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Schaumburg to be second U.S. site of Australian-based Mexican restaurant

A Mexican restaurant chain expanding to the U.S. by way of Australia plans to build its second North American location in Schaumburg. The first opened in Naperville two years ago.

Schaumburg trustees Tuesday unanimously approved plans for a 2,800-square-foot Guzman y Gomez Mexican Kitchen that would occupy the southwest corner of Golf and Plum Grove roads after the demolition of the 5,800-square-foot building there that most recently housed Brousko Authentic Greek Cuisine.

Plans for the counter-order restaurant include space for about 50 diners inside, a patio for seasonal outdoor dining for approximately 20 more, and a drive-through lane that could accommodate up to 15 vehicles at a time.

The restaurant chain serves burritos, nachos, enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas and soft drinks. Most of its 160 locations in the Eastern Hemisphere also serve margaritas and beer.

At the recent hearing before Schaumburg's zoning board of appeals, officials said a pair of Brooklyn, New York natives, started the chain in Sydney, Australia, in 2006.

The two men had first moved for work to London, where they met their future wives from Australia. After they all moved to Australia, the Americans recognized a scarcity of Mexican restaurants in Sydney.

Backers of the Schaumburg location told the zoning board that there are now 151 Guzman y Gomez sites in Australia and several more in Singapore and Japan.

Though the Naperville location has remained alone as the brand's barely pre-pandemic pioneer in the U.S., the company envisions the Schaumburg restaurant as the first of five more this year, with another five or six planned in 2023.

A company representative Tuesday said he was not at liberty to comment on an expected time frame for the construction and the opening of the Schaumburg location.

Naperville is getting the nation's first Australian Mexican restaurant

The former 5,800-square-foot restaurant building that most recently housed Brousko Authentic Greek Cuisine at the southwest corner of Golf and Plum Grove roads in Schaumburg will be demolished to make way for the second U.S. location of Guzman y Gomez Mexican Kitchen, a chain launched in Australia by two Brooklyn natives. Courtesy of village of Schaumburg
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