Former IHOP restaurant in Wheaton to be razed

WHEATON – A former IHOP restaurant in the Danada Square East shopping center in Wheaton will be torn down to make way for a fast-casual chicken restaurant.

The Wheaton City Council on Sept. 19 approved a special-use permit for Florida-based restaurant chain PDQ to raze the building at 167 Danada Square East and construct a 3,300-square-foot restaurant.

The restaurant is expected to open in the spring, said Jeffrey Kamis, PDQ chief marketing and public relations officer. PDQ stands for "People Dedicated to Quality."

This would be the chain's first restaurant in the Midwest. The first PDQ opened its doors in 2011 in Tampa, Fla., and the chain now has 55 restaurants throughout Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

Restaurant Business Magazine recently named PDQ as the No. 1 fastest growing small chain in America.

The chain is known for its hand-breaded chicken tenders, sandwiches, hand-cut fries and hand-spun milk shakes.

"What's so special and different about PDQ is just the quality of everything we do," Kamis said. "And that starts with the food quality. Everything we do on the menu is made from scratch in house every day. That includes our hand-breaded tenders and sandwiches. That includes all of our homemade sauces and dressings. Everything is made in house every single day."

PDQ expects to hire 60 to 70 employees at its Wheaton restaurant, Kamis said. The restaurant also will have a drive-thru that will be different from other drive-thrus.

"Unlike most drive-thrus, we don't have a squawk box," he said. "We have what we call our hospitality hut. You place your order at our hospitality hut with one of our team members, so you are placing your order face to face at the first window in our hospitality hut... Everything for us is about the guest experience."