More families opt to let pros do the holiday cooking

Share on Facebook

Save

Psst. Looking to feed a posse of people next Thanksgiving without having to do a lot of work? Order out.

Several large catering businesses in the Capital Region have for years specialized in preparing takeout Thanksgiving Day dinners complete with the fixings. They even deliver. Supermarkets also offer takeout dinners.

Among local business participants are the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia, Mallozzi’s in Rotterdam and Panza’s Restaurant in Saratoga Springs. All are sold out for Thursday.

“We started it in 1996 and it has grown every year. This is our biggest year,” said Matt Mazzone of Glen Sanders.

“It seems more and more people are looking for this type of service. Part of it is convenience,” Mazzone said. “People still want to focus on being at home and being with family, but they do not want to put as much work into it.”

Glen Sanders will prepare 300 turkey takeout dinners for Thursday. “That’s three tons of turkey and 150 gallons of gravy, plus stuffing, cranberry and side items,” Mazzone said.

The meals are delivered Thursday morning, or people can pick them up at Glen Sanders or at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga and the Saratoga National Golf Club, where Glen Sanders serves as exclusive caterer.

Mazzone said kitchen crews work a 24-hour shift starting Wednesday preparing the meals. Glen Sanders offers two sizes in meals, one to serve up to 10 people and one to serve up to 18 people. The meal for 10 costs $180 and the larger one, $240.

Tony Panza of Panza’s Restaurant said he has been offering takeout dinners for 15 years. “We do the whole turkey, offering a 16-pound and 30-pound turkey,” he said. He expects to prepare nearly half a ton of turkey for takeout.

The most Panza’s can do is 50 turkeys. The restaurant is also open Thanksgiving and does a brisk business, Panza said.

“There is a demand for it,” Panza said of the takeout business. “A lot of people don’t like the hassle of cooking dinner. What we give them is turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls. We deliver it hot and they put it on table,” he said.

Most of his customers repeat each year, Panza said. “They are from all over.”

The takeout business works best for large catering firms that have the oven capacity, Panza said. “We have a restaurant and catering facility and we have numerous ovens.”

“It’s profitable doing this. It is a lot of work but it just takes a day and keeps the staff busy. We start at 4 a.m. and deliver the turkeys by 2 p.m.,” Panza said.

John Mallozzi of Mallozzi’s in Rotterdam will prepare 120 turkey dinners for takeout Thursday. “We’ve been doing it 11 years. We started because we did not want to open a la carte that day and so we did the dinners,” he said.

Mallozzi’s used to prepare upwards of 200 turkeys, but has scaled back in recent years. People start ordering four weeks before Thanksgiving for the dinners. Like the other venues, Mallozzi’s sold out this year.

Mike Petta of Petta’s Restaurant in Schenectady said he does not do takeout, due to his operation’s size. Smaller restaurants would have a hard time handling enough turkeys to make it profitable. “I can only do four turkeys,” he said.

Moreover, small restaurants generally close on Thanksgiving Day, Petta said. “People want to be with their families on Thanksgiving and it’s hard to find people to work that day. So we are closed.”