One of St. Louis’ most popular caterers for the past four-plus decades is closing its doors this weekend.
Gourmet to Go, located at 9828 Clayton Road in Ladue, will close at the end of service this Saturday, April 5. The closure includes the retail store and its catering and boxed-lunch business. (GtG also operates a commissary in the Westport area.) Hours will be from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. today and tomorrow, as well as 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Saturday.
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The announcement of the closure was made on social media on Wednesday. The post read, in part, “After 42 years, we have made this difficult decision based on today’s retail business realities.” No other reasons were given for the closure, which comes two weeks before the Easter holiday, normally a busy time for local caterers.
A supplemental announcement, disseminated this morning, included the following: “We all know how challenging the past few years have been for retail food operations,” GTG owner Martha Uhlhorn said. “We made this difficult decision based on today’s business realities, including the long-range impact of Covid on the retail business and the work-from-home impact on lunch orders.” A fellow restaurateur added that the impact was “especially true for boxed lunch orders.”
The Backstory
Gourmet to Go was founded in 1983 by Barb Schwartz, who aspired to offer busy families high-quality, scratch-made meals. The original location was a small storefront in the Schneithorst complex at Lindbergh and Clayton Roads. It moved to its current location on Clayton Road in 1985. GtG’s current owner is Martha Uhlhorn, a former Sara Lee executive, who acquired the business in 2007. (Uhlhorn has also owned La Bonne Bouchée Wholesale Bakery for more than 20 years; La Bonne Bouchée’s retail operation is under different ownership.)
Reached by telephone this morning, Uhlhorn says she will continue to work at the wholesale bakery and maintain the company tagline: Creative. Distinctive. Impressive. “My goal has always been to be all three,” she says.
Over the decades, Gourmet to Go expanded, opening retail locations in Clayton, Westport, Downtown, and Ladue, as well as a small café inside a Clayton office building.
Today, the business specializes in corporate catering, box lunches, and nightly entrées, which are planned a month in advance. It also offers made-to-order sandwiches, along with a wide selection of salads, soups, dips, and party appetizers, many of which are pre-packaged for grab-and-go convenience. The brand is known for a range of customer favorites, including shrimp platters, rare roasted and smoked beef tenderloin, and dollar roll sandwiches—all popular during the holidays.
When news of the closure was posted on social media, customers quickly began requesting recipes, including the champagne mustard sauce from the champagne turkey sandwich and two signature “pies”—the Picnic and Santa Fe Supreme—both served with tortilla chips.
Yesterday’s announcement encouraged customers to stop by one last time to “say goodbye and enjoy your GtG favorites.”
Ulhorn expressed gratitude “to all of our customers and their loyalty for the last 42 years. We’re going to miss them all,” she says.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated from the original version and includes supplemental comments from Martha Ulhorn.
