One Off Hospitality Commissary Caters to an Expanding Clientele
Stand-Alone Food Prep Facility Plays to Restaurant Group's Strengths
Chicago’s much-awarded One Off Hospitality Group restaurant group made news last October with the opening of its stand-alone catering commissary. It is a facility that would have been unimaginable just a few years before.
Restaurants and caterers were distinctly different things through most of the nation’s culinary history. Restaurants provided dining experiences for individuals and small groups; catering provided food for bigger, off-site parties and events that required more kitchen space than most restaurants could spare.
But a rising trend of people seeking restaurant-quality food in non-restaurant settings was greatly accelerated by the COVID shutdowns. One Off has turned a crisis into opportunity by creating a discrete catering unit with its own food prep facility, providing great food and hospitality for weddings, other events — and even the Chicago Fire professional soccer team.
This Local Food Forum article has the scoop on One Off’s major new wrinkle, with quotes from an interview with CEO Karen Browne.
Bob’s World, and Welcome to It
It’s Earth Day, and the temperatures outside have me hoping that real spring weather is taking hold. A good day for photos of this flowering tree up the block in full bloom.