After Reopening in March, White Fence Farm 'Trying To Stay Alive'

ROMEOVILLE, IL — For more than a year, Laura Hastert kept the doors of her family’s White Fence Farm restaurant closed, struggling like every other restaurateur with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The third-generation owner of the Will County institution that has been open on Route 66 since 1954 did so while other restaurants were reopening, knowing that she was better off safe than sorry. Although the business had found a way to keep its head above water — thanks to its four takeout locations that kept producing White Fence Farm’s famed fried chicken and corn fritters as the pandemic continued — Hastert estimates the business lost about $2.4 million over the past 12 months.

Now, just more than a month after the beloved Romeoville restaurant that is situated on 12 acres reopened its doors for business, Hastert is reaching out to the communities that have supported the business started by her grandfather, Robert C. Hastert, and continued by her father hoping to get business back to the levels it reached before COVID-19 closed its doors 13 months ago.

What was once a familiar-faced staff of 125 employees is now a group of about 40 workers who have stuck with Hastert through the difficult times. Hastert is hoping to provide jobs to employees who could help the restaurant return to its former self as seating capacities continue to expand in coming months. But she needs help.

In a Facebook post, the restaurant asked local customers to support the business by shopping local — a mantra that has been repeated continuously across the country since the pandemic began last March.

Hastert is proud of the way she and a strong team of managers and staff have kept the restaurant’s business moving in the year that the main facility — which includes 12 dining rooms and seats 1,100 people — was closed. The takeout business that was started by her father in the 1960s kept customers served in limited capacity; but because the main location at 1376 Joliet Road was shuttered, the bottom line took a significant hit.

Layoffs were necessary, and despite Hastert receiving two rounds of Payroll Protection Program funding, business suffered. When restaurants could reopen in limited capacity, customers looked at the size of the main location — which also includes a petting zoo, antiques collection and car museum — and wondered why Hastert wouldn’t reopen.

It was never that simple, she said.

“We weren’t one of the restaurants that could say, ‘Now we can open at 25 percent, now we can open at 10 percent, we can do outdoor dining,’ because it was like a dog chasing its tail the way it was going on again, off again and then the next day they’re like, ‘No, you’ve got to close,’” Hastert said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t know who could run a business that way. God bless those people who tried.”

White Fence Farm relied on a booming takeout business at its five satellite locations, which came with its own stress. With limited staff and the need to remain true to the restaurant’s history of providing quality food, Hastert and a small staff who had always seemed like family worked nonstop to keep up with demand. After making about $300,000 during the first two months of the year, the fact the main location wasn’t open made staying afloat difficult. But Hastert realized that the only way her family’s business would survive is if it stayed true to the way it had always done business.

“We haven’t been here for 67 years by breaking rules,” Hastert said. “We don’t roll that way.”

The two rounds of PPP funding certainly helped; and now, Hastert hopes to get another boost from the Restaurant Revitalization grant program. The initial application process will be reserved for women-owned businesses, which Hastert is hoping will give the business another much-needed shot in the arm.

Hastert remained closed as long as she could. Because she feared someone contracting the coronavirus in her restaurant and not having the financial wherewithal to fight a lawsuit, she decided to stay with the takeout business only. But it wasn't until one of her managers came to her and said the business would go under if she didn't reopen the in-person dining location that Hastert finally relented. But a month later, it remains a tough go.

The restaurant and takeout business remain closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and operates on limited hours as Hastert attempts to bolster her staff. Once she can add people, Hastert can think about increasing capacity while restrictions surrounding the pandemic continue. It’s a reality that Hastert refuses to lose sight of as she continues to build her business back up.

Her message is simple.

“We’re still here trying to serve strong, but we need help like everybody,” Hastert told Patch on Thursday. “We’re getting by, but we want to keep these families working."

She added, “Our place has been an institution and a landmark in this area 30 miles south of Chicago and you said, ‘White Fence Farm’ and I guarantee everyone is going to say, ‘Oh my God, I know that place.’ We’re just trying to stay alive like everybody else. We all need help. We’re all tired.”