Coffee cafe gets to stay at Naperville train station
A niche vendor who deals in improving commuters' mornings will get to stay put at the Naperville Metra station.
Harry's Cafe doesn't have to abandon its business of selling coffee, bananas, breakfast bars and the like to Chicago-bound workers, despite a city rule change that initially appeared to outlaw the business.
"I fell out of compliance with the new ordinance for vending trucks," is how owner Harry Buenger explained the situation to one customer Friday morning after it came to a happy ending at Tuesday night's city council meeting.
Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico explained it this way before the council took action to correct the problem:
The city, as part of the routine business of clarifying decades-old sections of its municipal code, updated its ordinance on food trucks, or what Chirico called "mobile vendors." The ordinance prohibited vending from a vehicle in one location for more than 15 minutes and it set 10 a.m. as the earliest start time for sales.
Problem is, the Harry's Cafe truck stays put for nearly five hours a day at the site of its electric hookup at the train station at 105 E. 4th Ave. And those hours begin about 4 a.m.
What saved the longtime cafe could be its popularity. Commuters love Harry's.
"It's always a nice treat in the morning when I come here," commuter Brandon Lamana said Friday.
When owners Harry and Kathy Buenger got wind of the code compliance issue and sought a path forward - at least until their planed retirement - 3,244 commuters and supporters signed a change.org petition asking for the business to be able to stay.
City council members heard the plea and amended the ordinance by a unanimous vote. It now says vending in a single location for more than 15 minutes isn't OK, "unless vending at a commuter train station during the morning commute," and starting sales before 10 a.m. isn't allowed, anywhere other than a commuter train station.
Buenger said the city has offered him these terms for a two-year deal with a potential three-year renewal. Harry's Cafe still will be billed for its electric use. Buenger said he's "more than happy" with this setup because in five years, he'll be 67 and ready to call it quits after operating the cafe for 41 years.
"Things are going to be back to normal," he said.
Normal, at Harry's Cafe, is a cacophony of rushing commuters, idling Pace buses, rumbling trains and repeating Metra announcements.
It's asking whether customers want their coffee "big or small" and filling the cup just so. It's offering a book exchange for train-time entertainment so the contents of a basket full of paperbacks don't end up in landfills. And it's getting to know the faces and stories of people on their way to work.
"I have so many personalities of people that come through here in the morning," Buenger said. "It's incredible."
The friendships are Kathy's favorite part of the job.
They must mean something to commuters, too, Buenger said, because with all the Starbucks and McDonald's of the world, people have nearly endless other places to grab a quick cup of caffeine on their way to the train.
"It's not about selling coffee in the morning," Buenger said. "It's about establishing relationships."