Honey-Jam Cafe in Batavia reopens

BATAVIA – The new owners of Honey-Jam Cafe at 521 N. Randall Road in Batavia want their customers to start the day with a smile.

The restaurant, which is open for breakfast and lunch, reopened its doors Jan. 26 after being closed since October 2013. Customers familiar with the restaurant should expect old favorites, as well as new items on the menu, such as a turkey burger.

“It’s just a healthier option,” said Rob Tibbals, one of the new owners of the restaurant, along with Jim Garofalo.

Honey-Jam Cafe in Batavia originally opened in August 2010. The restaurant was previously owned by The Portillo Restaurant Group, but founder Dick Portillo sold the chain last year.

Tibbals and Garofalo also own Honey-Jam Cafe restaurants in Bolingbrook and Downers Grove, as well as Luigi’s House in Aurora, which also had been part of The Portillo Restaurant Group.

They are not new to the restaurant business. They also own two The Egg and I restaurants in Chicago Heights and Tinley Park – which also serve breakfast and lunch – and Grady's Grille in Homewood.

Tibbals said they purchased the Honey-Jam Cafe restaurants because they were familiar with the concept and wanted to expand the number of restaurants they had.

Before buying the restaurants, they had patronized the Downers Grove and Bolingbrook locations.

“It’s a good concept,” he said. “The food was good. They are beautiful restaurants. We wanted to buy the concept and keep it Honey-Jam. We have experience running breakfast-lunch restaurants, so that helped.”

Recognizing the fact that many people have a sensitivity to gluten, the Batavia restaurant also added gluten-free waffles and pancakes to its menu, as well as multi-grain pancakes.

A smoked salmon platter also has been added, and the restaurant now offers a bigger variety of eggs Benedict.

Tibbals and Garofalo also made physical changes to the Batavia restaurant, including installing a bar top.

“They can sit right up at the bar and eat,” Tibbals said. “It puts eight more seats in the restaurant.”

The Batavia restaurant has seating for about 190 people, he said.

Business has been better than expected, Tibbals said, even when considering Sunday’s blizzard.

Former customers also are returning to the Batavia location, said general manager Dawn Brussow, who had previously worked at the restaurant when it was part of The Portillo Restaurant Group.

“We see a lot of regular faces,” Brussow said. “It’s really nice to see some of the same people coming back.”

During a soft opening on Jan. 24, the restaurant raised about $2,000 for the LivingWell Cancer Resource Center in Geneva.

“It’s just a nice way to give back to the community,” Tibbals said.

Tibbals and Garofalo plan to open more Honey-Jam restaurants in the future.

“We want to make people happy and put a smile on their face,” Tibbals said.

Honey-Jam Cafe is open from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

For information, call Honey-Jam Cafe at 630-879-0909.