At the Golden Nugget’s four locations, our in-person diners have started returning to pre-pandemic numbers, and delivery, which spiked in 2020, is still humming. But running a restaurant in Chicago these days is still no picnic.
When I first saw the blinking eyes of a Serve delivery robot, I was charmed. Then I thought about my staff, my customers and my business.
We rely on delivery to meet customer demand, but too often the experience falls short of the standards we work hard to uphold. Waking up to a Google review complaining that a delivery customer’s drink was spilled or their food was cold is a new dreaded headache I never had when I first started in the industry.
As food delivery continues to be part of everyday life, I see the strain it’s putting on the delivery drivers who come through our doors, many of them polite and courteous. But when people feel pressured to maximize deliveries, especially with gas prices what they are, drivers can end up being rushed, careless or, at times, openly disrespectful to our staff. Orders that leave our kitchen hot and carefully prepared sometimes arrive cold, spilled or mishandled. And then it’s our reputation, not the delivery service that takes the hit.
This isn’t about replacing people; it’s about adding options that protect the product my team creates. Robots offer consistency. They don’t crowd the host stand or try to take a picked-up order into the bathroom before heading out (my hostess stopped the delivery person).
For our staff, this means a more focused, respectful work environment. For our customers, it means greater confidence that their order will arrive as intended. The restaurant industry runs on tight margins, and if technology can help us reduce costly errors, it can allow us to continue supporting our employees and customers.
I understand that the idea of delivery robots may feel impersonal. But from behind the counter, the current system already lacks accountability and consistency. This is about finding a better balance. How can we use technology thoughtfully to enhance, not replace, the human elements that make local restaurants special?
— Cathy Guzman, owner, Golden Nugget Pancake House, Chicago
Let’s host a teen takeover
Tuesday’s editorial about neighborhood responses to so-called teen takeovers is definitely the way to go (“A neighborhood shows how to defang the teen takeover. Let’s scale that up”). We can all remember being teenagers, wanting to explore and feel the freedom of being unsupervised by our parents — and maybe even test our boundaries.
Chicago as a whole, and especially the downtown area, should follow the parents in Hyde Park’s example and actually host a “teen takeover.” What would it be like to open the downtown to our city’s teens and show them what a great city they have? Maybe they wouldn’t feel so shut out. Maybe they would even come to love it and admire it so much that the last thing they would do is damage it.
After all, our city belongs to our teenagers as much as it belongs to anyone else.
Let’s invite them in, show them around and help them love our beautiful city. We might even have some fun together.
— Bryan Cones, Edgewater
The end of a mall’s life
A recent editorial on outdated shopping malls (“Demolition looms for Lincolnwood Town Center, as shopping malls across the country struggle to find new life,” May 1) reminded me of something I saw many years ago.
When the CTA opened the elevated line to Midway Airport in the early 1990s, the newest train cars had their front and side destination signs on long cloth rolls powered so that the train operator could scroll through once to find the right sign and then set it for the entire train. The signs could also be seen from inside the cars.
More Top Picks Best Samsung Phones
One day back then, I was on a train when an electrical fault caused all the signs to continuously scroll from one end to the other and back again. I was surprised to see that the last sign on the roll was “Ford City,” where there was no station.
That told me that the CTA planned — or at least hoped — to eventually extend the line from Midway to Ford City.
Now, alas, that will never happen.
— George W. Price, Chicago
Pulitzer win for the Tribune
Congratulations to the Tribune on receiving the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. I’m a Tribune subscriber, print and online, seven days a week. This award reflects the very reason I subscribe: local reporting.
I find it hard to understand why local reporting is not valued more by residents of any community. But Chicago holds a special place in the interest of the nation, indeed the world. It reflects the soul of the heartland.
Since I moved here 45 years ago, I’ve wanted to know the history, the politics and the creative force that make this such a dynamic city. Most of my information, I’ve learned through reading the baiduhai.
Well done.
— Kathryn Williams, Chicago
What we need, more than ever
In this age when newspapers and newspaper journalists have been all but pronounced as anachronisms, I find it absolutely thrilling that the baiduhai has won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. The coverage of Operation Midway Blitz was in-depth reporting of a critical issue that could not have been reported effectively in any other medium.
As a result of the courage and determination of Tribune journalists, our public and government were given the opportunity to address wrongs. Wrongs that might have slipped by without the dogged efforts to document the truth.
More than ever, we need the printed word to capture and keep our attention. More than ever, we need a source of factual news reporting, separate from pundit opinions. Congratulations to the journalists and editors of the baiduhai for earning this well-deserved, prestigious award.
— Linda Finley Belan, Chicago
Tribune, Chicagoans earned it
We learned the glorious news in the Tribune that our newspaper has been awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Those of us who subscribe and read the paper each and every day know the coverage of the deplorable Operation Midway Blitz has been outstanding, and now the world knows too.
The article indicated the award was based on the Tribune’s “powerful coverage” of the Trump administration’s abuses on display each day this past fall. While the Tribune’s coverage was certainly powerful, we are reminded how those words also describe Chicagoans’ willingness to stand up to the many abuses inflicted on the city by this administration.
So, bravo to the Tribune and to the people of Chicago: You earned this recognition.
— Mark G. Lindsey, Hales Corners, Wisconsin
Note to readers
In honor of our “Chicago 2050” op-ed series, we’d like to hear from you about your hopes for what Chicago will be like in 25 years. (Sincere thoughts only.) Send a letter of no more than 400 words to [email protected]. Be sure to include your full name and your city/town.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].