Lollapalooza

How Graham Elliot & Co. Pick The Eats at Lollapalooza

Merlin Verrier
Merlin Verrier Photo: Sky Full of Bacon

The Sun-Times takes a look at how Graham Elliot’s team arranges to feed 100,000 people a day everything from lobster dogs to cream puffs in Lollapalooza’s Chow Town. They talk to Merlin Verrier, Graham Elliot’s chief of operations, who explains how they got involved: “The first summer we opened Graham Elliot, we actually did a foie based on the headliners of Lollapalooza that year. So we did a Wilco, Nine Inch Nails foie special. The following year C3 (the company that promotes Lollapalooza) called us and asked us if we wanted to partake at the festival and that’s when we said yes.” As Rebecca VanderKloot of Puffs of Doom says, it’s the organizational muscle Elliot’s crew brings to the event that makes it possible for small vendors to manage their festival presence: “It doesn’t hurt that the Graham Elliot folks and our vendor friends have been so solid with tips and hints. My to-do list is comprised of baking, hydration, refrigeration, keeping tabs on stock and not having a breakdown.” [Sun-Times]

How Graham Elliot & Co. Pick The Eats at Lollapalooza