Happy Falafel Grand Opening Falls Apart In Channahon

CHANNAHON — Six months after signs saying "Happy Falafel" were displayed in the small business plaza near Route 6 and Ridge Road, Happy Falafel Mediterranean Grill will not be allowed to have its grand opening celebration this weekend, potentially costing the business thousands of dollars.

Area residents should be familiar with Happy Falafel, as there is a Happy Falafel that opened five years ago in Joliet, near Shorewood and Plainfield along Route 59.

Happy Falafel chose to expand and open another location in the village of Channahon, along Ridge Road, but its grand opening remains in question now.

"The owner is now sitting on about $4,000 of fresh meat and vegetables he will not be able to use this weekend," Hive Kitchen announced Friday on Facebook. "So, if you're out and about this weekend, maybe head over to the Plainfield location and spend your money there. Hopefully, everything gets squared away for the Channahon location soon.

"Imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars to open a small business and having to wait even longer to start making some of that back."

Joliet Patch's editor reached out to Tom Durkin, the longtime village administrator for Channahon, seeking his response in light of the village being criticized on social media.

Hive Kitchen blamed the village for not having a step by step inspections check list and for not making it clear what needs to be done.

"If it takes this long, time is money for sure, people will start to think twice about opening here. Communication and clarity make a big difference," Hive Kitchen alerted everyone.

Durkin responded to Patch with a lengthy email, explaining the village's rules and regulations surrounding the permitting process for new businesses such as Happy Falafel.

"The Village, along with the applicable fire protection district, Minooka Fire Protection District, in this instance, county health department, Grundy County, in this instance, and potentially other agencies, have various codes and requirements that are relevant to properties that look to perform various types of work," Durkin explained in his email.

Durkin said that many of these codes are related to the health, safety and welfare of the community, including businesses and their patrons.

According to Durkin, many of these work types require proper permitting and inspections to ensure conformance to requirements established by the International Code Council, and adopted by the municipality.

"If those improvements do not pass inspections by qualified inspectors, the work is not approved and the contractor and/or owner work to rectify the situation," Durkin wrote. "Once the work is approved through re-inspection, and the requirements of other applicable agencies are satisfied, the work is deemed complete and in the case of a new business, a certificate of occupancy is approved, and the business can move forward with the process of opening.

"The Village issues an average of nearly a thousand permits a year and performs an average of over 3,000 inspections annually. Inspections are scheduled with an advanced notice if possible, as schedules fill rapidly. The building official and building inspector, who are certified inspectors, and a licensed plumbing inspector for permitted plumbing work as required by the state plumbing code are responsible for performing these inspections. Inspectors from other various agencies, such as the fire protection district and health department, perform the inspections on their requirements. "