Takeout 25 isn’t going anywhere, but it is ramping down hosting events. Taste the Town, which started as a way to elevate the visibility of local restaurants after the Covid pandemic, took its last bite on Saturday, July 19.
The event was held at Distro Music Hall in Berwyn. For the price of entry, guests received two tickets to sample foods from local restaurants, including Poke Burrito, Khyber Pass, Billy Bricks, Crumb Crusher and Twisted Cookie among others.
Brooklyn’s Berwyn Subs was there too. Samatha Munley and her fiancé Renaldo Barbini recently opened the shop at 7001 Roosevelt in Berwyn.
“We are new. We just opened two months ago,” Munley said. “Just the acknowledgement from the neighborhood and community to just get our name out there so that people know this is something new. This is what we have to offer and then you know the networking with other businesses is great too.”
For local chain Chicago Waffles, their location at 726 Lake St. in Oak Park has been open for more than a year.
“We like to do this kind of events to get known,” said Erica Estrada, manager. “I mean anything helps. People try it and they like it, then I know for sure they’re gonna come to the restaurant.”
And for Old World Pizza, 7230 W. North Ave. in Elmwood Park, it was a reintroduction, now that the long-time favorite has new owners.
“We purchased Old World in September, and we like participating in events like this, connecting with our customers,” manager Danielle Michelon said. “People come up and tell us they order from Old World all the time. That just reignites that fire over and over for us.”
Mission Curiosity Bookstore by Our Future Reads, which is a new non-profit bookstore at 319 Madison St., Oak Park, showed off its wares as well. And Gerald McClendon & band keep the crowd rocking.
Taste of the Town 2025 at Distro Music Hall | Risé Sanders-Weir 
Brooklyn Berwyn Subs owners Samantha Munley and Renaldo Barbini | Risé Sanders-Weir 
A box of goodies from Crumb Crusher at Taste of the Town 2025 | Risé Sanders-Weir 
Old World Pizza’s new operators Danielle Michelon and partner Patrick Sumara. (Risé Sanders-Weir) 
Poke Burrito bowl at Taste of the Town 2025 |Risé Sanders-Weir
Even though the event was a success, Ravi Parakkat and the board of the non-profit Takeout 25 want to focus on activities that can be even more helpful to local restaurants moving forward. He noted that there are other organizations like the OPRF Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Oak Park, which do a great job hosting similar gatherings.
“Basically, stepping back from community events is a way to reallocate bandwidth. Our thought is that there are pressing issues on the business side, like costs of ingredients and things like that, where we can have bigger impact,” Parakkat, a former Oak Park village trustee, said. “We want to focus our limited bandwidth on things that improve the system across the board. It’s a whole host of things we are exploring. And that exploration takes a lot of bandwidth – as somebody who does a full-time job too.”
Some initiatives Takeout 25 is looking into include data sharing, more sophisticated procurement pathways, centralized information – anything that can drive costs down for local small businesses.
“I’m trying to convert the nonprofit into a social enterprise. The distinction is a nonprofit is largely supported by our community donations, as opposed to a social enterprise that works with those same causes, but creates its own revenue,” said Parakkat.
In the immediate future, Takeout 25 will continue its employee appreciation efforts, holiday gift card sales, and on Nov. 17 it will release a cookbook, featuring recipes from a wide selection of local restaurants and chefs.
What to know?
Websites:
brooklynsberwyn.com
chicagowaffles.com
originaloldworldpizza.com
missioncuriosity.org
takeout25.org
