Cooper's Hawk Continues Setting Records At 111th and Cicero

Want to go out for a relaxing dinner at the new Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant at 111th Street and Cicero Avenue? Be prepared to wait an hour and a half, unless you can snag a table at the beginning of the dinner rush. Having out of town guests or planning a celebratory dinner? Make your reservations now.

No doubt about it, Cooper’s Hawk at Stony Creek Promenade is Oak Lawn’s business success story of the year. Open just seven weeks, the Oak Lawn location continues to break and set company records.

“We thought it would be busy but never expected this,” said Michael Moore, chief operating officer for Cooper’s Hawk’s corporate office. “It’s pretty special. Who woulda thunk Cicero and and 111th Street?”

Moore said the company’s demographic research has panned out.

“I think we filled a niche that wasn’t filled in the Oak Lawn area,” the COO said. “When we looked at the geographic area there was a concentration of residents, 150,000 a mile out, and 450,000 three miles out. There is a lot of disposable income for people who want to eat out.”

Part of what has driven Cooper’s Hawk’s success is the diverse menu, both in food and price points.

“If you want to spend $10 or $30, you can come in for a light lunch or a celebratory dinner, we can offer that,” Moore said.

Prior to the opening of the winery and restaurant at Stony Creek Promenade, Cooper’s Hawk’s busiest restaurants were Orland Park, Naperville and Arlington Heights. Moore said that the Oak Lawn location is on pace to become the most successful of Cooper Hawk’s current 19 locations spread out across seven states (including Illinois).

“We go by weekly and monthly sales,” Moore said. “Oak Lawn has broken all previous records for openings. If Oak Lawn stays on the path that it’s on, and I think it will, it will surpass all of them.”

Moore said the company does not divulge sales numbers, but Oak Lawn has out clipped locations in Richmond, VA, Orlando, FL, and Springfield, IL, which also opened strong in their first week.

“Oak Lawn has beaten them by 30 percent from our previous openings, and by 30 percent in first-week sales figures, which continues to this day,” he said.