Plan emerges to fill former Krispy Kreme building in Gurnee

A plan has emerged to open a new breakfast and lunch restaurant at the long-dormant Krispy Kreme Donut location near the Chuck E. Cheese's in Gurnee.

The proposed restaurant would be called Wicked Egg, according to village documents. Wicked Egg's tentative breakfast menu features five varieties of avocado toast and several egg dishes, including one called Mind Your Own Biscuits and Gravy and another dubbed My Cousin Benny. The lunch menu features a signature burger, called the wicked burger, and seven sandwiches including a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich.

The restaurant would be open from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and seat around 100 patrons.

Martha Tsitiridis, the president of WE Assets, LLC, did not return calls for comment Monday.

The plan will be before the village's planning and zoning commission Wednesday because it would require an exemption to the village's parking rules.

Krispy Kreme, 1508 Nations Drive, closed its doors in 2009. Two years later, the village gave 51 of the 83 parking spaces allocated to the Krispy Kreme building to Chuck E. Cheese's to accommodate its 4,500-square-foot expansion. Because the former Krispy Kreme building had 32 remaining parking spaces, the village added a condition that it could not be used as a restaurant because it didn't have enough spaces.

The planning and zoning committee will decide whether that condition should be changed.

Chuck E. Cheese's, 1512 Nations Drive, opens at 10 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. other days, meaning the two businesses would overlap for three and a half or four and a half hours.

The village's traffic consultant studied the site during the overlap times on eight weekend days and found the restaurant could operate in the former Krispy Kreme building without creating a parking deficit, so long as its operating hours don't increase.

The planning and zoning committee meets at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at village hall, 325 North O'Plaine Road.