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| '''Portillo's''', which is the main entity within '''The Portillo Restaurant Group''' is a chain of restaurants that specialize in serving ]-style food. Portillo's is located primarily throughout the ], and also has two locations in southern California. | '''Portillo's''', which is the main entity within '''The Portillo Restaurant Group''' is a chain of restaurants that specialize in serving ]-style food. Portillo's is located primarily throughout the ], and also has two locations in southern California. | ||
| ==History== | |||
| Owner and founder Dick Portillo worked at Tom's Weenie Wagon, where he learned how to make the hot dog that made him. In fall of 1963, Tom went to Florida for the winter leaving Portillo unemployed, so he opened up Portillos from a trailer with no running water in the fall 1963 in ].The first Portillo's hot dog stand known as "The Dog House" opened in 1963 on North Avenue in Villa Park. Owner and founder Dick Portillo invested $1,100 into a 6' x 12' trailer without a bathroom or running water. To get the water he needed, he ran 250 feet of garden hose from a nearby building into the trailer. | |||
| By 1967, "The Dog House" was a success and was ready for a new look. After it was remodeled, it was renamed "Portillo's" and over the years has grown into a successful multi-state operation. Portillo’s expanded to Southern California in 2005, Indiana in 2006 and will open in Scottsdale, AZ in February 2013 and Tempe, AZ in August 2013. The Barnelli’s Pasta Bowl concept was introduced in 1993, and features a variety of pastas with homemade sauces, gourmet salads, and hand-tossed pizza. Barnelli's first opened in Schaumburg and has additional locations in Naperville, Vernon Hills, Glendale Heights, Niles, Summit, Crystal Lake, Chicago and Willowbrook, IL.<ref name="Portillos"></ref> Several of the later locations were built on property that was formerly the home of closed down ] drive-thrus. Today, each location has different themed decor that reflects Mr. Portillo's love of history and of Chicago. By design, no two Portillo's are exactly alike. | |||
| Portillo's also has implemented a drive-thru system where the traditional menu-board and speaker system is replaced during peak hours with as many as five to seven employees, who take customers' orders, collect money, and run food out to the respective vehicles. This system, which operates during all but the most severe of weather conditions, is intended to speed up the drive-thru process and increase the accuracy of the orders themselves. This system is also sometimes used at ] restaurants. | |||
| The Portillo Restaurant Group is the largest privately owned restaurant company in the ].<ref name="Portillos"/> It owns and operates four different restaurant concepts, which include '''Portillo's Hot Dogs''', '''Barnelli's''' (found inside Portillo's Hot Dogs locations), '''Luigi's House''', which is an Italian restaurant, and '''Honey Jam Cafe''', as well as a catering division, '''Portillo's Home Kitchen'''.<ref name="Portillos"/> In 2012 the Portillo Restaurant Group launched it's fifth brand, '''Julian Plaza,''' a real estate venture. | |||
| The group is based in ], Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Frank Portillo, the older brother of Dick, is the former president of Chicago-based ''']'''.<ref>Bob Okon. "". ''Herald News''. April 12, 2011. Retrieved on June 17, 2012.</ref> | |||
| ==Menu== | ==Menu== | ||
Revision as of 02:30, 28 January 2013
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1963 in Villa Park, Illinois |
| Headquarters | Oak Brook, Illinois, USA |
| Key people | Dick Portillo, Founder, Owner, President |
| Website | portillos.com |
Portillo's, which is the main entity within The Portillo Restaurant Group is a chain of restaurants that specialize in serving Chicago-style food. Portillo's is located primarily throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, and also has two locations in southern California.
Menu
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The Portillo's menu includes a variety of items, including Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef, hamburgers, sandwiches, ribs, and salads, as well as beer and wine. One popular item is the Beef n' Cheddar Croissant, which consists of Italian beef, shredded cheddar, and they suggest adding sweet or hot peppers on a 10" croissant.
They also boast dessert items such as very popular chocolate cake (notable for the rumor that mayonnaise as an ingredient) and milkshakes, and a mix of the two, the famous Chocolate Cake Shake, which is basically a piece of the chocolate cake blended in with a chocolate shake.
The chain's main competition are mostly local, privately owned stores, most of which also specialize in Italian beef and Chicago-style hot dogs. The largest competitors of Portillo's in Chicagoland are Scooby's Red Hots and Buona Beef.
Outside Illinois
Portillo's has been operating in Southern California since October 11, 2005, at the Buena Park Downtown shopping center in Buena Park, near Knott's Berry Farm and also opened a location in Moreno Valley, California in 2008.
A location also exists in Merrillville, Indiana, though this is still well within the firm's home market of Chicagoland.
Portillo's had licensed restaurants using its recipes and themes in Tokyo, Japan, in the late 1980s and early '90s. However, the Japanese restaurants did not fully follow the same tradition as the Chicago area stores, and all eventually closed. Portillo's also delivers part of its menu to all fifty US states in a united venture alongside Eli's Cheesecake and Lou Malnati's pizzeria.
Due to a dense population of transient Mid-westerners in the Arizona market and the previous success of other Chicago-style eateries in that area, such as Rosati's Pizza, Portillo's is planning an initial launch of three restaurants in Arizona. Portillo's will open its first location in Arizona in 2013 at the southwest corner of N. 90th St. and E. Shea Blvd in Scottsdale which will be followed by a location in Tempe. Both locations are near to the spring training homes of both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox.
Honey Jam Cafe
In 2010 Portillo Restaurant Group launched the Honey Jam concept. Unlike the other three concepts which focus on fast casual food Honey Jam is essentially an upscale pancake house similar to Walker Brothers Pancake House in both ambiance and menu. They feature unique pancake and waffle combinations and specialty items such as a baked apple pancake and white chocolate raspberry Belgian waffles, and offer patrons whom order coffee a cup "to go" after receiving their check. The concept's name, according to the menu, is derived from the owners pet-name for his wife, "Honey" and the first letter of his three children's first names comprising the acronym "JAM." The concept is positioned as a breakfast and lunch cafe, and thus closes at 3 p.m.
References
- Portillo's Hot Dogs: Out of the dog house and living the American dream, frankfurter chain operator grows his business independently | Nation's Restaurant News | Find Articles...
- Cite error: The named reference
HoneyJam menuwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
External links
Categories:- Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois
- Fast casual restaurants
- Fast-food chains of the United States
- Hot dog restaurants
- Oak Brook, Illinois
- Regional restaurant chains in the United States
- Restaurants established in 1963
- Restaurants in California
- Restaurants in Chicago, Illinois
- Restaurants in Indiana
- Villa Park, Illinois