Chatham Cafe opening second location in Springfield

Chatham Café is coming to Springfield. Lu Asani, who co-owns the restaurant along with her husband, Kevin, confirms that the couple has signed a three-year lease with an option to purchase for the former McDonalds restaurant at 1825 S. MacArthur Boulevard.

Chatham Café has been located at 414 N. Main Plaza in Chatham since 2015, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. While many restaurants have had to reduce hours of operation due to staffing shortages, Asani is planning to expand.

“We’re assuming we’ll have the same hours of operation at the Springfield location, although we won’t know until we get to that point,” said Asani. “We haven’t had those issues at the café here in Chatham, but we have a lot of family that works for us.”

Asani says she is currently working on the permitting process with the city of Springfield, as some HVAC work and other repairs are needed to make the building operational. “We’re thinking we’re two to three months away from opening,” Asani said, but noted that it is hard to know what additional renovations might be needed until construction gets underway.

Fans of Chatham Café will be glad to know that the menu at the Springfield location will be the same, and Asani said she’s already getting a lot of good feedback from customers. “I have a lot of traffic that comes from Springfield, and they’re very excited that we’ll be closer to them now.”

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