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Chicago baseball stadium used to cook Thanksgiving meals for 4,000 people
It's called Chicago's biggest Thanksgiving meal. It's so big, they need to prepare it in a ballpark. One of Chicago's biggest food companies is taking over Guaranteed Rate Field this week to cook meals for the Salvation Army.
CHICAGO - It's called Chicago's biggest Thanksgiving meal. It's so big, they need to prepare it in a ballpark.
One of Chicago's biggest food companies is taking over Guaranteed Rate Field this week to cook meals for the Salvation Army. For the 28th straight year, Chicago's Levy Restaurants is preparing full Thanksgiving dinners for 4,000 people.
"We're looking at food from scratch for 4,000 people. We started two months ago with all the planning and logistics," said Levy Restaurants Chef De Cuisine Robin Rosenberg.
If you think your kitchen will be busy this Thanksgiving, welcome to true organized chaos as Levy Restaurants descends on the industrial-sized kitchen at Guaranteed Rate Field for a massive and memorable meal.
"This is an ideal location to do food for 4,000," Rosenberg said. "Look at this kitchen. We can rock and roll here, you know?"
This year they are cranking out 1,700 pounds of turkey, 680 pounds of cranberries, 400 pounds of sweet potatoes, 440 pounds of mashed potatoes, 300 pounds of green beans, 180 pounds of stuffing, and a boatload of gravy.
On Thursday morning they'll be back at the ballpark at 4 a.m. to fire up the ovens and heat up all the delicious food.
"And at about 8:30, we have the produce company Midwest Produce is helping us with their trucks to deliver to the Salvation Army. We have a little police escort to help us," Rosenberg said.
While most of the meals will be served in person and to-go at the Salvation Army Freedom Center, there will also be Meals on Wheels.
"We have remote feeding where we go in vans to all the areas where the unhoused are," Rosenberg said. "Under freeways, in parks. In shelters, and we set the same thing up. Tables with tablecloths. We do a full Thanksgiving meal."
About 45 Levy employees volunteer their time and energy to prepare the meals this week. Most work on the corporate side—not the cooking side of the company, like human resources director Shauna Gilhooly.
"We're a part of the Chicago community and giving back and enriching the community is who we've been and who I know we'll continue to be for as long as we're here," Gilhooly said. "To see the smiles and people just enjoy our recipes and our food, it means a lot to all of us."
And for the first time this year, Thanksgiving meals prepared by Levy will also be sent to the five Ronald McDonald houses in the Chicago area.