The owner of an Elmhurst cafe and bakery is set to open her second location in the former Red Hen Bread space on Lake Street in Oak Park.
Courageous Bakery and Cafe will move into the 736 Lake St. space. Owner Laura Pekarik said she hopes to open in late August. Red Hen Bread closed in February.
“This opportunity came about, and I took the leap,” Pekarik said.
Pekarik started Cupcakes for Courage in May 2011. While her sister, Kathryn, went through treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the sisters found baking cupcakes cathartic. After selling them as a fundraiser, Pekarik wondered what it would be like to start a cupcake business, and soon launched a food truck.
As the food truck operation took off — with can’t-miss bright green trucks — she opened a storefront in downtown Elmhurst in September 2012. In addition to cupcakes, she’s since incorporated breakfast and lunch to the cafe menu, featuring biscuits, scones, house-made sausage and pancakes, salads and house-roasted turkey for sandwiches.
She explored opening a second location in suburbs like Wheaton or Lombard before securing the 2,200-square-foot space within the Hemingway District.
Pekarik said she enjoys Oak Park’s activity and diversity, and said the new location will feature the same concept and offerings as the Elmhurst cafe.
“It’s a great community and town,” she said, adding that she’s enjoyed taking part in Oak Park’s food truck festival held the past few summers.
Since the former Red Hen space has been a bakery for years and it’s in good condition, Pekarik expects she’ll simply make cosmetic changes to the space, including altering the configuration, and introducing bright paint colors and reclaimed light fixtures.
“That space appealed to me because there are so many windows and so much light,” she said. “I’ve got to do a lot of vintage shopping.”
The fast-casual cafe will feature a bright cupcake case and other grab-and-go pastry items. Customers will have the option of quick seating up front or having orders brought to tables in back. Growing up, breakfast was an important meal in Pekarik’s family, and after the Elmhurst cafe experimented with offering breakfast, it took off.
“I have a warm place in my heart for breakfast,” she said.
Viktor Schrader, economic development manager for the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation, appreciates the mission of the business, and said he expects those who think it’s simply a cupcake shop will be pleasantly surprised.
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“It seems to fit all the values of Oak Park,” Schrader said.
Businesses at that corner have offered baked goods or breakfast and lunch for some time, so “it’s good that someone else sees that opportunity as well,” he added.
Pekarik said she plans to keep the hours of operation in Oak Park similar to those at the Elmhurst location, whose hours are 6 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, visit www.cupcakesforcourage.com.
Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.