Joliet Buona Beef: Approved In 2018, Now Unlikely

JOLIET, IL — Three years ago, Buona Beef had grand plans to build a new restaurant on Joliet's West Jefferson Street at the site of the demolished Sunset Plaza, but those plans have not materialized.

Several officials familiar with the project have told Joliet Patch the Buona Beef project is highly unlikely to happen anymore. The Buona Beef development received approval in the summer of 2018, one of the few bright spots during former City Manager David Hales' brief stay in Joliet.

Buona Beef was planned to go at 2210 West Jefferson Street, and it went before the Joliet City Council for approval of a drive thru window.

"The restaurant will be constructed on a redeveloped site," Hales notified the Council three years ago. "At this time, only the Buona Beef Restaurant is being developed on the west side of the property."

The Buona Beef Chicago-area restaurant franchise had visions of rapid expansion a few years back. A 2019 news release announcing the opening of a Buona Beef in Glen Ellyn proclaimed that this marked the 25th Buona Beef location.

These days, the Buona Beef website lists a total of 25 locations, the same as it had two years ago. Aside from the celebration of a new Buona Beef in Skokie last summer, Buona Beef hasn't made much of the news.

Berwyn-based Buona Beef did make news last year amid the coronavirus crisis for receiving $2 million to $5 million in PPP loans, according to a news article from ProPublica.

On Tuesday, city of Joliet economic development Derek Conley was not ready to close the books on the Buona Beef development, but he also had no assurances Buona Beef was ready to forge ahead with construction anytime this spring or summer.

"That was never a sure thing," Conley said, referring to Buona Beef.

Nowadays, a large for sale sign is erected on the empty lot that once housed the Sunset Plaza, in hopes of landing someone other than Buona Beef to build here.

"It was purchased by a developer that works with Buona Beef," Conley told Patch. "They still have some obstacles they have to overcome before the site is developable. It's a tough site to develop."

Conley believes the coronavirus pandemic played a factor in Buona Beef's decision not to move forward in 2020 with construction in Joliet.

"With COVID, it really stalled the project," Conley said.

In 2021, the Jefferson Street land owner will have to decide whether to move forward with the project approved by the city in 2018 "or sell it to another developer," Conley said.

Conley said that Buona Beef has not had any discussions with city officials about other properties or empty lots throughout Joliet.

"We have not discussed a second location with them right now," Conley said Tuesday.

While Buona Beef sat on the sidelines and didn't break ground for its new restaurant in Joliet, other notable competitors emerged and got their foot in the door first.

In November 2018, Beef Shack opened its drive-thru at the old Taco Bell restaurant on West Jefferson Street near Stryker Avenue.

And this past Sunday, Joliet Patch broke the news that suburban Chicago restaurant owner Joe Haberkorn will open his first-ever Pop's Italian Beef this spring or by early summer at the vacant Boston Market on West Jefferson Street. Haberkorn told Joliet Patch he will officially take ownership of the old Boston Market before March arrives.

Sources have suggested to Joliet Patch that Buona Beef may have faced a tough battle if its owners tried to build a new restaurant in Joliet.

Buona Beef has been known in the past for using non-union laborers on their restaurant projects while Joliet is known as a pro-union community.

In 2017, Patch reported that two of the partners with Buona Beef were charged with battery in connection with an altercation on the sidewalk of the company's flagship location in Berwyn. Video recorded by members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 appeared to show Joseph Buonavolanto striking the hand of one of the protesters criticizing Buona's use of a low-wage construction worker.

In another video, a man identified as his uncle, Jim Buonavolanto, sprayed the union members with a hose. "Unbelievable. If you work hard maybe you had a shot at being (expletive) successful in life instead of being a (expletive) thief," said Joseph Buonavolanto, whose grandfather founded the restaurant chain.

In the video, Joseph Buonavolanto describes Buona as a "billion-dollar company" while Jim sprays the union members with a hose because of a need to "clean the sidewalk."