Some Fox Valley companies expanding despite shrinking economy

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Steve Boyer at The Village Vintner in Carpentersville, Ill., on Wednesday, December 28, 2011. | Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |

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Updated: February 10, 2012 8:08AM

As a winery, Village Vintner was going to close up shop after six years on Randall Road.

In fact, owner Steve Boyer closed the Carpentersville winery on Dec. 31, blaming his drop in production on the gloomy economy.

“But,” he said, “I’ve been watching, and restaurants have been doing pretty good.”

Plus, he added, “Microbreweries are big right now all over the U.S.”

And that makes it the perfect time to uncork an idea he’s been aging a while: a restaurant with its own winery and microbrewery. That was his original concept for Village Vintner, he said, but he lacked the experience to run a restaurant.

Enter some private investors and his brother Bob Boyer, who previously ran a 300-seat restaurant.

The new Village Vintner Restaurant, Winery & Brewery, is expected to open in April at 2380 Esplanade Drive, right off Randall Road in Algonquin. That will make it just the third combination winery and brewery in Illinois — and the only one in the Chicago area, Boyer said.

Despite what you’ve heard about the economy, some businesses across the Fox Valley are doing well — even expanding.

That comes as business owners adjust to “the new norm,” according to Melissa Hernandez, executive director of the Northern Kane County Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s actually a really a good time to expand,” she said, “because you can get into a new location much cheaper than you could five years ago or even five years from now.”

And the conversation Hernandez has heard in 2011 has changed in the last couple years. “People are more willing to barter. People are more wiling to be creative. It’s almost like we went back to basics.”

Business owners still are nervous, she admitted. Five years ago, the good times were good enough to sustain business through the bad. And Patrick Skarr, vice president of advocacy at the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, agrees that “there’s still a lot of uncertainty out there,” based on this year’s elections.

That will impact employment costs, regulations and taxes, he added. Health insurance, payroll taxes and provisions in the Affordable Care Act are coming, and no one’s sure exactly how that will affect the cost of doing business.

Still, Skarr noted, “One of the big things we’ve heard from our members is that things have kind of stabilized over the past year.” That includes government budgets and financing with banks.

“That optimism is carrying over as we look to 2012,” he said.

Village Vintner

The floor plans on display in December for the new Village Vintner show a wine tasting bar overlooking a brewery, barrels visible behind a window. They also show a large wood-burning oven in view from the entire restaurant, where much of the food will be prepared.

Village Vintner still is finalizing its menu, Boyer said, but it will include many dishes cooked with its own wines and beers. He plans to brew eight beers, and he makes about 50 wines. He also plans to make his own root beer and orange pop.

“I’ve been saying for a good two, three years, ‘I’ve got to get more people in here. … We’ve got to do food,’ ” he said.

The Village Vintner owner hasn’t just been watching the industry; he’s also been watching his customers.

Many would come in to taste wines, then leave to have dinner somewhere else. Some would come to tastings without their spouses, who don’t like wine but enjoy beer.

Boyer is a fan of both and has been making wine and beer in his home for years before getting laid off from his job in finance.

“The wine — at home, I shared it with friends and family, and everybody enjoyed it. When I got laid off from a corporate job — a very stressful corporate job — my wife and I decided to do something different, and we decided to make wine.”

Boombah

Boombah, owned by Yorkville native Rick Tollefson, is relocating its sportswear company from Ottawa to Yorkville, taking over a building on Wheaton Avenue just west of Route 47. The company specializes in active wear, including uniforms for softball, baseball and other youth and adult recreational teams.

Boombah will bring 90 to 120 jobs to town, although some employees will be moving from the Ottawa facility. The Yorkville City Council has voted unanimously to rebate half the sales taxes Boombah brings in for the next 10 years, and to give the company input on where the city should spend money on public improvements downtown.

In addition to Boombah, Tollefson and partners have an offshoot company, Imperial Investments, which is looking at redeveloping property in downtown Yorkville.

Imperial already is remodeling a building at the corner of Van Emmon Street and Route 47. The building houses Cobblestone Bakery, and work is under way for the bistro part of Cobblestone that will include a dining room, outdoor deck and wine tasting area. Imperial also owns the building next to Cobblestone that was just remodeled into the Follies Theater, which opened New Year’s Eve.

Rachel Conover, owner of Cobblestone, believes her success in the down economy was because Tollefson bought into, and backed, her vision. “Rick said, ‘What do you see here?’ ” noted Conover. “I told him what I thought it could be.” That included a diverse business: It is a bakery, a coffee shop, a restaurant and a wine-and-cheese shop.

Conover said that mirrored Tollefson’s vision for his own business, which he started out of his garage. Now, he not only sells his sportswear from a warehouse, he does it through the Internet and is looking at opening a storefront.

“He’s allowing us to have diversity,” she added, “because that’s his business principle.”

Jameson’s Original
Charhouse

In a time when many restaurateurs have trouble keeping one eatery going, Jameson’s Original Charhouse has expanded from three locations to eight since the downturn began in 2007. And more are on the way.

New restaurants in Carpentersville, Huntley, Crystal Lake, Skokie and most recently Glenview have joined the original Jameson’s in Mount Prospect, Bloomingdale and Woodridge.

George Arsoniadis, general manager of the Huntley location, is a familiar face from the Elgin- and Dundee-area restaurant community. In what he smilingly refers to as “a previous life,” Arsoniadis formerly worked with his uncles, Paul and George Karas, at their Village Squire and Alexander’s restaurants.

The Jameson’s chain began 23 years ago with one restaurant in Mount Prospect. Arsoniadis said the key to success is “excellent food, exceptional service, favorable prices, a clean, comfortable environment — and listening to customer complaints.

“We don’t want people to keep quiet but just not come back, and then to tell eight other people about what we did wrong.”

Two Bostons

AdreAnne Tesene said the best business advice she and husband Andy got came from his mother: Plan to be successful.

“I think a lot of businesses plan what they’ll do if they fail,” Tesene said.

Since opening Two Bostons in 2005 in downtown Naperville, the couple has added a second location on 75th Street, then moved its original pet supplies and food store into a bigger downtown space. The latter two projects came in 2008, at a time when other business owners were doing more cowering than risk-taking.

Tesene said they’ve eluded much of the gloom and doom that has turned many peers into nervous Nellies by keeping focused and busy (the couple has two small children and a pair of Boston terriers that give their business its name). And they try to have fun.

“We never settle,” she said. “We’re always looking at how we can do it better.”

Twisted Olive

Twisted Olive opened 17 months ago, at the height of the recession, in a space tucked into the shade of a narrow alley off Washington Street in downtown Naperville.

Still, owner Mary Shearer said it’s been a good holiday season, when the specialty olive oil store does about one-third of its annual sales. And, she said, overall 2011 was much better than the previous year, with the number of customers “up substantially.”

Twisted Olive’s products aren’t crucial grocery items, but people still are buying. And she’s been aggressive about marketing.

Shearer is excited about 2012. She’s making plans to expand both products and programs at the store. Those include highlighting the health benefits of olive oils and offering cooking demonstrations.

Fair Oaks Ford Lincoln

There’s also those businesses that have stood the test of time — both good and bad.

“We’ve been in the Naperville community for a long time,” said Norm Zienty, dealer at Fair Oaks Ford Lincoln.

That was 32 years as of Jan. 2 at Fair Oaks’ original sales site in far-east Naperville. And the dealership is adding a second location at Ogden Avenue and Rickert Drive.

That means the dealership will be able to add some new people, according to Zienty. And Ford has new products coming in the new year, including electric vehicles, so business is expected to grow, he said.

“Actually,” Zienty said, “the best opportunities come in challenging times.”