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Potbelly Kitchen Caters to Chicago’s Cravings

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CHICAGO – Chicago’s own Potbelly Sandwich Shop has opened its new Potbelly Kitchen, catering to the city’s Downtown business district for early-morning breakfast meetings, board room lunch buffets, working dinners and office-wide afternoon coffee-cookie-shake-breaks.

Combining new menu features such as a hot breakfast bar and Build-Your-Own sandwich and salad bars with toasty warm sandwiches, freshly baked cookies, chips and drinks, Potbelly Kitchen caters to groups of 20 or more.

“When you have that undeniable ‘gotta get a Potbelly sandwich urge’, we’re there for office meetings and events,” said Pam Kopacz, Potbelly Kitchen’s General Manager, who previously has led restaurant operations at the Madison and Franklin Chicago Loop Potbelly Sandwich Shop location for eight years. “We’re helping people satisfy their hunger whether they’re in a jam for a fast order or planning an event at a later date.”

The new Potbelly Kitchen caters to Chicago businesses and residences in an area bounded by Chicago Avenue on the north, Polk Street on the south, Racine Avenue on the west and Lake Michigan on the east. Delivered straight to their door and fully set-up, Potbelly Kitchen customers need only come prepared to eat fresh, tasty food. Fresh fruit, veggie plates and the Chicken Parmesan sandwich bar are just a few of the great new Potbelly Kitchen catering offerings.

“Our shops serve great tasting food, freshly made, and we’re doing the same at the Potbelly Kitchen,” Kopacz added.

For breakfast, the catering menu features scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, sausage, hot breakfast sandwiches, assorted dry cereals and a tray of assorted bakery items. Potbelly’s Originals and Skinnys sandwiches are available for lunch or later, as well as a new Deli Sandwich Bar platter, filled with a variety of meat and cheeses so people can create their own sandwiches. Also new is a Hot Sandwich Bar with a choice of Meatballs-N-Marinara, Chicken Parmesan or Italian beef sandwiches.

To complete the meal, Potbelly is offering a new build your own Salad Bar with fresh greens and an array of fresh toppings.

Individual shops will continue to fill catering requests for groups of less than 20 people. Orders for groups of 20 or more can be placed online at http://www.potbelly.com or by calling Potbelly Kitchen at 1-773-POTBELLY.

I just threw up in my mouth.

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"Johnny thought when all purpose had been forgotten the world would end this way, with a dance. He slumped back in a corner, drew his knees up to his chin, and watched."-Derek Jarman

I always have a hard time deciding whether I find these cut-and-paste PR jobs annoying because they're so painfully misplaced, or amusing because they illustrate just how clueless some PR people are.

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-Dom
www.skilletdoux.com

I'm going with amusing because they illustrate just how clueless some PR people are.

Not that Greggceb will ever post again....

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my food shots

Or stop by to see whether or not his missive has had the desired effect.

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-Dom
www.skilletdoux.com

It's not misplaced, that's why the Professional Forum exists, to draw them here rather than Eating Out in Chicagoland.

Miscalculated in terms of how LTHers will respond, that's another matter.

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I didn't see anything wrong with this as it is posted in the proper place. That said, I wish there had been something like this back in the day we had mandatory box lunch staff meetings in my office. I happen to like Potbelly.

Never said there was anything wrong with it. It's just clear that whoever posted it is unaware (or chose not to make himself aware) of how schlocky drive-by PR postings are typically received around here.

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-Dom
www.skilletdoux.com

I was actually genuinely interested in the post and read it carefully. I'm surprised how negatively it was received by a good group of people. Is Potbelly that frowned upon? Does it now rank along with Burger King and Wendy's? I had always thought it was a bit above that mark along with Chipotle.

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GOOD TIMES!

So Professional Forum is also an advertising bulletin board for anyone who happens to be in the food business? The word "forum" in the title seems to imply otherwise.

I think that's an important point ... forum implies discussion, not someplace to dump off a press release and never engage in any followup repartee.

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An old discussion. The final decision, IIRC, was that rather than waste energy and moderating capital trying to fight it, it was better to simply designate an area to dump it and keep it away from the rest of the board.

Wasn't trying to reopen that one. Just musing that for a great many PR folks, working the intertubes apparently means dumping press releases anywhere possible without any consideration for whether they're generating positive buzz or negative buzz. As if brute force is a substitute for actual knowledge and/or research.

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-Dom
www.skilletdoux.com

right, 4 pages of discussion about the Pro board already here, for those interested in such things.

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...defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions." Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

Fuckerberg on Food

correction: the link I provided appears to be more about the separation of LTH-organized "Events" and professionally-promoted "Events". Either way, reading it may be a decent way for some people to kill part of a day.

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...defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions." Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

Fuckerberg on Food

To each his own - but, as the PR person decided to do a dump and run I will note here that I have never been a fan. Flabby meat and flabby bread, blecch. There are many fast-food chains I'd go to before Potbelly - if there's no option for real food, I'd rather eat food that's patently and unashamedly fake than something fake-y or fake-ish.

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No guts, no glory.
http://www.chicagonow.com/quips-travails-braised-oxtails
http://quipstravailsandbraisedoxtails.blogspot.com/

I'm trying to figure out how being on par with Chipotle became a positive.

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-Dom
www.skilletdoux.com

I found the PR guy who posted this and sent him a message on facebook with a link to this thread. Maybe he'll come back and comment? Right now, this is a bit of a train wreck for PB's but maybe he can turn it around?

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my food shots