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HopCat announces closure of Chicago location

Posted at 5:19 PM, Feb 04, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-04 17:19:26-05

CHICAGO — Grand Rapids-based HopCat announced Monday that its Chicago location has closed its doors.

The chain opened its only Chicago restaurant in September of 2016 in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its last day of business was on Sunday.

“It is a disappointment to close our Chicago store, especially since we had a great team working there and many enthusiastic fans,” said Joe Sonheim, BarFly Ventures marketing director.

Sonheim said the restaurant’s location was an issue for business and several other nearby restaurants also closed in the last year or so.

“The geographic spot where it was was kind of an interesting position for foot traffic,” he said.

The Chicago closure doesn’t impact any of the other locations, and BarFly is still planning on opening a restaurant in Holland in April.

“In the next several months, we will be likely to continue growing here in our home state of Michigan,” Sonheim said. “Definitely in the next couple of years, the plan is to grow here in Michigan where we have a great fan base and things are going really well financially.”

He said the business still hopes to expand out of state in the future.