Berkot's Super Foods is a hometown staple

Since 1990, Berkot’s Super Foods has grown from one grocery store in Mokena to having 16 locations across six counties, mostly in Will and Kankakee counties, with one location in Wisconsin.

Ten of the 16 stores are in the Daily Journal coverage area, which includes Aroma Park, Braidwood, Coal City, Dwight, Kankakee, Manteno, Momence, Peotone, Watseka and Wilmington.

The other Illinois locations are in Lockport, Manhattan, Midlothian, Mokena and New Lenox.

Certainly, there’s a Berkot’s in your town or on your drive home.

The grocer’s successful and sustained growth is what led to its recognition as Large Business of the Year as part of the Daily Journal’s 2022 Progress Awards.

Berkot’s most recent addition to its grocery portfolio was its April 2018 purchase of the 22,950-square-foot former Mario’s Market store at 1557 W. Court St. on Kankakee’s west side.

Since that time, the location has been transformed into a more modern store with a nearly complete renovation.

The average Berkot’s store is about 30,000 square feet, at least 50 percent smaller than the median size grocery store in the U.S. And that’s by design.

“Bigger isn’t better,” Berkot’s founder and owner John Kotara told the Daily Journal as the Aroma Park location opened in 2014.

“We fit the store to the community, not the other way around.”

The Aroma Park location measures just 16,000 square feet yet includes a full bakery, deli counter and a large meat department. The store also sells gourmet items and created 20 new jobs in the community.

Throughout its 16 stores, Berkot’s employs more than 1,100 people.

<strong>Growing footprint</strong>

Berkot’s reopened at 1152 E. Walnut St. in Watseka in 2013, taking over a Quality Foods. It had previously closed its location in Watseka — which had been an Eagle Foods store — in 2012. It opened its doors in 2010 in Peotone after opening Berkot’s Super Foods in 2005 in Braidwood and Coal City.

Berkot’s opened its first store in Kankakee County in 2003 in Manteno when it bought the former Manteno Foods grocery store at 451 N. Locust St.

At the time it was just Berkot’s third grocery store.

1990: Opens its first store in Mokena

2003: Opens in Manteno

2005: Opens in Braidwood and Coal City

2010: Opens in Peotone

2013: Opens in Watseka

2014: Opens in Aroma Park

2018: Opens in Kankakee

Aroma Park: 200 S. Bridge St.

Braidwood: 180 N. Front St.

Coal City: 100 S. Broadway St.