* City of Chicago…

Today, the City of Chicago and the Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) are announcing the conclusion of the Request for Proposals (RFP) process to find a new food service provider for city-run shelters for New Arrivals. DFSS is pleased to announce that two local agencies, Seventy-Seven Communities and 14 Parish, were selected.

Seventy-Seven Communities will serve as the food provider for shelters in the North Region of Chicago and 14 Parish will serve as the food provider for the New Arrivals shelters in the South Region.

* Block Club Chicago…

Seventy-Seven Communities is a suburban-based company created in October, according to state filings. It’s run by leaders at the popular and rapidly expanding Italian beef franchise Buona Beef as well as its sister company, Beyond Catering.

Seventy-Seven Communities’ executive director is listed as Joe Buonavolanto Jr., one of the sons of Buona Beef’s founders and an owner of Buona Beef, LLC, according to state filings. Mike Iovinelli, program director of Seventy-Seven Communities, is also listed as vice president of catering at Beyond Catering — whose parent company is Buona Beef.

The city’s press release did not mention Buona Beef or Beyond Catering. Officials said Seventy-Seven Communities had “decades” of experience in food service, even though records show the company has only existed for four months. It does not appear to have a website.

* Back to the city’s press release…

The goals of this RFP were to increase food quality for all New Arrivals shelters and to decrease the cost of the Meals Program for the City. Both Seventy-Seven Communities and 14 Parish have demonstrated that they can provide high quality and culturally congruent meal service to all shelters for $15-$17 per person per day. This is a significant decrease from the $21-$23 the City has been spending on food per person per day prior to this contract. Additionally, both agencies have demonstrated that they have many partnerships with local and minority-owned restaurants, including local Venezuelan restaurants, who will be assisting in creating menus and preparing food that fit both the nutritious and cultural needs of shelter residents.

* NBC 5…

Through these new vendors, the city of Chicago reported that the new direction in food servicing is proving to be cost efficient. The new price the city will pay for providing to the shelters is $15-17 per person. Prior to the new contract the price per person was $21-$23 with Greater Chicago Food Depository and Open Kitchens.

* The Greater Chicago Food Depository was the previous vendor. I reached out for comment today. A spokesperson noted that 1) The state government and private donors, not the city, paid for the meals; 2) Because of the private donations, the actual costs were well below the price claimed by the city; and 3) It was working with 17 minority-owned food businesses…

The Food Depository has never received any funding from the City of Chicago for our work over the last 8 months to provide food for new arrivals at their shelters, so the implication that we produced meals at a rate of $21-$23/person using City funding is wholly inaccurate.

The Food Depository’s work to provide meals at new arrival shelters was supported by private donors and funding from the State of Illinois. This detail is important for us to clarify as we have a responsibility to our donors and the state who gave generously to support this important work to know that their contributions were utilized responsibly.

Our price per meal was far more efficient than what is quoted in the City’s release and every dollar we spent on new arrival meals went toward food costs, with $17 million invested in local restaurants and caterers who partnered with us in this work. We essentially paid 17 minority-owned food businesses to prepare and deliver the meals as a way of supporting food vendors in historically disinvested communities.

…Adding… The city says its dig was at a different vendor, not at the Food Depository. NBC 5 reported this week that the Food Depository was one of the two vendors.