An update and clarification on our story: The city of Chicago in its announcement of two new vendors said there would be a cost savings, implying the Greater Chicago Food Depository charged too much. The food depository says the $21 cost for lunch and dinner for each person each day the city said it charged was not accurate. It charged up to $15 per day. The food depository also said private funds covered extra costs that included breakfast, fresh fruit and water, as well as refrigeration and heating. The state funded the food depository’s meal response that was also supported by private donors.
The migrant crisis has cost the state of Illinois and city of Chicago hundreds of millions of dollars, but it also has meant business expansion for some vendors.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository had one of the contracts and it in turn enlisted restaurants to fill that need. New contracts have now been awarded and the Food Depository is out, but not before a dust-up over the amount of funding paid by the city to the organization.
Just ten days ago the city announced new food vendors to feed migrant residents in shelters, and emphasized they had picked vendors that were charging $15 to $17 per person per day, a move they said marked a significant decrease from the $21 to $23 the city had been spending.
The Food Depository bristled at the categorization, quickly pointing out to Capitol Fax that “because of private donations, the actual costs were well below the price claimed by the city.”
On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson looked to smooth over any ill will with the well-established group, delivering a thank you letter that also gave praise to BJ’s Market, one of the restaurants the Depository used to help provide food for migrants.
“I did it for about four months and we served about 1700-1800 residents a day,” BJ’s Market’s John Meyer said.
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Meyer said the restaurant added four more employees and purchased new equipment as they provided those meals in the city, but with the Food Depository’s contract up, he is now looking to continue his contract with one of the new vendors.
The mayor’s first deputy chief of staff Christina Pacione Zayas dismissed concerns the Food Depository was slighted in any way.
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“The contract with the state ended Jan. 15,” she said. “I think with any partnership you would thank the people who stepped in raised their hand.”
Kate Maehr from the Food Depository also spoke about the end of the partnership in a diplomatic way.
“We are continuing to innovate in other ways and other parts of our work,” she said.
Johnson also provided reporters with an update on the his meeting about the migrant crisis that he had with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
Johnson repeated the same message he has had for several weeks.
“My responsibility that I’ve taken on is to provide temporary emergency shelter and I’ve done that,” he said.
