Lincolnshire residents looking to unwind after a long workday now have options closer to home after village officials recently allowed local restaurants to offer happy hour specials for the first time.
In the era of Uber, Lyft and ride-sharing, Lincolnshire officials believe it’s safer now for local restaurants, bars and hotels to offer drink specials during happy hours, prompting village board members to permit special prices for alcoholic drinks during certain times of the week, said Mayor Liz Brandt.
The board’s approval March 20 follows a state law signed in 2015 that reinstated happy hours throughout Illinois under certain restrictions. Since then, many neighboring communities around Lincolnshire have permitted happy hour specials, Brandt said.
“What I heard from our restaurant bars is that we need to be competitive,” she said during a March 13 board discussion on the proposal. “Other suburbs have made the move, and we haven’t.”
Several Lincolnshire businesses with liquor licenses already have started updating their menus to make room for new drink specials during the week.
Jason Yuhasz, general manager for Sullivan’s Steakhouse located near the Marriott Theatre, said the restaurant started offering happy hour specials for food on March 22, two days after Lincolnshire officials approved the measure.
“It feels great,” Yuhasz said. “They realized that other villages in the area had already made some changes.”
Happy hour specials had been banned under Illinois law since 1989 until Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a law reversing the ban in 2015.
The law allowed bars and restaurants to offer drink discounts for up to four hours a day and 15 hours a week, as long as the businesses advertise the specials a week in advance and don’t permit them after 10 p.m.
The change came with restrictions, including a prohibition on bars offering unlimited drinks for a fixed price except for parties and other private functions. Bars and restaurants also are not permitted to give away drinks as prizes or organize games involving alcohol consumption.
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Opponents of the law at time argued that the move could lead to excessive drinking and more drunken drivers. But Lincolnshire officials started looking at changing their rules for happy hour after seeing popularity rise locally for ride-sharing services, such as Uber.
Police officers has seen more resident rely on ride-sharing, making it much easier now to travel safely around the suburbs, said Lincolnshire Police Chief Joe Leonas.
“What were the options before?” Leonas said. “You could take a cab. You could get a limo.”
Happy hour specials also have increased in communities near Lincolnshire.
At the Prairie House Tavern in Buffalo Grove, general manager Gary Gilliam said they’ve seen enough sales from happy hour specials to continue offering discounts even though the sports bar focuses on other areas.
Still, patrons increasingly seem to rely on ride-sharing services, he said. The tavern even encourages customers to leave their cars at the business’ parking lot overnight, if need be, Gilliam said.
“It’s not ideal, but we’d rather have you leave your car here than drive home drunk,” he said.
At the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort, Executive Chef Pierre Duval said his restaurant will definitely be “jumping on the happy hour bandwagon.” But the resort is in the midst of a doing a multi-million dollar renovation.
He said he was not yet sure how special drink pricing would play into his new bars’ themes.
At Sullivan’s Steakhouse, Yuhasz said that once he receives the final paperwork from Lincolnshire officials, the restaurant will start introducing happy hour drink specials.
“I wanted this for the same reason that anybody else wants it — try to attract bar business,” Yuhasz said. “But it still involves management on our end. We don’t want anyone to be overserved. Back in the day, when happy hours first came out, it was a little bit different.”
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