It’s been a decade-long journey for the restaurant formerly known as Marion Street Cheese Market – recently rebranded as Marion Street Market. But the high-end eatery and retailer located at 100 S. Marion St. closed its doors for good on Sept. 6.
Operating partner Grant Slauterbeck said in a telephone interview that the restaurant had a good 10-year run, but there was not the support to keep it going. He also said the closure of Marion Street and the opening of his new restaurant, fourteensixteen, in La Grange, which happened on the same day, was purely coincidental.
Mary Jo Schuler, founder and owner of Marion Street, could not immediately be reached for comment. Schuler is still owner of the commercial condo which housed the restaurant.
Slauterbeck, of GCC Chicagoland, which provides branding, management and business development services for restaurants, said he was hired as a consultant for then-Marion Street Cheese Market in 2014. That year, the restaurant rebranded, getting a new menu, chef and renaming itself Marion Street Market. Slauterbeck took over management of Marion Street about a year later.
He acknowledged that the remodeling and rebranding of the business cost somewhere around $500,000, but the changes were not enough to revive the business.
Slauterbeck said that in 2016, he began negotiating a possible ownership agreement, where he would become majority owner of the business, but “the older ownership and myself didn’t come to an agreement,” he said.
He declined to say how the collapse in negotiations over the ownership agreement led to the closure of the restaurant.
The restaurant’s closure was notable because of the abrupt nature of the announcement. Staff reportedly were brought in and told on Sept. 6 that the restaurant was ceasing operations immediately and a press release was issued.
“Overall, it has been a remarkable 10-year journey, starting as a tiny cheese shop with just a few employees evolving into a 5,000-square-foot business employing dozens and dozens of high-energy, enthusiastic local youth and adults over the years,” Schuler and Slauterbeck wrote in a press release.
“We built Marion Street Cheese Market around this core mission: ‘to celebrate culinary creativity by nourishing our community with exceptional food and outstanding service – provided with sustainability in mind.’ In pursuit of this mission, we have enjoyed serving the community by distributing artisanal foods, elevating neighborhood vibrancy and by generating jobs as well as tax revenue.”
The closure of the business on the same day as the opening of fourteensixteen in La Grange has caused some speculation that Marion Street employees all relocated to Slauterbeck’s new venture, but he tells Wednesday Journal that’s not the case.
“It is in no way affiliated with Marion Street Market,” Slauterbeck said.
He noted that five or six employees, of about 30-plus, made the switch to fouteensixteen.
“It bothers me because it was coincidental,” he said.
Slauterbeck described the cuisine at the new restaurant as “new American craft, like someone picked up a restaurant in River North and put it in La Grange.”
The restaurant is one of three owned by GCC Chicagoland, he said, the other two being Onesto, which “brings the authentic taste of trattoria to Skokie,” according to GCC’s website, and Subourbon, described as bringing “authentic flavors of Kentucky whiskey to lovers of fine spirits in the suburbs.”
Subourbon also offers: “A wide selection of bourbons and other whiskeys, complemented by a menu of juicy burgers and other irresistible barroom bites, lures guests back again and again,” according to the GCC website.
His newest venture is described on the fourteensixteen website as: “New. American. Craft. None of these words are defined by a single other word or action, and 1416 aspires to keep that consistent. New may mean a twist on a classic, it may be something you would have never expected. American is a melting pot of cuisine and culture, and expect nothing less here.”
CONTACT: tim@oakpark.com