Our child care center has been using Gourmet Gorilla for years. Unfortunately, we are looking for a new food service provider as our food is consistently delivered at unsafe temperatures and often re-deliveries are not possible due to Gourmet Gorilla staffing issues. The customer service team is very nice but that does not make up for the inconvenience of having to scramble to find food to serve the children who attend our center. I keep thinking things will get better but am consistently disappointed. I would not recommend! read more

Our town gets free breakfast and lunch for kids this summer from gourmet gorilla delivering from a food truck, although packaging is nice and Im not sure who's fault was it, delivery? Handling? Packaging? but the food SUCKS!!!! All the fruits are mostly SPOILED!!! I mean I know it's free, But Im sure somebody paid for ya'll services and think about this for a second, YOU GUYS ARE GIVING KIDS SPOILED FOOD! The only thing not spoiled there are the package processed food. I have to constantly tell my kid, try it first if it's still Ok, if not toss it out. read more

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I have worked at schools that use Gourmet Gorilla and we have had several issues with receiving incorrect menus, orders, and an overall lack of proper communication. They send out menus in advance and there is almost always a correction made to the menus, after parents have received the original version. Not only this, but the updated menus are not always correct and this can cause serious dietary issues for children with restrictions as GG does not provide alternative menus for breakfast and snacks. In addition to this, many of the parents from my school have complained that the meals are not planned well and I have to agree. There will be days when breakfast is a bagel, lunch is pasta, and snack is pizza bread. Got enough carbs in there? This might be nitpicking, but seeing lunches that are all the same color is off-putting as well. Pizza muffins, cantaloupe, and carrots...too much orange. On top of this, our driver leaves our kitchen a mess most days. Items are packed in ice to maintain temperatures, totally get that, but the ice then melts and leaves our fridge and floor sopping wet. It's not hard to clean up a puddle or spill. read more

This place is filthy. The food sits out on the dock during the day in the heat and sun awaiting for the delivery trucks next to rat traps, dumpsters and insect traps. I would never let my child consume this food. The dumpsters are overflowing with garbage scattered about the loading dock. The food is kept in refrigerated trailers parked in the street as their facility is too tiny to accommodate the amount of meals they are trying to serve. Why the health inspector has not shut this place down is beyond me. You can see this any day of the week at their facility. read more

Gourmet Gorilla - Rat traps, dumpsters along side your child's lunch. This place is a health code nightmare. - Caterers Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My daughter's summer camp ordering lunch from Gourmet Gorilla. According to my daughter, all meal were cold and she didn't want to eat at all. There is no reason to order hot lunch if it is not hot or even warm. There are too many kids at camp so she couldn't use microwave. Last year, she had Gourmet Gorilla from other camp and she didn't complain that time so maybe just by camp location? Hope this will be improved next year. read more

One of Gourmet Gorilla's owners, Jason, responded to me regarding my earlier concern about my boyfriend not being paid for his work. He took this issue very seriously and spoke with the manager about it and righted the wrong. I believe this manager is no longer working at Gourmet Gorilla and my boyfriend may even still be considered for a position at the company. I was very glad that this company took the time and effort to address the problem. Jason told me that this family business started from a small budget and its mission is to serve the underserved of Chicago. It is evident they take this very seriously. Thanks again Jason. read more

Having to be in the position of ordering lunch for the entire staff at my office makes me uncomfortable because I have some tricky food restrictions. If I eat separately from everyone else (bring my own lunch or get it from another vendor) my colleagues might express uneasiness. They want me to enjoy the perk of ordering out on special occasions and they want to enjoy food together. (It's that old breaking-of-the-bread thing.) Gourmet Gorilla has become my answer. GG and staff communicate very well over email. They cater to small groups. The food is fresh, local, organic and fabulous. And they always tell me what food is gluten and dairy free, which is usually 80% of what they serve. Delicious roasted chicken breasts, roasted vegetables, salad, rice, and cookies for the normal eaters. Hot, fresh, and set-up buffet style. The key, if you are a celiac, is to make sure you subtly serve yourself first. read more

I wish I could give this company negative stars. This company is a complete scam. I work at a preschool with 2 year olds and they go home starving. They won't even touch the macaroni & cheese or their pizza, classic kid favorites. If it were just the bad taste, I'd let it go but I'm compelled to write this review to let everyone know this company is based on a TOTAL SCAM. They claim "organic" and "everything from scratch." They send milk that is not organic. They send hamburger buns that are not organic. All the meat is pink; when we complained, they claimed it's supposed to be that way. Chicken is supposed to be almost bleeding pink?? The hamburger menu today was the last straw. The meat was about quarter sized thin, like White Castle and the taste and quality was just like White Castle. But they were completely red/pink in the middle; how is that even possible? It's so thin, 15 seconds on the grill should have cooked it all the way through. It's quite obvious it was frozen patties they just thawed in the oven. Along with that they sent raw veggies and mushy fruit, and nonorganic prepackaged buns and milk. How much effort could this meal possibly take? For $5 a meal, it should be a lot more than that. One meal they had sent a banana so rotten it was black on the inside and looked like something was eating it from inside out. Dishes from them often come with stuck on old food on it still and other vegetables mixed in (for example a stray string bean with a pan of broccoli). I really do not understand where all these positive reviews are coming from. This company is an absolute scam and a waste of money. Not only is the quality of their product horrible, their customer service is worse. STAY AWAY read more

Gourmet Gorilla DOES NOT provide Organic Food. Their facility is NOT USDA Certified Organic and the only ingredients they claim are Organic is Canned Tomatoes (Muir Glen) and one source of milk (Prairie Farms). Everything else is NON-ORGANIC. If you look at a daily menu and count Organic Ingredients against all ingredients you will find less than 5% Organic. All else is conventional: may be sprayed with pesticides, insecticides and fungicides. All these chemicals can be found in all grains, all vegetables (except canned tomatoes) and all meat (since it can be fed non organic food). Bellow a study on non organic food pesticides intake. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1367841/ On their website they claim to strive to obtain 70% of their ingredients as Organic. Quite misleading. Facts are different. On the other hand the kindergartens promote their Gourmet Gorilla sourced food as Organic which is again misleading. They are better than public schools food where you literally eat toxins loaded food, but far from Organic. I am wondering why don't they live up to their claimed standards. I will have to move my kid to a kindergarten that serves Organic Food. read more

It's hard to believe this is the premier caterer for schools and daycares in the Chicago area. Yes, they offer organic food, but the food they provide is not particularly healthy. My son is served muffins or banana bread at least a few times a week for breakfast. Those are treats, not breakfast. Many of the snacks provided are just as bad. I have a few other issues, particularly with the vegetarian lunches which include a lot of fake meat products. But the thing that makes me crazy is that at least once a month my son is served pizza for lunch and pizza bread for snack. Yes, on the same day! Other parents at the facility have similar concerns and we did speak to Gourmet Gorilla about our concerns awhile ago, but we haven't seen any changes in their offerings. read more

Gourmet Gorilla is the snack and meal provider at my daughter's preschool. I've been very disappointed with their snacks; their lunches tend to be better. For example, common snacks are "cheddar bunnies & string cheese" and "cheese cubes & crackers". I would much prefer young children just eat fruit or veggies. As another example, their "veggie stix" are made from potatoes and oil - so, basically, fries. They use chocolate chips in their banana bread. Additionally, a lot of their snacks have corn syrup or rice syrup as a top 3 ingredient. That doesn't seem very wholesome or organic to me. I tried talking to our preschool director about it... she apparently made some requests to the company, but they haven't made the changes and its been a couple weeks. read more

No you cannot do it all. I've tried. I can't do it all either. Best part about living in a bustling, cosmopolitan Metropolis such as my beloved Chicago? Options to help you eat well, look like the best and feel good about it. Enter Gourmet Gorilla- they make delicious food should you be looking to have a party scrumptiously catered? Or should you be looking to have a delicious, nutritious, organic meal packed and delivered to your child! Better yet, go in the morning before school to pick up your kid's snacks and read the brightly colored menus over a cup of coffee with the owners (also parents and chefs). I feel like they love what they do- Above and beyond service! There are these remarkable alternatives to peanut butter- you must try it. Might I recommend the divine cookies? If I haven't eaten them all... they also have this brilliant spicy tuna salad served inside a delectable roasted red pepper... if I haven't eaten them all. You see where this going. If I am excited about the food, you will and more importantly, your kids will too. It's so good they won't know it's good for them, it will be eaten! Now it's your turn... Go, try it! read more

Wonderful food and well staffed. I've now been to two events catered by them - one at Millenium Park and one at a private residence. They'll be getting a call from me next time I want to impress my guests. read more

My kids are served Gourmet Gorilla at the childcare center they attend, which they've been at since they were 2 (now they're 5 and 7). I'm impressed by the foods that they've been exposed to (and happily consumed!) through the Gourmet Gorilla menus. At home, of course they only want mac & cheese! I can't tell you how many times I've been shocked to hear the teachers tell me that they ate chili or sweet/sour chicken or veggie burgers. I also really like that the fruit is fresh every day, not canned. And the veggies are just steamed, not covered in butter, sauce, and salt. I'm sure there are other caterers out there, but as a parent, I'm happy that my kids' school has Gourmet Gorilla. No complaints from me (or my kids!) read more

I tried to find out their prices. I contacted them 3 times. They have an info@ address and a questionary too. That was more than 2 months ago and I still don't know the prices. I'm wondering is there some secrecy involved? Or they just don't care. Nevertheless, whatever the reason is, I will not do business with this company. If they have no interest for a potential customer, I can not expect much from them. read more

Recently I needed to order a few days worth of meals for my daughter as my husband and I were going to be out of town. I tried to order her lunch by the deadline but there was an error that kept occurring when I went to check out. I called the company and they were closed so I called the next day to try and resolve the issue. After many phone calls and back and fourth I was told that it was past the deadline to order. I was furious as this was a website problem and completely out of my control. Needless to say her poor grandma had to pack her lunch that week because the company was unwilling to bend even though I had screen shots that the website was malfunctioning. I would have hoped for the problem to be resolved but that is far from what happen. read more

I've had a lot of experience with Gourmet Gorilla as it caters the food for the childcare facility where I teach. While the food is usually pretty tasty, it's not uncommon for the food to arrive hours late (not fun dealing with hungry two year olds!), to be lacking in quantity, or developmentally inappropriate (how does a 1 year old build and eat their own taco?!). I think there's definite room for improvement. read more

My daughter has had Gourmet Gorilla lunch service at two schools now, I couldn't love them more. Her first school used them already when we joined. When she moved on to her next school they used another provider that served only "kid" food. In that school year I noticed a remarkable change in her acceptance of food and her choices were growing narrower and narrower. I am VERY pleased to say that her new school has switched to Gourmet Gorilla this year and I had the pleasure of working on this with Danielle Hrzic. Her professionalism and attentiveness was far above and beyond the other vendors. I would without doubt recommend them. read more

Gourmet Gorilla provides meals and snacks at my child's daycare. It's hard to believe that this is the premier caterer for schools and childcare facilities. It's organic, but not particularly healthy. For instance, at least a couple times a week my son is given a muffin or banana bread for breakfast. These are treats, not breakfast. And several of the snacks provided also unhealthy. I have a few other issues as well, esp. with their vegetarian option which includes a lot of fake meat products. However, the thing that makes me crazy is that once a month my son is served pizza for lunch and then is given pizza bread as an afternoon snack. Yes, on the same day. Other parents at the childcare facility have concerns and we did speak to Gourmet Gorilla as a group awhile ago, but we didn't see any changes in the offerings. read more

This is what busy moms need. Great and needed service in our fast food lives. Bringing healthy to Chicago kids. They have great lunches and pack what I would prepare for my kids. read more