McDonald’s “Big Mac” has historically been pitted against Burger King’s “Whopper,” but the Chicago area has its own unique ballgame where fast food wars boil down to the Chicago-style hot dog facing up against the Italian beef.
The rivalry will shine brightly on Harlem and Lawrence avenues in Harwood Heights when Portillo’s opens a 10,000-square-foot restaurant later this year — directly across the street from where Buona Beef debuted the chain’s first Harwood Heights store, at 7373 W. Lawrence Ave., only six months ago.
The operators for both restaurant chains spoke highly of each other when asked about whether being in close proximity to the other could present a problem.
“They’re a giant compared to us, but we have our loyal customer base,” said Joe Buonavolanto, co-owner of Buona Beef. “I think people enjoy coming back to us because our beef is made with an original family recipe, and when you walk into our dining rooms we don’t hand you a bag full of food.”
Like Buona Beef, Portillo’s will have a drive-thru and outdoor patio seating, along with spacious indoor dining space. Aside from hot dogs and Italian beefs, both serve different variations of Chicago-style staples, such as burgers, fries, salads, pasta, and milkshakes. Like Buona Beef, which offers a short menu of wine and beer products, Portillo’s also plans to apply for a liquor license to sell beer, according to Portillo’s spokesman Nick Scarpino
Despite the similarities in the menus and business models, Scarpino said there’s room for both restaurants in Harwood Heights.
“We think this area can support a Buona Beef and a Portillo’s,” Scarpino said. “Buona Beef has their signature items, and we have ours — there’s plenty of room for us both to do well in Harwood Heights.”
Harwood Heights Mayor Arlene Jezierny said the village doesn’t discriminate against competing business uses, but the opening of a direct competitor just a few hundred feet away from Buona Beef has raised some questions among Buona Beef staff.
Buonavolanto — one of five brothers who helped grow the family business into 17 locations in the Chicago area since his father Joe Buonavolanto Sr. started the chain in Berwyn 30 years ago — said he was blindsided when he heard Portillo’s was opening.
“We bought the property from (the village), so we thought we’d get a courtesy call on this, but they didn’t’ tell us,” Buonavolanto said. “It’s not that big of a deal — there’s a McDonald’s and a Burger King on every corner.”
Jezierny said Harwood Heights sent a written notice to Buona Beef, along with all property owners within a 500-foot radius of the proposed new restaurant, of an April 6 Plan Commission meeting where Chicago-based developer Bradford Real Estate Co. unveiled its plans to build a Portillo’s and an Art Van Furniture on the empty 8-acre lot.
“It is not the role of the village to select individual users and address competition between them,” Jezierny said in an email. “It’s commonplace to see competing businesses located next to each other or within a short distance apart.”
When Buona Beef came to town, it agreed to a sales tax deal with the village of Harwood Heights when it purchased the village-owned property where the restaurant opened in October 2015 on the corner of Lawrence and Oketo avenues. The parcel of land previously housed village hall until a new one was built more than 10 years ago on Wilson Avenue.
That agreement gives Buona Beef a 50 percent cut of the sales tax generated from the restaurant, up to $200,000, according to the village. Buona Beef had tried to negotiate a $750,000 selling price for the property, according to village attorney Mark Heinle, who told the Pioneer Press last year that the sales tax agreement was a means of compromise.
Portillo’s is expected to open in a 9,900-square-foot building that resembles a 1950s-style diner sometime by the end of the year, Scarpino said. The restaurant will have 250 seats inside and room for 40 outside on the patio.
Buona Beef has a 120-seat indoor dining room and an outdoor patio facing Lawrence avenue that accommodates an additional 40 guests.
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Six months since opening its doors to hundreds of fans who lined up on opening day for a chance to win a contest offering free beef for a year to the first 100 people to enter the store, business at Buona Beef has been steady, and Buonavolanto said they were “doing well.”
Keeping in line with a long-running tradition for Buona Beef, all 17 locations will offer customers half-priced Italian beef, sausage, meatballs, and combo meals on May 28 in honor of National Beef Day. The chain plans to add three new locations in Illinois this year, including Algonquin and Frankfort, Buonavolanto said.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.