Krispy's Chicken is coming to Chatham on 87th

Photo by Lee Edwards - BlockClubChi

Well I'm glad to see that the garish signs from the King Food & Deli has been removed along with their bulletproof glass to be replaced by a different business. This building which was formerly a Church's Chicken is going back to its original function.

Lee Edwards of BlockClubChi informs us:

After complaints from residents, community leaders and the neighborhood’s alderman, a controversial Chatham convenience store that used bulletproof glass and sold junk food and cigars has been replaced with a restaurant.

A new Krispy’s Fried Chicken & Seafood restaurant location recently opened its doors in place of the King Food and Deli convenience store, which Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) labeled a “problem business” this summer.

Krispy’s Fried Chicken & Seafood is a restaurant chain based out of Wichita, Kansas, with four existing locations on Chicago’s South Side.

“I’m glad the community got together and made the owner rethink his business model because his former model wasn’t conducive for the Chatham community,” Sawyer said. “It’s not ideal but it’s better than what it was before.”

The new restaurant at 400 E. 87th St. is the result of several conversations between the alderman, the store’s owner, who also owned King Food and Deli, and Melinda Kelly, executive director of Chatham Business Association, Sawyer said. He said he voiced his opinions about the business, which were well-received by the business owner, who ultimately decided to convert the store into a restaurant.

We see the good people over at Concerned Citizens of Chatham have already been debating this new development since last month.

Wendy's is coming to 87th/Dan Ryan...

Within the last few weeks I tried to leave Jewel/Osco's parking lot on 87th and the Dan Ryan through the usual exit that's closest to the one towards the expressway. One minor problem however I couldn't leave that way. To leave the Jewel parking lot - or the shopping center that contains a variety of stores including Burlington or Rainbow or a jewelry store - I'd have to go down to the old Best Buy/Toys R Us store.

One time a guy when down to that exit from the parking lot and then went north on Lafayette to get to the expressway entrance. A risky move to be sure.

We as of late the parking lot has experience some construction starting with a Chipotle's right on the corner of 87th and now per Worlee Glover of Concerned Citizen's of Chatham, a Wendy's. Alright no more trips to 87th and Stony or 99th and Western - and those probably aren't the only ones closest by. Either way it's interesting that the shopping center that hosts Jewel/Osco on 87th is experiencing something of a building boom in its outer parking lot!

Wendy's coming to 95th/Michigan?

Worlee wrote this over at NextDoor recently

107 E. 95th Street - June 2017

• Where o Where Will Wendy's Go

  
  
  The plot thickens. There is an unverified report that Wendy's will take over the former KFC site at 95th Michigan. 
  
  
  Also, it has been reported that Wendy's will be opening a store at the 87th street retail corridor. 
  
  
  So will we have two stores opening? Will we have 4 stores in a 5mile radius with the existing stores at 86th Stony and 83rd Ashland? 
  
  
  What's your thoughts?

In addition there's also a Wendy's at 111th/State in Roseland. Also let's not forget that the former Wendy's at 95th/King Drive still hasn't found another tenant yet. Though its great to finally have a new business in the former KFC space which closed permanently near the end of 2015. Here's one of our ig posts.

I don't know what is going on here but this KFC at 95th/Michigan is now closed. #kfc #kentuckyfriedchicken #southside #chicagogram #95thstreet #businessclosed

A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Dec 17, 2015 at 8:23am PST

 

PHOTO: Jim's Original

This picture was posted to flickr by Curtis Locke found via our Blotter. Nicely composed and certainly is a snapshot of what you might find on any given day near 95th & State Street (or the east side of the Dan Ryan). One should see the lines out of this place when Jim's offer polish sausages at a discount as they had during Black History Month during given times during the week. It could rival in some respect the whole 99 cent chicken dinners offered by Church's Chicken that Worlee wrote about last year. In fact you can see an example in this photograph on Monday's a Polish sausage for $1.50 from 3PM to 5PM.

Freakonomics Chatham Style- The Fried Chicken Dilemma

Worlee relates a book Feakonomics to how fried chicken value meals has stymied economic development in Chatham. His conclusions on the negative effect of the price war between at the fried chicken chains (such as Church's) in our community:

While it sounds like a win for consumers and a win for the business, it has become a loss for the Chatham community. The Brown's store has closed as they couldn't compete, several restaurant entrepreneurs have reported that they are having difficulty obtaining financing from financial institutions because the financial institutions do not see the community supporting a fast casual restaurant because they all they see is the $.99 deal continue and it is rumored that Whole Foods passed on Chatham because of the $.99 deal and several other issues. So the $1 deal looks good for both business and the consumers but its been bad for community economic development. Sometimes cheaper is not always good. Maybe the Freakonomics team can give us some insight on this dilemma that can be used to stimulate economic development.

I need to read Freakonomics so that I can understand what he's talking about. Although he has talked about why Whole Foods isn't coming to Chatham anytime soon. And certainly the amount we'd pay for food and who we buy the food from is just one reason among many. What do you think?

Burger King is re-opening!

Burger King re-opening on Tuesday, March 24. OK, we've got a couple of them here in Chatham. Which one are we talking about? Hint: It is not the one Jennifer Hudson used to work at (that one is on 87th, near the Dan Ryan).

This one is at 418 E. 79th.

From this photo (and others) Burger King remodeling is almost done

From the looks of things, it looks like it might be a more café-style design (see Mather’s More Than a Café at 153 E. 83rd Street).

Let us know how you like the new interior!



And more important -- how is the service? Does it match the physical re-make?

When I saw the sign that they were remodeling, I thought that meant they were closing. With most restaurants, “remodeling” is a codeword for closing. Such is the case with Captain Smith’s Seafood, just down the block at 353 E. 79th.