Portillo's Catering - A Guide

Portillo’s is a restaurant chain that offers tasty chicago style food, but they also offer fantastic catering options for private events. We have put together this useful guide to help you decide whether or not it is the right choice for you.

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What Is Portillo’s Catering?

Portillo’s is a casual American fast food restaurant chain. The Chicago based chain serves food like beef, burgers, hot dogs and salads.

There are 67 different restaurants across the US spread across various states such as Arizona. California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.

Portillo’s was first founded in 1963 by Dick Portillo as a simple hot dog stand. Dick was an ex-marine who used his savings to start his new business venture.

The company has continued to grow over the decades to the successful chain it is today. Not only are they a chain of restaurants, they also offer fantastic catering options for private events.

For a price comparison with another large, well-known company, see our article on Shoprite Catering

Why Choose Portillo’s Catering?

There are many reasons why you might want to choose Portillo’s catering for your next event.

If you have a tax exempt letter you can present this when you pick up your order. The order will be amended to remove the tax and you will receive a refund.

There is no minimum amount when it comes to a catering order from Portillo’s. This means it is suitable even if you are hosting a small event or you have a low budget.

Portillo’s offers iconic Chicago style food like Chicago style hot dogs, Italian Beef sandwiches, chopped salad, cheese fries and rich chocolate cake. This is an exciting type of food to serve at your event as your guests will be able to dig into some delicious food.

Portillo’s is committed to giving back to the community. They support fundraisers and offer their restaurants as venues for charity events.

Not only do they donate to fundraisers, they also donate food to the needy and donate raffle prizes whenever possible to local charity events.

Portillo’s will make the most of the opportunities to donate food – such as when staff are training or new restaurants are opening – they will always find a worthy cause to ensure that the food doesn’t go to waste.

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When local communities are in need, such as during natural disasters, Portillo’s will always try to provide relief and food wherever possible.

As well as helping the local community, Portillo’s are also passionate about helping their team. They have a fund which can grant emergency money to team members in crisis.

Team members also take part in fundraising activities to contribute to the fund and support each other.

Portillo’s goal is to create long term memories and positive experiences for their customers by providing them with the best food which ignites their senses.

Do you worry about how to keep food cold at a party? Well see our post on Keeping Deli Meats & Fruit Cold At A Party and worry no more.

Portillo’s Catering

There are different options when it comes to Portillo’s catering depending on what sort of event you are hosting.

Buffet Catering

The buffet style catering is ideal for party sizes of 8 to 10 or 16 to 20. There are three different packages you can choose from.

If you order buffet style catering for delivery, the team will set up the spread for you so you have less work to do. Here are the packages on offer:

Italian Beef Party Package

Italian beef with hot gravy
Hot and sweet peppers
French bread rolls
Chopped salad
Homemade chocolate cake
Includes heating kit, tableware, and serving utensils

Italian Beef & Pasta Party Package

Italian Beef with hot gravy
Hot and sweet peppers
French bread rolls
Mostaccioli with meat or marinara sauce
Homemade chocolate cake
Includes heating kit, tableware and serving utensils

If you feel like Asian food, rather than Italian, check out our piece on Panda Express Catering

Italian Beef, Pasta & Salad Party Package

Italian beef with hot gravy
Hot and sweet peppers
French bread rolls
Chopped salad
Mostaccioli with meat or marinara sauce
Homemade chocolate cake
Includes heating kit, tableware and serving utensils

Grab & Go Catering

Grab and go catering is ideal if you have less serving space. It offers individually wrapped sandwiches with packages to serve between 8 and 10 people.

This is great for working lunches, parties and more. Here are the sandwiches you can choose from:

8 whole hot dogs – steamed poppy seed buns, mustard, relish, celery salt, fresh chopped onions, sliced red tomatoes, kosher pickles, peppers.
16 half sandwiches Italian beef – baked French bread, gravy, sweet hot peppers
8 whole hamburgers – bun, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced red onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard
8 whole cheeseburgers – bun, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced red onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard
8 whole broiled chicken sandwiches – brioche bun, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes
8 whole breaded chicken sandwiches – brioche bun, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes
8 whole spicy chicken sandwiches – brioche bun, hot sauce, lettuce, tomatoes
16 half Italian sausage sandwiches – baked French bread, sweet and hot peppers
16 half Italian beef and sausage combo sandwiches – baked French bread, sweet hot peppers

Entrees

Hot entrees are a great choice for your catering event. The delivery team will set them up for you if your order is over $100. Here are the hot entrees on offer:

Italian Beef Catering Tray – with hot gravy, French bread and hot sweet peppers
Italian Sausage – with hot gravy. French bread and sausage sold separately
Chicken tenders – with ranch and BBQ sauce
Meatballs – with marinara sauce
Full slab of ribs – smothered in homemade BBQ sauce
Extras – french bread, hot peppers, sweet peppers

Fresh Salads

Salads are a great way to add color and nutrients to your buffet. There are several great salads on offer from Portillo’s:

Chopped salad – romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, chicken breast, pasta, bacon, tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese, green onion
Greek salad – romaine lettuce, grilled chicken breast, feta cheese, tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives, cucumber
Caesar salad – romaine lettuce, hard boiled egg, croutons, parmesan cheese
Chicken caesar salad – romaine lettuce, hard boiled egg, croutons, parmesan cheese, grilled chicken breast
Garden salad – romaine lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, shredded cheese, cherry tomatoes, croutons
Dressings – caesar, roasted garlic vinaigrette, house dressing, ranch dressing, Lite Italian

Check out our guide to Catering Food Ideas for Funerals

Pasta

These large pasta trays serve 10 people:

Mostaccioli – short pasta tubes in marinara sauce with cheese. Available cold, warm or baked
Penne Ala Vodka – Penne in a zesty tomato and vodka cream sauce
Fettuccine Alfredo – Fettuccine served in a creamy sauce with butter, cream and parmesan
Penne All’Arrabbiata – Penne in a spicy tomato sauce

Desserts & Sides

Add these on to your buffet to make it extra special:

French fries
Onion rings
Portillo’s famous chocolate cake
Strawberry shortcake
Chocolate eclair cake

Costco have been providing platters of tasty food for parities for years. For information on Costco’s latest catering menus, see here.

Weddings & Large Events

If you have a larger event or Wedding that you want to use Portillo’s catering for, you can speak to their team about the best options that are available.

They can cater for party sizes of between 100 and 1000 guests including buffet food, late night bites, and cheese fountains.

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Portillo’s Party Rooms

If you don’t have a venue for your party, you can use one of the Portillo Party rooms. The sizes of the rooms vary depending on the restaurant, but they are suitable for between 30 and 100 guests.

The Portillo’s team will set up buffet style food for your party so you can relax and speak to your guests.

Extra Options

You can also order ‘take and make’ food – all the ingredients you need to make the Portillo’s favorites at home in your own kitchen.

If you live too far from any Portillo’s restaurants for delivery of catered food, you can order certain menu items to be shipped nationwide – Italian beef, hot dogs and more.

Did you know that KFC offering catering from many of their stores? Read more about KFC Catering here.

How To Order

It is really easy to order Portillo’s catering online. All you need to do is go to the website and select the restaurant that is closest to the location of your event.

This will give you the most accurate price list, as prices can vary depending on the restaurant. Add the relevant items to the cart and arrange for delivery or pick up.

If you are placing an order for delivery then it is best to order in advance as the delivery slots fill up quickly.

If you need help with your order, there is a helpline that you can call. This will put you through to a helpful member of staff who will be able to answer your queries.

You can amend your order up to 24 hours ahead of your event. You can also cancel your order and receive a full refund up to 24 hours before the scheduled delivery or pick up.

If you are picking up your catering order from the restaurant then you will not be able to collect it from the drive-thru.

The packaging is too large to fit through the window. This means you can either go inside the restaurant or have a curbside collection.

You are able to place same day walk-in catering orders but these are subject to availability. You will need to wait while the food is prepared.

If you are ordering chocolate eclair cake or Italian strawberry shortcake then you need to give at least 24 hours notice. This is because it takes the team longer to make these items from scratch than other items on the menu.