Coffee Shop Now Open in Lake Forest West Train Station

LAKE FOREST, IL - A new option for coffee in Lake Forest opened recently inside the city’s west train station.

Reprise Coffee Roasters, which began roasting coffee out of Grayslake in the fall of 2015, opened its first cafe on Dec. 21.

Founders Peter Ruchti and Adam Paronto saw a need for specialty coffee in the suburbs and some three years ago began talking about the idea of opening a shop.

The city of Lake Forest’s strong support of small businesses made sense for the pair.

“We were actually approached about the location in Lake Forest before opening the cafe,” said Ruchti, a native of Gurnee. “The Lake Forest community supports small business and currently has very few options for coffee.”

Coffee at a train station in general is also a logical combo.

“Having a central location in Lake Forest has also greatly influenced our business,” Ruchti said. “Commuters taking the train no longer need to stop for coffee on their way to work.”

As a specialty coffee roaster, Reprise offers single origins from Colombia, Ethiopia, Mexico and Nicaragua and has a few more in the works. The cafe also serves lattes, mochas and pastries. It is dog-friendly and welcomes cyclists.

Even though the brick-and-mortar version of their business has been running for less than a month, Ruchti and Paronto call it “a great adventure.”

“We underestimated the response we would receive from opening a cafe,” Ruchti said. “We have also learned how great of a need for a community area is to the residents. The amount of pastries that our customers would like was greatly different than what we were expecting - we sold out quickly.”

Ruchti and Paronto say it’s their attitude toward employees that helps separate them from other coffee options in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff.

“We treat our employees with the highest value,” Ruchti said. “Ethics are a big part of our business. We see them as the most valuable part of Reprise Coffee. We know that investing in them will result in us becoming a better business.”