

This sounds great, and seems pretty affordable. I would think Option 1 would be fine but I'm open to other ideas.

Does this price include delivery & setup to Drexel?

Thanks for checking it out.

The price does include

Posted by ldpm on July 9, 2009 at 2:33pm

The price does include delivery and setup, though it does not include gratuity. On the hot-food option, I believe they would also have someone around to staff the table.

-Larry

Not to be a bummer, but we

Posted by kat3_drx on July 9, 2009 at 3:36pm

Not to be a bummer, but we may run into a problem with the hot-food option in the library (which is a shame because the pulled-pork sandwiches sounded goooood). We'll have a room to contain the food, but there's a strict no-meals policy in place for the library building, so things like soup, hot meals requiring heat trays, etc would almost certainly get us into hot water (no pun intended). Option 1 or 2 from Food-Tek should be fine though!

Also, to answer the other food question as it relates to Sodexho, there's a $20 fee for delivery but then they're hands-off and leave it to us. I should be able to provide cutlery etc.

In case we don't get

Posted by kat3_drx on July 9, 2009 at 4:11pm

In case we don't get approval for Food-Tek, here's the information I got for what's available from Chestnut Street Caterers, the company Drexel uses:

$20 setup fee.

Breakfast/Coffee service dealie

Board Room Breakfast - $3.55 per guest
Bagels - plain, poppy, and sesame
Danish - cheese and apple
Muffins - corn, blueberry, and bran
Donuts - glazed and frosted

includes: Philadelphia cream cheese, assorted preserves, and butter
bottled minute maid OJ, cranberry, or apple juice

additional $1.95 per guest:
coffee (regular and decaf), tea (regular and decaf)

Lunch

Option 1:
Delicatession Sandwiches - $7.60 per guest
choose three of the following types:
Roast Breast of Turkey; Tuna Fish Salad; Chicken Salad; Black Forest Ham and Swiss Cheese; Grilled Vegetables; Hummus, Cucumber and Fresh Spinach; and Egg Salad.
Served with Lettuce and Tomato; choice of American, Provolone, or Swiss Cheese; and choice of Kaiser Buns, Club Rolls, White, Wheat, or Rye Bread.

Option 2:
Chestnut Street Hoagies - $7.35 per guest

choose three of the following types:
Italian, turkey, ham, tuna salad, vegetarian 6" hoagies with lettuce, tomato, American, Swiss, or provolone cheese, and Italian dressing served on Italian bread.

All sandwiches are served with condiments.

additional $2.75 per guest:
Available as boxed meals with freshly baked cookies, potato chips, and assorted sodas (Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Bottled Water).

Final ruling on catering?

Posted by nategasser on July 16, 2009 at 1:17pm

Katherine,

Did you hear back regarding using outside catering? We need to place an order ASAP if we're going to book the caterers for the event.

We're starting to take people's money for registrations so we need to get everything else lined up and in place.

Thanks!
Nate

Just got word that the

Posted by kat3_drx on July 16, 2009 at 4:09pm

Just got word that the catering exception has been denied but just now got off the phone with contract management at Drexel. There are a few things suddenly up in the air right now outside of food as well that I should hear about within the next hour and certainly by the end of the day. I've stressed to them that the wheels are already turning on this event so hopefully that will be taken into account.

-Kate

(almost) spoke too soon

Posted by kat3_drx on July 16, 2009 at 4:19pm

OK, just got word back that the event itself is still as cool as ever to happen here. The only thing is that we are going to have to use Chestnut Street Caterers. I detailed some options in the above comment that seems the most likely, but you can look at the full menu here (opens as a PDF):

http://www.drexel.edu/drexelbusinessservices/chestnutstreetcaterers/docu...

I called the caterers to get a specific quote etc, just waiting to hear back (probably today).

My suggestions

Posted by nategasser on July 16, 2009 at 4:43pm

Option 1: hoagies + sodas/water = $9.00/pp
Option 2: Deli sandwiches + sodas, chips and cookies = $10.35/pp

Thoughts?

Also note they require a university account number when booking, and will bill to that account.
Katherine, are you able to handle that? And we would reimburse?

Yup, I've got the booking

Posted by kat3_drx on July 16, 2009 at 5:46pm

Yup, I've got the booking number. Reimbursement should be very simple. I'll double-check everything, naturally.

Also, what are the thoughts on coffee/danish breakfast? There was some last year and we'll be getting people from relatively far (I know some from North Jersey, New York, Maryland will be coming). I might be able to make my own donation or get an outside donation to afford breakfast, since it would amount to about $6-7 per person to provide coffee, tea, bagels, donuts, and love.

Also my two cents for the catering options would option 1 (the hummus just sounds good). The caterers said we can do the chips/cookies on option 1 for an additional $2.75 a head if that's something we'd like to do.

Spoke with the

Posted by kat3_drx on July 17, 2009 at 12:22pm

Spoke with the caterers...they're sending a quote for coffee service in the morning and deli sandwiches with chips/cookies for the afternoon. Cutlery and linens are included and they'll waive the $20 setup fee since we're close by to their location. They're scheduled to come to the library to set up coffee at around 7/7:30am, then set up lunch to be ready around 12:00pm.

I'll be hearing back today with the final quote for 70 people, so please let me know if anything doesn't sound right or needs last-minute adjustment.

Sounds great to me. Thanks

Posted by nategasser on July 17, 2009 at 12:42pm

Sounds great to me. Thanks for taking care of this!

Nate

All set food-wise

Posted by kat3_drx on July 21, 2009 at 5:30pm

OK, we're confirmed. Breakfast of bagels/danish/donuts/coffee/tea/juice, lunch of turkey and cheese/ham and swiss/hummus and veggies sandwiches with chips, soda, and cookies for lunch. Final quote for about 70 people, I sent Nate the official price.

Turns out we don't have to use the booking number either, we can use the sponsoring credit card and bill it after the fact. :)

-Katherine

Thanks!

Posted by nategasser on July 21, 2009 at 6:06pm

Katherine, thanks so much for taking care of the catering order!
Things are humming along nicely on the logistics.
Next I think we need a (semi!) final arrangement of sessions and a final registration push so we get as close to our 80-person capacity as we can get.