Snacker's Cafe 'Just Trying to Survive'

When I stopped into Snacker's Cafe last Tuesday for a late lunch, I talked to owner Jim Dames for a while. The 18-year Western Springs restaurant recently re-added dinner hours and did away with breakfast, and I was curious why. 

After we got to talking, Dames stopped and said, "You've got brothers, right? I remember you guys coming in here as kids. Your mom would get a lot of dinners to go, and then come back 20 minutes later to pick up another order." 

Give Dames credit, he remembers his customers. Now he's just hoping they remember him. 

Write a review of Snacker's Cafe in Western Springs. 

At the start of April, Snacker's changed its hours to accommodate evening diners while doing away with its breakfast hours. It changed them to 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The cafe had been open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

This isn't the first time Snacker's has done dinner. It was at one point open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., but business has been hurting the last couple of years. 

"The commuter traffic has certainly changed," Dames said. "People aren't taking the train to work Monday through Friday. Many people work from home. Or if there's a snow day, people used to come here. Now they just stay at home and work there." 

Through the years, Dames said commuter traffic was his most stable customer base. 

"It's more survival than anything," he said of the hours change. "It's been a struggle. We're just trying to survive." 

So far has positive response from customers, and is looking for more feedback about what kind of dinner options would be nice to offer. 

The dinner menu will mostly feature the same items available throughout the day, but there will be specials. Snacker's once had spaghetti dinners, fish frys, pork chops and other dinner specials, but Dames said he's not sure if he would bring that back. 

"People stopped getting that, and they came here more for sandwiches," he said. "You don't come here to dine, you come here to eat. We're a community restaurant, we're not destination dining." 

And what that means is a reliance on foot traffic, whether it's from commuters or foot traffic from other businesses. But he said he fears the "shop local" mentality can be lost at times.

"If people are going to Home Depot before they go to the Village True Value, we're hurt by that, too, because we don't get that foot traffic," he said. "I just hope people continue to support small business." 

READ MORE: Bites of Wisdom from Snackers Owner

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