One year later: Amid pandemic changes, The Lincoln Inn settles into new home at Faranda’s in DeKalb

DeKALB – Anthony McMahon has always had a busy schedule, but since the start of the pandemic, he describes his job as “a little more hectic” and “a different kind of busy.”

McMahon, 24, is the kitchen manager at The Lincoln Inn at Faranda’s, 302 Grove St. in DeKalb. The family business is owned by his father, Bill McMahon.

On Friday, the restaurant’s busiest day of the week, Anthony McMahon wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to be at the restaurant by 6 a.m. His wife Lauren and 7-month-old son Michael are still sleeping when he leaves for work, and he often doesn’t see them until he returns home late at night. Sometimes, if he returns home later than 11 p.m., his family is already gone to bed for the night.

Before the restaurant opens at 7 a.m., McMahon has to turn on the kitchen equipment: ovens, grills, the stove, steam fryer and warming and proofing ovens.

“The first things I make are the bacon and sausage gravy, and I get everything ready for our catered meals,” he said during the lunch shift Friday. “Since there’s a catering order for chicken alfredo today, I’ll get the water for the pasta and the ingredients ready because that will take some time to make.”

When customers start trickling in at 7 a.m., McMahon makes sure the coffee is ready. The restaurant’s best-selling breakfast option is the All American: two eggs, choice of ham, bacon or sausage, and hash browns and toast.

“We used to have a lot of people that stopped by for breakfast before work, but since the pandemic, people aren’t going into work and they’re eating at home,” he said. “Around the lunch hour, our main focus is on catering, but that’s also not as busy as it was. There are not as many meetings or events being held.”

Lunchtime begins around 11:30 a.m., but McMahon describes lunch as “usually a little slow.” During the lull, the restaurant receives to-go and carryout orders for dinner over the phone.

After lunch, McMahon said there is “definitely a dinner rush” from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., a steady stream of customers that lasts about three hours.

“It slows a little after dinner, and we all clean up until the restaurant closes at 9 p.m.,” he said. “Everything has to be cleaned before leaving. The last thing I do before locking up and setting the alarm before I leave is put out the pots and pans I’ll need for bacon and sausage gravy the next morning. Then I head to the bank and get home by 10:30 or 11 p.m.”

Although his busy schedule has some lulls, McMahon said that he often doesn’t sit down all day. He eats a small breakfast while opening the restaurant, often skips lunch and eats dinner when he returns home late at night. If his wife and son are still awake when he returns home, he spends time with them or they watch TV together. He takes a shower and goes to sleep by midnight, in order to wake up early at 5:30 a.m. for the next day of work.

“It’s a lot of hours, but I love my job,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. I’m on my feet all day, but I bring an extra pair of shoes. I burn through nonslip shoes, they last maybe three to six months tops. It’s good to be busy and have customers again after a difficult year with the pandemic.”

Changes because of COVID-19

The Lincoln Inn at Faranda’s owner Bill McMahon said that when he first heard the order to close restaurants for indoor dining a year ago in March, he “didn’t know what to do.”

Bill and his wife, Joy McMahon, purchased The Lincoln Inn in 1994 for $230,000. The restaurant was opened May 21, 1979 by founders John and Polly Arhos.

“I’ve spent 27 years in the restaurant business, and I hadn’t seen anything like this,” McMahon said. “My restaurant was land-locked on Lincoln Highway and the banquet center was pretty much shut down. … At some points in time, foot traffic along Lincoln Highway was slow, but then catering picked up and everything balanced out. During the pandemic, there was no indoor dining, no banquet hall, no catering events. Everything pretty much dried up and all that business, all that revenue was gone.”

After thinking about possible solutions, McMahon remembered how successful drive-thru fundraiser dinners could be.

“I knew we had to change our operation,” he said. “We’d offer one meal a day, and people could call and order that meal for pick-up using a drive-thru method in our parking lot at Faranda’s. That’s how we kept our restaurant staff employed.”

The restaurant applied for and received PPP loans, allowing all of its full-time staff to continue working. During the warmer summer months, the restaurant offered outdoor dining with tents. The option for outdoor dining at the restaurant will return later this spring.

When indoor dining in DeKalb County, along with the rest of the region, was ordered to close by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker again Oct. 3 due to a fall surge of coronavirus cases, Faranda’s remained open briefly, though closed again for indoor service shortly after and didn’t reopen until cases lowered nearly three months later. In October, a controversial photo of DeKalb Mayor Jerry Smith dining inside, following state guidelines which were at the time unclear on banquet center dining protocol, said local public health officials, sparked social media debate about what indoor service was allowed at which kind of establishment.

In that time, The Lincoln Inn was moved from its downtown location to its new home at Faranda’s, a direct result of the pandemic and its financial impacts.

Matt Duffy, the executive director of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, said that the changes restaurants have been making “will have a positive impact now and in the long-term future.”

“Restaurants have been creatively expanding their business models to do whatever they can to serve their food in a safe way during the pandemic,” Duffy said. “There are now many options available: dine-in, takeout, delivery and ordering online. Restaurants are offering services they never have before in ways they had never considered. Restaurant owners are very resilient and innovative, especially with constantly-changing rules and regulations and all the challenges of owning a business during a pandemic.”

New digs, new normal

When The Lincoln Inn, previously located at 240 E. Lincoln Highway, moved inside Faranda’s Banquet Center on Grove Street, the restaurant went from 4,000 square feet of space to 14,000.

A new door and windows were installed on the side of the building, as well as air purifiers on the rooftop air conditioning units and new furniture, including tables, chairs and booths. The rooms that were previously banquet halls and storage space received a makeover, including new paint, décor and a timeline of the restaurant’s history and historic black and white photos of DeKalb on the walls.

The restaurant has four full-time kitchen staff, one full-time dishwasher and four or five part-time support staff to help when it’s busy.

Anthony McMahon said one of the biggest changes to the restaurant is the demand for pickup and to-go orders.

“We used to have foam containers in two sizes, and now we have five high-quality plastic containers,” he said.

Instead of offering large heated trays for catering, individualized meals with disposable silverware and packets of condiments are provided.

Jackie DeCleene, who has been a waitress at the restaurant for about 10 years, said that there are “definitely more to-go orders and less people eating in.”

“I miss seeing my regular customers, and it’s hard not to think about them and how they’re doing all the time,” she said. “I wonder if they’re doing ok.”

DeCleene said wearing a mask all day long “took some getting used to.”

“It’s hard to wear a mask all day and be able to talk and understand people for my job,” she said. “I’ve been getting used to recognizing eyes. I can’t wait until my customers can see my smile.”

Anthony McMahon said that hand washing and sanitizing hasn’t changed at the restaurant “because it’s always been an important part of what we do.”

“We have sinks everywhere in the kitchen, and we’ve always sanitized dishes, silverware, tables and chairs,” he said. “Now I think everyone is just a little more mindful and cautious about it, as well as wearing masks and social distancing.”

‘A new start’

The familiar sounds of laugher, chatter and silverware on China plates have returned to The Lincoln Inn at Faranda’s, but not everything at the restaurant has returned to its pre-pandemic “normal.”

“Recovery is still a concern because people’s dining habits have changed,” Bill McMahon said. “Some people have gotten the vaccine and are back. But some regulars are not back yet. Some have passed away because of COVID. I think some people are afraid to go ‘back to normal,’ and there is going to be a slow recovery.”

McMahon said that the restaurant is operating at 55% of its revenue from last year.

“It’s still tough,” he said. “We’re not seeing 300-person weddings or large gatherings. The banquet center side of our business is still not back, but it will return eventually at some point.”

McMahon said that his restaurant would not have made it through the pandemic without his years of experience and the help and support he received from the community.

“We received tons of support from the community,” he said. “One couple came out to eat every Friday, and they disappeared for a while because of COVID. They came through our drive-thru one day with a check, saying ‘I hope this helps.’ I know their name and their food orders, but they don’t know me from Adam. Yet they still helped. Our customers helped make this difficult situation a little bit better. Not every restaurant will emerge and re-open after the pandemic, but those that do will be stronger because of it.”

DeCleene said that the restaurant’s new space inside Faranda’s is “a new start.”

“Nothing is better than sending off a customer to a great day after a good conversation and a delicious meal,” she said. “After eating out, you feel full and happy. It’s a positive experience, one I know a lot of people have really missed. "

The Lincoln Inn at Faranda’s is located at 302 Grove St. in DeKalb. The restaurant is closed Mondays, open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays and from 7 a.m. to 9 pm. Fridays.

In addition to daily specials, the restaurant offers Friday fish fry specials, including fried cod, baked cod, fried shrimp, broiled haddock options.

The restaurant will also offer a four-course Easter lunch on Sunday, April 4, with seatings every half an hour. Reservations are required.

For more information about The Lincoln Inn at Faranda’s or to place an order, call 815-756-2345.