La Grange Eatery Struggled With Old Liquor Rule

LA GRANGE, IL – A La Grange restaurant struggled to meet the requirement that at least 60 percent of its income be from food as opposed to alcohol.

That was La Grange's longtime rule until trustees voted unanimously in early June to lower the food threshold to 50 percent.

Afterward, Patch filed a public records request asking for the village to provide documentation about which restaurants failed to meet the 60 percent requirement in the last couple of years.

La Grange responded with its emails to John Janowski of Milk Money Brewing, 75 La Grange Road. He had already spoken publicly about that issue to the village's Liquor Commission in May.

The village did not give any records indicating that other restaurants had trouble with the rule.

In an interview last week, Janowski told Patch that the Village Board was right to lower the threshold.

"They have loosened the strings," he said. "They did work with us. We've proven that we are a family-friendly brewer. We have always been."

According to the emails, 52 percent of Milk Money's income was from food in 2022 and 54 percent in 2023.

In a 2023 email to village officials, Janowski said he would try to win over the village on changing the food threshold to 50 percent.

Village President Mark Kuchler responded that he was happy "to keep an open mind on pretty much any issue." At the same time, he said he did not expect a vote on the food rule to come soon.

A year later, Janowski emailed Kuchler and other officials, asking to eliminate locally made alcohol from the food-alcohol ratio.

"Celebrating and prioritizing local production in La Grange should be a point of pride," he said. "These businesses require significant investments and complex operations but are valuable artistic additions to our community. For instance, Western Springs has recently amended its rules to attract such investments."

Kuchler responded that he appreciated Milk Money's "continued commitment" to increase food sales.

"The Village Board also appreciates the significant financial investment that you and the other investors have made into Milk Money and La Grange. We all want Milk Money to be successful," Kuchler said.

At last month's meeting, Trustee Beth Augustine, who spoke about the ratio in 2023, said the issue had been discussed for years.

"This is a fairly old ratio that was put in place. It was a good idea to curb the town from allowing bars and saloons in," she said. "It's worked well. But now customers' uses of restaurants have changed, and we need to change along with it."