1st and Fresh Catering

Deb and Wendy and the entire catering staff made our wedding an unforgettable evening. Catering at a new location for them, the Floating World Gallery, they made sure to do walk-​throughs of the space to know what we wanted. A tasting provided us with wonderful options. The meal was one which many of our guests commented was the most delicious that they’ve had at a wedding. Throughout the whole evening they were attentive and responsive to any of our needs. The evening went very smoothly.

I am a meeting planner for a large association in River North-​1^st and Fresh is BY FAR my favorite caterer to work with for our frequent meeting needs. Their team-​Wendy, Deb, Steve, Mayra, and all their delivery people-​are phenomenal. The food is delicious, hot, and definitely fresh-​we have never had any complaints about their food from ANY of our attendees. That’s 0 complaints for probably at least 2,000 people at this point-​outstanding!
The team will also work with you to figure out how their catering can fit your needs, and exactly how your group likes things done. If you ever have an issue, they are more than willing to help or correct it-​all you have to do is ask!
I recently had a problem (completely my fault) with a breakfast order I had placed for 80 people. I was dreading the next day; I had ordered continental and everyone was expecting hot breakfast, but I sent in an email at 1pm just to see if anything could possibly be done. To my complete surprise (and joy!), every member of the 1^st and Fresh team had returned my email within an hour-​ON A SUNDAY! They fixed the problem, and all was well again in my meeting world. They really came through; 1^st and Fresh is now the ONLY caterer we use!

YUM YUM YUM – you will pay a bit more than normal spots, but the sandwiches are great and unique combos – brie cheese.

My company gets its catering from here quite often and I have had 1^st and Fresh lunchboxes four times now and none of the food in my experience were tasty. Yes most items were fresh, but yet flavorless. The meat in sandwiches were often dry and the bread was either soggy from sauce or hard. Pasta in the pasta salads were over cooked and I had inedible artichokes once. I prefer Panera Bread, Jimmy Johns, or Corner Bakery boxed lunches over these lunches.
I tossed in an extra star since they do a a really cute packaging of utensils, napkin, and condiments. Then again, all this plastic wrapping is probably not environmentally friendly either.
Next time these lunches are offered at meetings, I will just pay out of pocket for my own lunch.

5 stars for customer service and food, this place is amazing plus everyone is super friendly and helpful. All the sandwiches are extremly fresh and the chef was able to make special dietary need sandwiches for my guests even though they weren’t on the menu. If you are looking to bring in lunch for a business meeting you will get much better quality for your money than anywhere else in the city. Our lunch boxes came with a large sandwich, chips, a choice of a side (a lot of options), and a cookie or candy bar. plus a «me too» meal free of charge for me :)

This new kid on the block is kicking everyone’s butt.
You would call their prices average, but with one swoop of a fork to your mouth the word «average» will dissolve from your vocabulary.
The food is absolutely delicious. The high quality, extremely fresh ingredients combined with the gourmet feel of the food makes this place FIRST in my book. We order or receive lunches on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis in my office. I feel like we’ve ordered or received lunches from every single catering or delivery place available in the loop. First and Fresh beats them all.
Bonus: they’re Vegan Friendly! I think you have to simply request vegan and they’ll whip something up and send it over… even if it’s not on the menu.
Dishes we’ve received:
Dijon Cobb Salad: The romaine lettuce came fresh and crisp. The toppings are off to the side in each corner, so if there is a vegetarian/​vegan they don’t have to pick out the bacon!
Caesar: Typical ingredients, everything was fresh… but the dressing! I could drink it from a cup it’s so good!
«Suit & Thai»: Vegan friendly rice noodle dish with veggies, greens and a very light Asian vinaigrette dressing. Served cold and delicious. There is an option to add chicken/​beef.
Petite Gourmet Sandwiches aka «sliders»:
Beef w/​shallots, cheese and other goodies. Packed with flavor and melts in your mouth!
Salmon, w/​some sort of miso glaze and other goodies: Served cold, layers of flavor come out with each bite.
Tomato/​Mozzarella/​Basil Pesto: Heavy on the basil pesto which I LOVE! Served on a soft bun.
Roasted Red Pepper: A pepper stuffed with rice and served with roasted veggies. Vegan friendly, a strait forward healthy dish with enough flavors to tingle your taste buds.
Fruit Salad: Not the average «melon-​o-​palooza». They don’t cheap out on the good stuff like pineapple, berries and the like. Great stuff!
Cookies, Brownies and Treats Basket: The treats are tasty but nothing to rave about. If your sole purpose of catering lunch is to have an amazing cookie call Specialty’s. If you want an amazing lunch that happens to include a brownie this is the place
We’ve ordered from them several times now so I can soundly say: Customer service is very friendly, helpful and accommodating. The ordering process is easy. Delivery is always on time. The prices are reasonable and the food is CONSISTANTLY delicious. They are my go-​to and my backup.
The only draw-​back? No retail location which means catering only… hopefully that will change soon!

Really great catering place. Good online site and menus to choose from. Very friendly staff. Food was fantastic! I will definitely use them again and again…

We had new clients visiting our office today, and I wasn’t about to go the Corner Bakery route to feed them. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with a company that specializes in feeding people during meetings. It would be especially embarrassing to screw up, considering I’m basically an association meetings coordinator.
I needed a small continental breakfast and working boxed lunches for about 12 people. I was able to set up separate delivery times for breakfast and lunch so there was no worry about storing the lunch until it was needed.
I’d say it was a little on the expensive side — but what catered meal isn’t. The boxed lunches were $ 10-​$ 13 a person and came with a sandwich, fruit, and chips. Some cookies thrown in there would have been a nice touch.
The online menus and overall marketing is great. The meals were packaged up creatively — a «fresh» concept. I also got a pen, coffee mug, and chocolate covered pretzels for placing my first order! I’d use 1^st and Fresh again, and try out some of their other offerings which are extensive. If you need a meeting catered, definitely check them out.