Photo via Facebook / Emerald City Catering & Events
The pandemic has walloped the bar and restaurant industry, but it also crashed the party for caterers. “Everything ground to a complete standstill. We had so many events and weddings that got pushed back or cancelled,” reflects Steve “Oz” Ozbolt, who owns Emerald City Catering & Events (3555 S. 13 St.) with his wife, Laurie.
To keep busy, the couple expanded their Pay as You May meal program, which began as a monthly brunch. For the past year during the pandemic, four to five days per week, they made different individual hot meals to offer on a pay-what-you-can basis. One day would feature lasagna dinner, Swedish meatballs would be on the menu the next day, then pizza or herb roasted chicken.
Sometimes a compliment was all people could afford, but Ozbolt says he wanted to do whatever he could to help. He crafted the Pay What You May menus around creative whims and specials available from his purveyors. Ozbolt estimates that he distributed 50 to 200 meals per day. Certain items such as pizza drew a larger demand.
A History of Helping
Ozbolt started donating meals in 2016, when he operated Emerald City Catering in South Milwaukee. “We did a networking event at South Milwaukee Human Concerns food bank,” he says. “I found that 900 families went there every month for assistance. After that, I told my wife that we need to figure out some way to help people.”
Ozbolt’s South Milwaukee space allowed only for takeout and off-site catering. He created Miracle Meal cards, business cards that people could redeem for a meal. He donated 100 cards per month—that number later increased to 150—to the manager of Human Concerns to issue to individuals and families. “I didn’t want to have to decide who gets it or who doesn’t,” he says. “The cards looked like gift cards, so there was no stigma, and people could retain their pride.”
When Emerald City Catering moved to their current location (formerly Walker’s Maple Grove) in 2018, they had space to accommodate in-house dining and events. They couldn’t offer takeout Miracle Meals every day but instead began a Pay as You May brunch the first Sunday of each month. People came in and paid what they could afford. Proceeds were donated to the Hunger Task Force.
As the nation gradually reopens, Ozbolt’s business is picking up again, but he’s still serving people in need of good, nutritious food. The Pay as You May meals have transitioned from hot to frozen heat-and-serve meals that people can pre-order each week.
Ozbolt is also doing a partnered meal with a different charity each month. Fifty percent of what Emerald City Catering makes goes to the partner organization; the other half covers Ozbolt’s costs. For March, they partnered with Street Angels.
Looking Ahead
Offering heat-and-serve dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas also helped Ozbolt weather the pandemic. Emerald City Catering will offer fish fry dinners through the end of Lent. Their heat-and-eat Easter dinner menu features a choice of two meats, including Easter classics like baked ham or Kowalski’s Polish sausage; a choice of potato; green bean almandine; sweet corn; dinner rolls and a dessert tray for $24.95 per guest. Meats are available ala carte.
Ozbolt, who has enjoyed cooking since childhood, now has space to host memorials and corporate events, along with weddings, quinceañeras, lunches and birthday parties. The hall has a capacity of 280, and he caters on-site or off-site.
As the business grows, so does Ozbolt’s culinary repertoire. Being across the street from St. Adalbert’s cemetery, he’s catered memorials for Polish families and has learned to make Polish sausage. As he started doing more quinceañeras, he’s made authentic Mexican food. He’ll customize menus or provide standard comfort foods such as stuffed chicken breast, roast beef and gravy, or their popular maple walnut chicken or roast pork lion with cranberry apple chutney. Emerald City Catering can accommodate dietary restrictions; the acorn squash stuffed with Asian sweet chili rice is both vegan and gluten free.
For more information, visit emeraldcitycatering.com.
