Portillo's to open first Wisconsin restaurant
Oak Brook-based Portillo's Hot Dogs LLC will submit plans today to open its first restaurant in Wisconsin after officials from a Milwaukee suburb trekked to a Vernon Hills Portillo's for a bite to eat.
Founder Dick Portillo met with officials from Brookfield, Wisconsin, in June. A Brookfield contingent visited the Vernon Hills restaurant in September to meet with the manager and eat, said Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto.
“We were all very impressed,” Ponto said. “It was very busy.”
Local government approvals are expected to take about 30 to 60 days, said Timothy M. Casey, Brookfield economic development administrator, and a new restaurant could open in 2016.
The company said this Portillo's will be part of a new 66-acre mixed development along Bluemound Road in Brookfield. The development includes restaurants and retail at The Shoppes at the Corridor.
The company plans to build a 1950s-style diner and incorporate local historical items and artifacts, said Portillo's spokesman Nick Scarpino.
“Bluemound Road had several well-known diners back in the 1950s and we're working closely with the mayor's office to incorporate historical artifacts from the immediate area,” Scarpino said.
While Portillo's is known for its Italian beef, burgers and hot dogs, the company might add some local favorites, which Scarpino declined to disclose.
He would not say how much the company is investing in the new project.
Founder Dick Portillo sold his Portillo Restaurant Group in 2014 to Boston-based Berkshire Partners. The company then was renamed Portillo's Hot Dogs LLC and it has 39 locations, including nine Barnelli's restaurants, in Illinois, Indiana, California, Arizona and Florida. Another will open on Nov. 3 in Gurnee.
Noodles & Co.'s former President and Chief Operating Officer Keith Kinsey replaced Portillo last summer as the new CEO. Portillo, who has an office in Oakbrook Terrace, continues to own the land beneath the restaurants and leases it back to the restaurants.