Niko's Catering: 20 Percent Off Everything To Mark 1-Year Anniversary

JOLIET — One year ago, Joliet's food and restaurant scene underwent a dramatic change as Nikos Lippas, sold his downtown-based Niko's Pizzeria on Ohio Street and opened his new business, Niko's Catering, on the city's west side, at 113 Republic Ave.

After being open for one year, the owner of Niko's Catering wants everyone in the area to celebrate his milestone, and that means major discounts and savings for the next two weeks.

Starting June 10 through June 23, Niko's Catering is offering a 20 percent discount on all catering orders.

"Anything on the menu," Niko told Joliet Patch during Thursday's interview. "We appreciate our customers and their loyalty, and we want to give them something back. Twenty percent off for two weeks anything on the menu.

"It's already been a year, and we have a great start," remarked Niko. "And we're growing as the time goes on."

For the unfamiliar, Niko wants everyone to know that Niko's Catering handles catering for just about everything.

"We do graduation parties and weddings, anniversaries, baptisms and birthday parties and anything for family gatherings," he said.

"We've just added boneless Greek chicken and boneless Italian chicken breast," he pointed out.

He also added a taco platter for $59.99 that includes 22 tacos, rice, beans, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, chips and salsa.

Niko's Greek kabobs that come with Greek potatoes and Greek rice are another popular homemade meal on the rotating menu.

A large component of Niko's Catering's business is derived from his regular homemade meals that he promotes on the Niko's Catering Facebook page. He often makes several hundred meals for one-day only, and when he runs out, he runs out.

Niko is most well-known for his once every Greek chicken that usually offered once every six weeks, but several other meals are growing in popularity, too.

He's offered three pork chops with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Other popular options include the fruit platter and the mini-sub sandwiches.

This month, Niko's Catering will be offering Mrs. Vasa's special homemade recipe from Greece, her Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna). Niko said he will make 400 Greek Pastitsio and sell them for $11.99.

"In the next couple of weeks," Niko answered, when asked when the Greek Pastitsio homemade meal will be offered as part of his one-day-only specials.

When it comes to the catering orders, "we sell a lot of Greek chicken and the family combos, Italian beef, chicken, pasta and salad."

Niko's Catering also is generating a lot of sales from companies and businesses in the Joliet area. He's also gaining customers from Minooka, Morris, Channahon, Romeoville, Plainfield, New Lenox and Shorewood, he said.

Niko said he's glad he opened Niko's Catering and chose the former Republic Banquet Hall as his location.

"I'm very happy to make the right move," he said. "We always try to keep our prices low with top quality, in this crazy economy."