Moretti's Unique Events expected to complement Hoffman Estates Moretti's
Moretti's Unique Events, a separate banquet hall affiliated with the Hoffman Estates location of Moretti's Ristorante & Pizzeria next door, is seeking a special-use permit this month to complete its transition from the Sweet Caroline's Bar-N-Que that closed in February 2018.
Although Sweet Caroline's was successful, Ala Carte Entertainment Vice President Mark Hoffmann said, there is a greater need for an event hall tied to the space-constrained Moretti's on the restaurant campus at Barrington and Higgins roads.
"I was turning away parties on a Saturday night," Hoffmann said. "Now you can have a separate facility."
Schaumburg-based Ala Carte Entertainment is preparing to open a 10th Moretti's location in Barrington in late July. The Hoffman Estates site will be the brand's 11th venue, falling under the broader title of Unique Events.
Ala Carte's portfolio includes more traditional banquet space such as that at Chandler's Chophouse & Grille at the Schaumburg Golf Club, but the Moretti's-affiliated site will help fill a different customer demand, Hoffmann said.
"It's more fun," he added. "It gives the customers an opportunity to express themselves in a different way. Millennials want fun and unique spaces to have events at."
Hoffman Estates' planning and zoning commission on Wednesday recommended approval of the special-use permit. The village board will consider the request June 17.
With this change in place, Hoffmann said he will be sifting through a list of concept ideas for the former T.G.I. Friday's building that closed on the same campus in 2015.
The campus also includes the former Romano's Macaroni Grill building that closed in the summer of 2017, which Ala Carte does not own.
A Steak 'n Shake is the last original member of the five-building restaurant campus that was developed on that corner in the late '90s.
Ala Carte Entertainment owns several restaurant concepts in the Chicago area, including The Snuggery, Finn McCool's and Drink nightclub in Schaumburg.