Story of the Egg Harbor Café

The story begins on December 28th, 1985. Egg Harbor Café is born in the elbow of a new retail center, Gateway Square, at the corner of York & Ogden Roads in Hinsdale, Illinois. With no street visibility and even less advertising, Egg Harbor was born. Within weeks it was clear we were onto something big. At first a trickle, and then a flood of people from the community came to see and experience this new "concept" café. Something about Egg Harbor Café touched them in a very special way. Wives told husbands, husbands told business associates, pastors told their flocks, and the next thing we knew, Egg Harbor became the place to go in Hinsdale for breakfast and lunch.

Within six months of opening our first location in Hinsdale, a second location was on the boards and under construction in the owner's home town of Lake Forest, Illinois. By mid-October of 1986, Egg Harbor Café - Lake Forest was born in the newly renovated Lake Forest Plaza, at the south end of Western Avenue. As in Hinsdale, the local community quickly embraced the new Café as their own, and real estate developers took note.

Within a year of opening in Lake Forest, a developer working on the Arlington Heights Downtown redevelopment campaign came knocking. In partnership with the village, they convinced ownership that Arlington Heights would be a great location for a third Egg Harbor Café.

On June 13th, 1988 Egg Harbor Café - Arlington Heights proudly opened in the retail frontage of 200 Arlington Place at the northwest corner of Arlington Heights Road and Northwest Highway. Again, once the Arlington Heights community found Egg Harbor Café, it quickly became a favorite of locals and visitors to the Arlington area, and is a thriving success.

Between the opening of EHC - Arlington and our next venture, nearly 5 years elapsed. Savings & loan scandals and a faltering U.S. economy kept our focus on improving the three stores we had, and on improving the depth of our management teams and staff. And it was a good thing too. 1992 would become a watershed year for our company. We would add three new Egg Harbors in three new communities, doubling the size of our Egg Harbor family.

On February 27th, 1992, Egg Harbor Café - Wheaton opened its doors to the public in the exciting new Wheaton Town Square Lifestyle Center located at Naperville Road and East Loop Drive. This was our strongest opening to date, with the reputation of Egg Harbor Café growing in the Chicagoland suburbs.

October 21st, 1992, the first free-standing Egg Harbor Café opened in the new Woodbridge Square retail development on South Cook and Lake Streets in downtown Barrington, Illinois. Egg Harbor's momentum was palpable, as people waited at the door on opening day to be the first guests to experience their town's newest attraction.

November 11th, 1992, the last of the three newest Egg Harbors was opened at the corner of Pfingsten and Willow Roads in the newly built Glenbrook Market Place in Glenview. This third opening in a single year capped off a huge undertaking for our small family-run company, and the phone continued to ring at our Hamco management offices from developers from all over the state who were now interested in having Egg Harbor Café as part of their developments.

Four years passed as we dedicated ourselves to managing and refining our six Egg Harbor Cafés. The opportunities kept knocking.

In early 1996, we were contacted by the principles of the Yorktown Center in Lombard, who wanted Egg Harbor to be part of their multi-million dollar renovation, to complement their main entrance alongside Von Maur Department Store.

July 1st, 1996, Egg Harbor opened in Yorktown Center, with one of our founding employees, Gregg Wisniowicz piloting Hamco's newly developed "Owner Manager" program. With 11 years of Egg Harbor management experience, including multi-unit supervision, Gregg and his team oversaw the busiest opening yet. Needless to say, Egg Harbor Café - Yorktown was, and is, another great success story. In addition to Yorktown, 1996 would see the opening of our eighth Egg Harbor, on the picturesque Naperville Riverwalk.

December 4th, 1996, Egg Harbor Café - Naperville was born. The timing was perfect going into the holiday shopping season, and Naperville posted a new opening month sales record in December of '06.

September 28th, 1998, Egg Harbor Café - Lincolnshire opened her doors as part of the new Lincolnshire Village Green. This was a significant time for Egg Harbor and Hamco, our management company, as our corporate offices moved to this new development as well. This development was to be the beginning of a new and emerging downtown Lincolnshire. And as such, we were proud to provide the community of Lincolnshire an Egg Harbor to call their own.

2003 was another huge year of growth for Egg Harbor Cafés. Another three Egg Harbors would open this year, including two new "Contract Manager" units in Elmhurst and Geneva.

July 1st, 2003, exactly seven years to the day after opening the first Owner/Manager unit in Yorktown, Gregg Wisniowicz became our first "Contract Manager" as well, in opening our Elmhurst City Center location. This would be our tenth and most successful Egg Harbor right out of the blocks, to date.

October 1st, 2003, just four months after opening Elmhurst, Egg Harbor Café - The Glen successfully opened its doors, as an anchor tenant of the new Glen Gateway Shops in the multi-million dollar Glenview Naval Air Base lifestyle community. This dynamic and rapidly growing community promises to make EHC - The Glen one our most successful and special locations in the near future.

December 3rd, 2003, our year's adventure would be complete. Egg Harbor Café - Geneva opened in the spectacular Dodson Place shopping plaza just off of historic 3rd Street in downtown Geneva. We were particularly proud of this opening, as people came from miles around to visit our latest Egg Harbor Café, while we were the first and only business open in Dodson Place during construction. Egg Harbor Café - Geneva was our second Contract Manager location, with Gary Dudkowski and his long time Co-Manager Ismael Andres from our flagship Hinsdale store leading this great new restaurant team.

2007 Was a wild year in the world of Egg Harbor Cafés.

February 25th, 2007, was a sad day, and an exciting day for Egg Harbor faithful. After 15 years in the Wheaton Town Square, Egg Harbor made the difficult decision to move out of its long time location, and move into the historic downtown Wheaton on Hale St., into the landmark Andy's Pharmacy building. Renovation was extensive, completely changing both the exterior and the interior of the historic pharmacy into a beautiful Egg Harbor Café. March 6th, 2007, the new and improved Egg Harbor Café - Wheaton opened its doors to rave reviews. The first redevelopment on the South side of the railroad tracks, Egg Harbor is looking forward to many great years in this great, and re-developing downtown.

July 1st, 2007, Egg Harbor opened its first "New Market" location in the prestigious Shops of Edgebrook, off Alpine Rd in Rockford, Il. Led by veteran EHC General Manager, and now Contract Manager, Nancy Mathias, and owner's daughter, Shawna Bartimoccia Egg Harbor Café - Rockford was an immediate success, breaking monthly sales records, and receiving outstanding press coverage, as something new and well received from the Rockford faithful.

October 31st, 2007, a long planned move from the Glenbrook Marketplace to The Glen is completed. After our 15 year lease came to an end, the two stores were consolidated as one at 2350 Lehigh Rd. in Glenview. Led by new G.M. Jon Steinberg, and Lorena Hernandez and Mike Fontaine this consolidation immediately sent The Glen location's sales into orbit, becoming overnight one of the top stores grossing Egg Harbors.

2008 is just underway, and has Egg Harbor back on a growth track:

February 11th, 2008, Egg Harbor Café - Downers Grove made its debut in the Arcadia on the Green mixed use, luxury Condo/Retail development just south of Main St. on the newly created Mochel Dr. in downtown Downers Grove. Led by contract Manager, Gregg Wisniowicz, and General Manager, Dino Pascente, Egg Harbor is once again part of a downtown renovation, which shows great promise in the years to come.

As of February 11, 2008, this has been the Egg Harbor anthology. We continue to entertain new restaurant opportunities, and will forever pursue excellence in our hiring, training, atmosphere, and food quality in all our Egg Harbor restaurants. Our Goal is to become the "Cheers" of the breakfast business—that special gathering place where everyone knows your name, and we're always glad you came.