As he stood outside Burger King, 1740 Orrington Ave., Rob Kotz had one thing on his mind: a double Whopper.
The McCormick junior was actually on his way to Chipotle, 711 Church St. But when he saw the big red “Grand Re-Opening” banner strung across Burger King’s windows, his plans changed.
“I haven’t eaten at Burger King in a while,” he said.
When the doors opened at 4:53 p.m. Wednesday, employees greeted Kotz with cheers of “You’re first!” Enjoying his instant celebrity, Kotz, who said he ate at the restaurant once or twice a week in the past, shrugged off problems with the credit card machine and waited patiently for his order.
Jeff Wiegers was next – “second sucks,” he said – and ironically, his order of chicken fries came out first. The volleyball coach from Gurnee, Ill., had been to the restaurant before, but it wasn’t open, so he was “kind of pissed.”
The third and fourth customers didn’t actually buy anything. The third came in to use the bathroom and left. The fourth tried to locate the ATM that the restaurant used to have. An employee said there no longer is one.
Instead, patrons will find a 42-inch plasma television hanging in the middle of the seating area and comfy armchairs with swivel desks. Chicago resident Tom Olson, 54, was the first to try one out.
“I like the TV and the fact that it’s on the news,” he said while eating a salad and watching the TV, which was tuned to CNN. “It looks like a yuppie-style place versus what it used to be.”
The restaurant closed four months ago for remodeling and returned with much of what it had before. Angus steak burgers and chicken fries are all back. The inside includes what store owner Chuck James called a “post-industrial, techno look,” with purple and gray walls and lights hanging down from the ceiling.
“We’ve tried to go with a natural loft-type experience,” James said. “We wanted to make it a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more inviting.”
Potential patrons anxiously awaited the restaurant’s reopening. For about half an hour starting at 11 a.m. Tuesday, some passers-by pressed their faces against the windows and peered in. Others tugged fruitlessly on the door’s handles, hoping their favorite fast food joint would finally reopen. Painters, professionals and even prospective students had a Whopper of an appetite.
The store opened Wednesday afternoon when managers saw a line of patrons waiting outside and preparations on the inside were complete. They hadn’t set a date or time to open, but when the food arrived and everything was ready, they had no reason to wait.
James called it a “soft open” so they could “work the kinks out before (making) a big announcement.” They will continue the 24-hour schedule they had before.
Construction took longer than anticipated because of the age and condition of the building, James told the DAILY earlier this week.
“We couldn’t fully understand the scope of the work until we really got into it,” he said. “Once we got into it, we made the commitment to do everything we needed to do to make sure the building is in great shape for the next 20 years.”
The opening should provide relief for some customers such as Debra Johnson, 44, who estimated that she ate at Burger King “every day, twice a day.” When she visited the store with her son Tuesday morning, they looked inside to see workers putting the finishing touches on the building.
“We’re tired of eating Taco Bell and McDonald’s,” she said. “We can’t handle it anymore.”
When asked if he was excited too, her son John, 11, reflected for a moment, before admitting:
“Not really. I like Taco Bell.”
Reach Matt Presser at [email protected].
