Paramount Events

I planned a university gala for 600+ guests at Morgan Manufacturing in January. We interviewed and had a LOT of quotes, but Paramount’s reputation preceded themselves. From the impressive and creative proposal, to the tasting where they confirmed the skill and artful approach in their service. Nora & Jodi were incredible to work with and made sure the event stayed on track and budget with speedy responses and impressive attention to detail. The evening of the event the service was flawless and they completely reproduced these amazing dishes for 600 guests in an hour dinner service. It was incredible! We are still thinking of the Parmesan Foam on that Gnocchi! Can’t wait to work with you all again!

Paramount catered a wedding for us in December 2015 and I can’t say enough about how wonderful the event was. From the staff, food, set-​up, cocktails, etc they were spot on. A special recognition to Janie at Paramount who was wonderful to work with and made the day even more special. Thank you…

The entire staff at paramount is amazing! I hosted an event with them and they surely didn’t disappoint. The staff was super friendly and so much fun to work with! Oh and the food was insane. Tuna tacos were phenomenal!

Paramount was absolutely terrific, we could not have asked for anything more for our wedding! Food was very important to us when it came to the wedding and Paramount knocked it out of the park. Our guests raved about the food at our wedding, particularly the hanger steaks which a majority of our guests had. One of our friends said it was the best wedding food he has ever had and many of our guests comments on how good the passed desserts were. The mini hot dogs late night snack was a huge hit! We are so happy that we picked Paramount.
Caroline was our consultant and she was always very responsive, courteous and helpful. Planning a wedding from another city can be difficult but she made the process so easy for us. We would highly recommend Caroline and Paramount to any other couple planning their wedding in the Chicago area.

I cannot express in words just how amazing it is to find a company that provides such a high standard of service, care and attentiveness as Paramount Events — particularly on your wedding day!
As I was planning my entire wedding from the UK, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but Nikki — who is also beyond-​words phenomenal and seriously on top of everything — made the whole process SO much easier. From responding to my hundreds of emails about everything from the price of sliced bread (really) to seating chart arrangements, she was always quick to respond and never showed a hint of annoyance about my constant questions. She always went out of her way to ensure that I had the answers that I needed, and to provide recommendations or suggestions when I wasn’t sure what to do. She was also extremely helpful in dealing with the venue, who were less than upfront about start times, load out times, available prep space and time, etc.
We initially chose Paramount because we felt their food was simply the best. Each item was creatively presented, and all of the food just tasted fantastic. Somewhat shockingly, all of the food tasted exactly the same on the day, despite being mass produced — it was simply scrumptious. The canapé highlights were the mac n’ cheese and buffalo chicken pipettes, as well as the yorkshire pudding that we requested (not normally on the menu)! The braised short rib of beef entrée was out of this world, and even though we brought in our own desserts, they presented our home-​brought items that completely outdid my wildest expectations. It was superb.
Funnily enough, in the week before the wedding, and particularly the day before, I was convinced that the entire wedding was going to be a flop due to various other vendors we were working with. Basically, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, and I was sure that the day-​of would be a disaster.
Thankfully, I’m convinced that Paramount was largely (basically entirely) responsible for the fact that the day-​of went perfectly. The moment we arrived, I mentioned I was hungry, and magically, a handful of water bottles and fresh bread appeared. We didn’t even notice the large amount of staff racing around trying to get everything accomplished in an incredibly short time period (thanks to the venue, sorry to the staff!), and when we first walked into the room where we had the dinner/​reception, I was blown away. Each and every request had been met and exceeded, and the room looked absolutely stunning. Everyone commented on the quality of the food, the free flow of the drinks and the impeccable service. The staff were extremely attentive to both myself and my now-​husband (!), ensuring that we were able to try the hors d’oeuvres, that our drinks were refilled throughout the night (the bar staff immediately remembered my drink order — thanks!) and that all of our requests throughout the night were immediately attended to. The entire night flowed seamlessly, and it was all thanks to Paramount.
From start to finish, I was 100% absolutely and completely impressed and satisfied by the customer service as well as the food preparation and presentation of Paramount. I couldn’t have asked for better — everything was perfect!

So sooo thankful I hired Paramount Events for my event! Caroline is the sweetest! My fiancé and I had our tasting yesterday and it was so much fun, and the most incredible food ever! Caroline even sat and had everything with us to make sure everything was perfect. The owner even stopped in to say hello and make sure everything was just the way we wanted it. I am typically a control freak but knowing that they are handling everything is completely putting me at ease! Can’t wait to work with them for the actual event!

First and foremost, our wedding day was perfect (and survived!) because of Paramount.
Let me explain.
Originally, we actually did not book with Paramount, but was suggested for to us by a colleague to research into after a mishap of our first choice.
As a side note, Nikki was my direct contact for Paramount. (Words cannot explain how awesome she is, by the way.)
Planning a wedding out of country is VERY HARD. Most vendors only want to make phone calls or discuss things with you in person. Due to planning from Toronto for a Chicago wedding, and not to mention, only having only email accessible to contact with (Canadian cell phone plans aren’t US call friendly!) Paramount was so flexible about how we were in contact with them, which mostly ended up being entirely by large amounts of emails! (I was a bride, so you can expect that some of my emails were very detailed and laid out or just one question a piece!)
First, what caught my eye of Paramount when initially suggested to us, was their specific bar packages they offered since we planned a brunch wedding and had a very strict budget. Paramount offers specialized mimosa and bloodymary bars and breakfast foods with a flair of options, which we had envisioned originally and found it to be a complicated denominator.
That’s what pulled me in; Paramount offered something i wanted to the T (thanks a lot Pinterest!), which I wasn’t been able to find with any other Chicago caterer (or at least feature it as an option on marketing materials or website).
Once we started working with Paramount, Nikki helped us work within our means of budget, and specifically targeted into getting exactly what I was originally envisioning. (IE: Rentals, items, foods, etc.) Everything was laid out in a very detailed and visual manner which made planning by myself without a wedding planner, that much easier.
Because our venue, Loft on Lake, is one of their venues they often work with, everything was entirely streamlined. My husband and I were served with private attendants the day of while the rest of the wedding went off without a hitch. We had a rough timeline that we were working with and they took note from my bridal party during the whole event to give everything an organic feel despite dealing with a very unorganized bride (thank you, so much guys.)
Nikki even popped into the event to make sure things were going well, and when we met it felt like I knew her for years! I hugged her to show my utmost appreciation and gratitude that I felt for how amazing everything looked, how great and wonderfully nice the staff was, and how incredibly happy I was that my wedding was perfect, which a large portion of that success goes to Paramount.
Additionally, I have to note again that all the staff that helped run the day of (and pampered me), made it completely seamless and stress free for me.
Everything compounded made our wedding day relaxing, beautiful and forever memorable.

The paramount crew is fabulous and the food even more fabulous. Looking forward to working with them again!

Food was a really important part of our wedding reception, so my now-​husband and I were on the hunt for the perfect caterer. I’m from the Gulf Coast, originally, and weddings down there are typically stations with heavy hors d’oeuvres rather than plated meals, so I was looking to do different stations and allow our guests to serve themselves. Our plan was a Southern station, an Asian station (my husband’s half Chinese), and a Tapas station (our first date was at a Tapas restaurant and we’ve traveled to Spain together). We contacted three different caterers, and Paramount was our first tasting. They set the bar incredibly high.
From the start, Caroline was so easy to work with and knew exactly what we were looking to do. They had a great selection of menu items for each of the themes we wanted — it was hard to narrow down!
Leading up to our reception, Caroline and Janie were super helpful and the walkthrough the venue with them really put my mind at ease (I knew they were going to do an awesome job setting everything up).
Fast forward to the night of our reception — the hors d’oeuvres were amazing, and every bit as delicious as we remembered. My husband and I had a dedicated server for the evening and she was wonderful — attentive without hovering. People were so excited about dinner. I saw multiple people with a plate from each station and everyone raved about the food.
I’ve been to a lot of weddings in the past couple of years. Mostly the food is ok, but not memorable. Throughout our reception and even after, people have commented on how good the food was and how they had a hard time picking a favorite station or menu item.
Our goal was memorable, tasty food that would sort of reflect a little bit of us as a couple. Paramount delivered. I cannot say enough good things!

Paramount Events handled our wedding reception this past weekend. They did an incredible job from start to finish, and guests were complimenting the food all night. Many guests said that it was the best food that they’ve ever had at a wedding, and what’s more, we were not surprised by these comments at all. Paramount was one of at least 10 vendors we sent inquiries to at the beginning of our planning process, and they compiled one of the most impressive proposals to our specific vision and goal. They were responsive and professional from the start. Paramount was one of three vendors we chose for sampling, and it turned out to be our second of three scheduled tastings. After leaving Paramount, we were so confident that we had found our caterer, that we canceled the third tasting. Our choice definitely paid off.
The wedding reception included passed hors d’ oeuvres, a buffet line with both Mexican and Vietnamese food stations, and a sundae bar. Everything was beyond outstanding, and the food was both hot and cooked to perfection. The chefs at Paramount incorporated our feedback at the tasting (which there was not much of – everything was basically perfect) into the final product. The staff was extremely helpful and seemed to genuinely enjoy the event. They also did a wonderful job with table layout and decorations. The bartenders were great, as well.
Caroline handled the pre-​wedding communications and coordination, and Janie was on-​site the day of. Both are phenomenally professional individuals who I would recommend without any hesitation.

I’ve been meaning to write a review for Paramount for almost a year. I’ll keep it short — we hired Paramount for our wedding and they knocked it out of the park. I was a little naïve as far as just how much they were going to do for us. I even made a point to show up to the reception a little early to «help finish» setting up, but when I arrived everything was already perfectly prepared. The entire staff was so friendly and helpful.
The food was GREAT (though, as is commonly joked) I didn’t really have much as I was getting schmoozed all night. We still get compliments on it to this day.
I actually want to go back and tip them as I never got the chance in the hustle of the evening. It’s hard to remember everything they did for us, but «above and beyond» doesn’t even come close to describing everything they did for us that evening. If you’re looking for a no-​brainer choice to handle a very important event for you (and don’t want to lose any sleep over the details), then Paramount is where you wanna go.

My husband and I selected Paramount to be our wedding caterers. Working with Paramount was an excellent decision! From the outset, Paramount stood out from all of the other caterers we were considering. My husband and I wanted to put together a unique brunch menu that diverged from your typical sugary brunch fare. Of the 5 caterers we contacted, Paramount was the only one who understood our vision and developed an outstanding menu. The food we tasted at the tasting and the food that was prepared on site the day of the wedding was outstanding! All of our guests loved it and the Paramount staff was even able to accommodate some last minute dietary requests from the guests. Caroline and Nikki, our Paramount consultants, were upbeat and professional from start to finish.
All in all, Paramount was great to work with and I would highly recommend them if you are looking for a caterer who will work with you to develop a unique and delicious meal for your special event!

We chose Paramount Events for our 150 person wedding and are very happy with the service we received. We had Paramount cater the alcohol and appetizers (which were delicious) and subcontracted through Paramount to have Indian food served family style, and the presentation and execution was perfect. We worked with Caroline and she was very sweet and flexible with all our requests and last minute changes. Would highly recommend for brides who want happy guests on their wedding day!

Worked with Paramount Events in January to cater dinner for 80 people for a company meeting in the Loop. Loved the menu selections— selected 40% Midwestern menu, 50% Italian and a handful of Mediterranean menu items.
The food itself was AMAZING— everybody raved about it and said it was the best catering that we’ve had in a long time— but I guess before we would just cater sandwiches for dinner— which I personally would not select for dinner.
My issue is with the set up and the follow up. I specified that the meeting starts at 6:00 and I want the food ready by 5:45 to be served. Well, the food WAS not ready by 5:45 AND I and my colleague had to help the two people from Paramount Events set it up. I probably should have told them to be ready by 5:30, but hey, it was my first time planning an event for this big of a party. The guy who was setting up was SOOOO sweet and busting his ass off rushing around everywhere to unpack things and get them where they needed to be. His colleague, which might have been an intern, I think, however… was kind of just standing around and not being that helpful and moving like a snail. They said they were late because of the traffic, but hey, we’re in Chicago, and you should always know there’s traffic during rush hour, and it’s not a good excuse. So the food was not ready until 6:05, and since 80 people were trying to get their food, it pushed back the meeting start time to almost 6:30. Thanks Paramount!
My contact at Paramount, which was Stephanie, I believe, e-​mailed me the next day to get feedback, which I really appreciated. However, I told her all of my concerns about the evening— and no response. Why ask me for my feedback if there is no additional follow up to the feedback that I am giving?
Then I got an e-​mail from her a few months later asking if I had any catering needs. Not from Paramount, I don’t. Maybe she should have checked the previous e-​mail correspondence we had to see how I felt about my experience with them.
At least the guy setting up was really sweet, and when he came to take down the food and displays at the end of the evening, he apologized profusely for being late and had a smile on his face the whole time. I’m giving this review an extra star just for him!

We did not end up working with Paramount for our wedding, but they were definitely the runners up when we were considering who to hire and we are really thankful for all the work they did even though we decided to go with another company.
In communicating initially with them to talk about our budget, ideas, and tastes, they were very easy to work with and responsive to all the information we gave them. All of the food they proposed was really on-​point with our vision and definitely creative and unique. Caroline was very friendly and easy to communicate with, as well as clearly knowledgeable and had good answers for all my questions. They were understanding of the budget and even came up with optional add-​ons that we wanted and were exactly what we had described.
They handled another event I attended and I was really impressed with the staff as well as the quality of the food, which is was prompted me to consider them in the first place. I would highly recommend them and consider them for other events in the future even though we won’t be working with them from start to finish with our wedding

Paramount catered our wedding reception at ArtRevolution. They were AWESOME! All of our guests told us that the food and service were amazing. Everything I ate (and, yes, I ate at my wedding!) was perfect. The food station setup worked well and everyone got plenty to eat.
I found out from my day-​of coordinator that while they were loading in all of the equipment, the elevator in the building broke. The staff carried everything upstairs to the reception venue!
Caroline was so great to work with. We had a wonderful tasting with her and she was so helpful when it came to creating a proposal that fit into our budget!
The owner, Jodi, is also great! She even sent a couple of bottles of champagne to my «bachelorette fun run». So cool!
If there is such a thing as a perfect wedding, we had it and Paramount helped make it happen!

Paramount has catered many of our companies events and each time the presentation is so cute, the food is excellent and the service is wonderful. I am particularly a fan of their breakfast items, the paninis/​croissants and breakfast wraps always taste fresh and light (which is great for an 8am meeting).
They also catered a BBQ style luncheon for us and the food was great. The salads were paired somewhat oddly (asian chicken salad with a brisket sandwich) but i suppose i can’t complain because I ate all of it.
Love Paramount…

We used Paramount for our wedding in Chicago. They were wonderful during the tasting. The food was delicious. Their team seemed together and excited to work with us. Yay, yay and yay. These were all good things.
I’ll save the tiny details and go into an old-​fashioned list of things that were good and things that were not so good.
The things that were good:
The food at the event was rather kick-​ass. And by rather, I mean it kicked ass.
Our guests were served like we were promised.
Service was timely, all together and without any turbulence.
These things made us happy.
The things that were not good:
The special attention my bride and I were promised was not there.
We did not get to try all the hors d’oeuvres we picked out and bought.
Lastly, the crew cleaned up all our wedding favors, wedding cake and food early to the point where our guests didn’t get to even bring them home. I felt like a jerk, but had to go into the kitchen in the back and pull things out to give guests.
And my bride didn’t get to eat her cake, as it was removed before she got off the dance floor — which was a bummer.
Our point person left before the wedding ended and I ended up giving them a call to get thing ironed out. Some things were lost, no biggie.
But the big thing, our gift of crystal champagne flutes… only one made it back to us. The other was in pieces when we picked it up (and Paramount will not replace this per their policy… I must have missed the breaking champagne flutes section in the document we signed).
All in all the guests were happy with the food and service.
We ate and drank (though had to go to the bar to get our drinks, not a big deal, just wish we weren’t over-​promised the attention we’d be given as bride & groom).
The fact our favors and cake were taken away so early was a huge stress and would have gone unfixed without me spearheading the problem.
In the future, I’d enjoy eating at a Paramount wedding.
Like I mentioned, the food they have is kind of really really awesome.
I’d perhaps grill the team a little better before the wedding to reconfirm
they will absolutely be all they promise to be.
They say if you don’t have expectations, you’ll never get let down.
Paramount were the ones who set those expectations and we said, yup.
Just make sure it’s understood that they will be delivered on.
And keep a flask nearby. The bar line can get pretty long.

While we have not chosen to use Paramount for our wedding, it is simply because they are not an approved vendor for our venue. We would have certainly chose them had we been at another venue.
That being said, we did a tasting with Paramount in the event that we had gone with a few of our other venue choices and the food was phenomenal. The presentation is impressive, service was impeccable and they are definitely top notch.
Caroline was amazing to work with and the perfect host for our tasting. She is the sweetest, definitely loves her job and the industry and clearly knows what she is doing. They even had a personalized welcome sign for my fiancé and I upon arrival for the tasting.
Highly recommend!

Paramount catered our 300+ person wedding at the Chicago Cultural Center in July and we couldn’t have been happier with our choice. Actual quotes from our guests:
«Best wedding food I have ever had, hands down!»
«Better food than I have had at the White House»
«I will never forget that mushroom sauce!»
I could go on and on.
We were really picky about who we hired for our caterer. We did tastings with three catering companies and went back and forth (and back and forth… and back and forth) with questions for Amy, our event planner at Paramount.
You know, tastings are hard because everyone puts their best foot forward, so it’s hard to tell who is going to really deliver at your event. It’s the most important day of your life, and if you live in Chicago and are used to amazing restaurants like we are, you want your wedding day to be no different. What helped us make our decision to go with Paramount was the experience, confidence and helpfulness of Amy Chappuis, our event producer, and the dedicated attention of Jodi, the owner. At one of our pre-​wedding meetings, my husband, my parents and I were at their space (which is brand new, and amazing) for an hour after the meeting just chatting and touring the new space.
They can really do anything you want, and were so accommodating of our special requests – my family has some traditional cultural dishes we wanted to have at the wedding. Not the most easy requests to accommodate, but they made it work without making anything difficult.
I can’t say enough good things about Amy. She fielded our emails left and right, even answering one of our last minute phone calls from her vacation.
The staff was great, food the day of tasted just like it did at the tasting, all our guests were happy.
If you’re deciding between Paramount and another longstanding Chicago caterer, really really consider Paramount. They will go above and beyond for you, and you will not be disappointed with the service, food or price. I just wish I could have been a guest at my wedding so I could have spent the cocktail hour gobbling up many more apps (instead I had to talk to people!).