MRN Top 25 business stories: Announcements of new restaurants satisfy appetite of readers
There were many new business developments in Quincy in 2023 and Muddy River News told you about most of them. Here are the ones that interested you the most, based on our analytics.
1. Quincy City Planner Chuck Bevelheimer said in August (without personally saying it was Raising Cane’s) the prospective restaurant must work within Target’s traffic parameters for construction but would like to be open by the end of 2023. However, nothing much has happened at the site.
2. Kevin Prow, a 1996 graduate of Quincy Notre Dame High School, believes the ingredients are what makes baked stand out. “We make everything from scratch that we can,” he said. “We make our own dough and sauce. We make our own sausage and grind our own cheese. We chop up every green pepper and every onion and every bit of garlic that goes through the place.”
3. The company announced the move in June but has yet to announce what the final project will be. Gerry Kettler, NFI Director of Consumer Affairs, said, “This store is unlike anything we have ever offered.” The NFI grocery store at 24th and Spring was remodeled and changed its name from County Market to Niemann’s in July.
4. The HyVee at 3700 Broadway is the fifth HyVee in Illinois to have a Wahlburgers, with the others in Bloomington, Peoria, Peru and Springfield. Wahlburgers is a casual dining restaurant and bar chain owned by chef Paul Wahlberg and his brothers, actors Donnie Wahlberg and Mark Wahlberg.
5. Tory Kaufmann, a spokesman for Marx Commercial Properties and Development Company, said in August the building likely will be home for six tenants, and he expects them all to be retail outlets. However, the names of those retail outlets have yet to be announced.
6. Jared Tipton’s food truck evolved into a storefront at the corner of Sixth and Maine. “The atmosphere we’re going for here is Sunday lunch at Grandma’s house,” Kim Tipton said. “Very inviting. Very comforting. We have the community table that seats 24, so if you come in by yourself, or it’s just two, sit at the community table and spark a conversation with someone you may have never met before.”
7. Tom Marx, owner of Marx Commercial Properties and Development Company, said NextSite “had absolutely nothing” to do with bringing Verizon Wireless and Planet Fitness to Quincy. “Never heard of NextSite. Never dealt with NextSite,” said Mike Hamilton, chief operating officer and founding partner of Planet Fitness Midwest. The Quincy City Council still has yet to vote on a $15,000 payment to NextSite.
8. “It’s just not profitable, and there are so many regulations and stuff put on by your governor,” IHOP owner Larry McDonald said. “He’s adding on new things for next year like paid time off, and minimum wages are going up, just making it more difficult.” The restaurant closed in May and remains empty.
9. A hookah lounge, also sometimes referred to as a shisha parlor, is where patrons can gather and smoke from a hookah pipe. Hookah lounges in the United States are popular in college towns in settings such as bars, nightclubs and cafes. The hookah menu serves shisha and herbal mixes. The shisha will have different flavor options. The cafe carries Al Fakhar, which is like the Starbucks of shisha.
10. Pancheros will be owned by Jon and Amanda Morris of Keokuk, Iowa, who signed a lease with Marx in May. They said in September they hoped for the business to be operational shortly after Christmas. Pancheros is likely best known for making its fresh-pressed tortillas. The Morrises also own the Sonic at 1501 Broadway.
The rest of the top 25
- 11. Goodwin hopes to duplicate success of Pittsfield’s Red Dome Inn by opening Frank’s Place at 10th and Hampshire
- 12. Messmer turning former pasta restaurant into community event space
- 13. Property manager for Marx says Planet Fitness deal finalized, opening in fourth quarter likely
- 14. Selby Implement sold to Champaign-based farm and construction equipment dealer
- 15. Former Golden Corral restaurant to be converted into plasma collection center by first quarter of 2024
- 16. Troup: Target date for opening of Quincy’s Target store likely to be in August
- 17. Payson friends hoping to create ‘barcade’ atmosphere in downtown Quincy location
- 18. Settling the Score – A Scoreboard Story
- 19. Quincy’s Target is open
- 20. ‘It helps out the whole town’: Camp Point couple renovates downtown brick building into 10-room hotel
- 21. Ask MRN: What’s going on at the old Wright’s Auto Parts property on North 24th Street?
- 22. Seattle-based group buys former Eagle’s Nest hotel, which has been closed since February 2021
- 23. Niemanns unveils 24th Street store rebrand
- 24. Downtown cider house plans to open in spring; owners also plan to offer mead, their ‘secret weapon’
- 25. The Coffee Barn: It’s a family endeavor
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