The Berghoff Restaurant, a mainstay in Chicago for more than 100 years, recently was sold, but the ownership will stay in the same family.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
The sale is being driven by the retirement of Carlyn Berghoff, 55, CEO of the company that operates the restaurant as well as Berghoff Catering. Her brother Peter Berghoff, 50, who manages the day-to-day operations at The Berghoff Cafe at O’Hare International Airport, will take over operation of the 118-year-old German restaurant in the Loop. The family did not disclose how much the operation sold for.
The changeover will happen June 30, and both sides are predicting a seamless transition from one member of the family to another. It’s less clear if all the employees will still work under the new operation.
The potential bad news in that last sentence is the announcement the Berghoff will lay off its 156 employees. But Crain’s reports they can to reapply for those positions, and many will be kept.
Carlyn Berghoff had run the restaurant in the downtown West Adams Street alignment of Route 66 since 2006. She initially closed the restaurant and was planning to convert it to a special-events venue, but popular demand prompted her to reopen the restaurant just a few weeks later.
The Berghoff restaurant opened in 1898 by Herman Joseph Berghoff, a German immigrant. His brothers were brewing Berghoff beer the previous decade in Indiana; he founded the restaurant to help popularize the beer. After Prohibition ended, the Berghoff became known as securing liquor license No. 1 in Chicago.
The Berghoff brewery was sold to Falstaff in 1954. Meanwhile, the restaurant kept going. Berghoff beers now are brewed by Point Brewing Co. in Wisconsin.
And here’s a tidbit of history about the restaurant I didn’t know until I surfed its Wiki page:
Long after most restaurants ended the practice, the Berghoff maintained a separate men’s only bar. The segregation ended in 1969, when seven members of the National Organization for Women, led by Gloria Steinem, stood at the bar and demanded service.
The Berghoff Restaurant was inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2006.
(Hat tip to Marie Traska; image of the Berghoff Restaurant sign at night by Justin Kern via Flickr)
It will be interesting to learn if employees returning will retain their old wage scale and benefits.