Highland Cafe in downtown Elgin closes
Highland Cafe closed after just seven months in business in downtown Elgin, but another eatery is expected to replace it in the next few months, the building owner said.
Andrew Cuming and his wife, Britta, own the building at 109 E. Highland, where they opened Highland Cafe in February. The space previously held Domani Cafe for 10 years.
The couple invested into renovating, redecorating and launching a new menu, but ultimately couldn't get the business going, Cuming said. Their last day in business was Saturday.
"I was subsidizing it very heavily and I couldn't afford it anymore," he said. "It's not even that there's not enough customers in downtown Elgin. We never really picked up the crowd we were expecting to."
Cuming declined to name the new eatery, whose owner approached the Cumings with an offer while they were debating whether to keep Highland Cafe open, he said. "We have a lease agreement, we are waiting on the lawyers to finalize it," he said.
The Cumings also own Cuming Holdings LLC, which includes several buildings downtown and elsewhere in Elgin. The business and their three children keep them plenty occupied, Cuming said.
"I'm not in the food service industry and the challenge was too great for what we had available," he said. "It's one of those things where someone who is running a business themselves and is able to put in the time and care can do it, but when you have managers it's never quite the same."