Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Thanksgiving is just a day away, and there are still some across Western New York that will be making their last-minute preparations and plans for the holiday on Thursday.
Many across the region will be hosting family and friends for the holiday, or preparing a dish to pass when they attend someone else's party. While some have made all the necessary purchases for Thursday, others will likely be heading to their local grocery store or supermarket to find some last-minute items.
Brian Kusmierski, owner of Market in the Square, has one suggestion for anyone needing to do some last-minute Thanksgiving shopping on Wednesday.
"Anytime anybody's going out for last-minute holiday needs is go to a store that you're familiar with, you know where things are, you know what you're going to get," said Kuzmierski in an interview with WBEN. "If you're happy with the store 51 weeks in the past year, you'll be happy with the store during the holidays."
Over the last few years since the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been some items every year for the holidays that seem to be in short order, or are seeing the prices being raised substantially because of some sort of supply issue across the nation.
The only thing that stood out this year to Kusmierski over previous years was the higher price of the cost of turkeys.
"It didn't seem that it affected the retails, because some of our competition came out with lost leaders on turkeys. So we hang our hats on premium turkeys, premium fresh turkeys so that if you're in a pinch for a turkey, we have fresh turkeys and you don't have to defrost them. So they'll be ready to go in the oven," Kusmierski said.
When it comes to prepared meals for Thanksgiving this year, in case there are those that do not wish to cook a large dinner this year, Kusmierski says they Market prepared about 60 dinners to go out. Meanwhile, there are a number of popular pre-prepared dishes that are also available this year for customers.
"We've got a little bit of the traditional green bean casseroles, and we're seeing more things people are buying. Instead of making their own mashed potatoes, we're selling sides like mashed potatoes, green beans and asparagus, stuff mushrooms, that type of thing," Kusmierski said.
"Things like rye bread, dips, deviled eggs and that type of thing. We call them 'pepperoni snackers', which is pepperoni and cheese, ready to rock and roll. Little things like that, especially the appetizers and things that people normally would like to put out, we do have a good selection still in the store."
While stores are ready to provide Western New Yorkers their last-minute needs for Thanksgiving, there are some local businesses who are readying to provide some alternative options to your conventional Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family.
At Ilio DiPaolo's along South Park Avenue in Blasdell, they're ready to dish out their Thanksgiving "to-go packs" for anyone who's made their requests.
"Every year, we do it the day before Thanksgiving, so the pickups will be happening [Wednesday]," said lead office manager Ashley Freier in an interview with WBEN. "They do have to be pre-ordered through our banquet and catering team, who do an amazing job every year with all our holiday stuff going out. And it has everything that you would normally get in a Thanksgiving meal. It comes with the turkey, comes with mashed potatoes, stuffing, comes with our green bean casserole, a salad, our delicious Italian holiday soup, rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce and a pumpkin pie. It is $179.99, and like I said, that is ordered through our catering and banquet department, if anyone were interested in doing that."
While the restaurant is closed for the holiday on Thursday, they do prepare the dinners cold for pickup on Wednesday, only needing for people to warm them up come Thanksgiving.
Freier says services like their "to-go packs" have definitely been more prominent, especially in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We see some people still have their reservations of going out and being around large groups of people, so having these packages just offers that extra thing for those people that still maybe just want to stay at home, but can't necessarily cook for themselves or just don't have the time, necessarily," she said.
And Thanksgiving is not the only time of year Ilio DiPaolo's is offering a "to-go pack" for the holidays.
"We also do a Christmas package, which you will be seeing on our social media and website in the next week after we get done with Thanksgiving, so we offer a package for Christmas as well," Freier said.
Meanwhile, Dave Schutte is gearing up for another yearly tradition of being open this Thanksgiving at both Oliver's Restaurant and Creekview Restaurant.
"We've been doing it for, at least, 30-to-40 years at Oliver's, I think even more than that, but Creekview's been about 15 years," said the longtime owner of both restaurants with WBEN. "We have a pretty much sold out crowd for in-house dining at Creekview from 12-8 p.m., and Oliver's is 2:30-8:30 p.m. We also have takeout available as well."
Schutte says his restaurants also prepared some "to-go packs" similar to what Ilio DiPaolo's is serving up this holiday season, but his packages are currently sold out after having to pre-order turkeys for Thanksgiving. However, he says they will do takeout orders for both restaurants for individual orders, as well as orders for around 2-6 people.
While Schutte has been opened on Thanksgiving for years past, the takeout option truly didn't take off at his businesses until the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into everything.
"A lot of people enjoyed that service from us, and they've continued to order the full experience from the restaurant rather than doing it themselves or coming into the restaurant, which they weren't able to do back then. But it's been very well received and is a strong part of our business," Schutte said.
Even then, Schutte says plenty of people still would rather come into the restaurant on holidays to take advantage of the à la carte options at the restaurants.
