diff --git a/src/recommendationservice/recommendation_server.py b/src/recommendationservice/recommendation_server.py
index 834f5ae..97246db 100644
--- a/src/recommendationservice/recommendation_server.py
+++ b/src/recommendationservice/recommendation_server.py
@@ -8,11 +8,18 @@ import os
 
 class RecommendationService(demo_pb2_grpc.RecommendationServiceServicer):
     def ListRecommendations(self, request, context):
+        max_responses = 5
         print("handling request")
+
+        # get list of products
+        cat_response = stub.ListProducts(demo_pb2.Empty())
+        num_prodcuts = len(cat_response.products)
+
+        indices = random.sample(range(num_prodcuts), min(max_responses, num_prodcuts))
+        prod_list = [str(cat_response.products[i].id) for i in indices]
+        print(indices, prod_list)
+
         response = demo_pb2.ListRecommendationsResponse()
-        prod_list = []
-        for i in range(5):
-            prod_list.append(str(random.randint(1,100)))
         response.product_ids.extend(prod_list)
         return response
 
@@ -25,6 +32,10 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     print("product catalog address: " + catalog_addr)
     print("listening on port: " + port)
 
+    # stub for product catalog service
+    channel = grpc.insecure_channel(catalog_addr)
+    stub = demo_pb2_grpc.ProductCatalogServiceStub(channel)
+
     # create gRPC server
     server = grpc.server(futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=10))