Chances are, if you’re a college football fan you’ve at least heard of Beef O’Brady’s. The Tampa, Fla.,-based restaurant chain sponsored a college football bowl game for a few years earlier this century.
If you’re less familiar, here’s what you need to know about the restaurant that will open “hopefully in April or May,” franchisee Dave Verkler said, in the space at 730 W. Town Center Blvd., Champaign, formerly occupied by O’Charley’s.
Beef O’Brady’s is a family friendly restaurant whose theme is “good food, good sports.” It has approximately 125 locations, the vast majority located south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The only Illinois location is in Bourbonnais and is owned by Verkler.
“We were not the first (location) in Illinois,” Verkler said, noting the 2008 recession took out several Beef O’Brady’s in the state. “We’ve been in the system since 2005 (in Bourbonnais). We are more of a restaurant than a bar. We have a full service bar, but we are not that rowdy sports bar. We are very family oriented.”
Beef O’Brady’s’ menu is highlighted, Verkler said, by its popular wings (boneless and traditional), along with Angus burgers and a specialty item that not all Beef O’Brady’s have: pizza.
“The biggest thing people rave about (in Bourbonnais) are our chicken wings, our burgers and we have a great artisan pizza,” Verkler said. “We’re so close to Chicago, and we have probably 20 pizza concepts within a mile of our location, and we hear constantly that we have the best pizza in town. It’s unique.”
The regular menu also includes salads, premium entrees like salmon and sirloin, sandwiches and wraps, tacos and quesadillas, appetizers and desserts.
The kids’ menu includes grilled cheese, mini corn dogs, cheeseburger, pepperoni and cheese quesadilla, chicken tenders, chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.
The ambience offers ample TVs plus a small arcade — the Bourbonnais location has about 12 games, Verkler said — to keep the younger crowd entertained.
Verkler chose C-U for several reasons, with this specific location along the North Prospect corridor being a prime factor.
“We just started looking at properties that were available and we stumbled on the Town Center property,” he said. “Zoning is a huge thing and location is a huge thing. There’s a lot that surrounds us there — a lot of retail opportunities. When you’re looking for a new restaurant site, those are appealing.”
Peoria and Springfield are downstate locations that previously had a Beef O’Brady’s restaurant. Neither do now. Verkler said bad publicity surrounding the Springfield store should not be confused with his franchises.
“There’s a lot of comparisons to a Beef O’Brady’s that opened and closed in Springfield,” he said. “I want people to know we’re not the same franchisee. We feel we run a great operation in Bourbonnais, and we’ve been privileged to be awarded several awards in our corporation, and we’re different people than who opened in Springfield.”