After three decades, a beloved local fast-food eatery is returning to Brookfield.
The owners of Bill’s Place in LaGrange Park plan to open a new location by the end of the year. Bill’s Place Express, at 8819 Ogden Ave., will focus on speedy service, with a drive-thru and walk-in counter for service but no inside seating. The original eatery celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.
Demetrios Konstantopoulos, son of owner Vasilios Konstantopoulos — also known as Bill, the restaurant’s namesake — told the Landmark he wants to open the new location by this summer, though it may take longer.
“My old man and my architect think I’m crazy, but I’m pushing for the beginning of June,” he said. “My dad thinks it will take a year to do it, but I’m here, behind the scenes, trying to get everybody lined up, so when I get the permit in-hand, we’re running.”
He said his family started talking about opening a second location back in November. The opportunity to open a new storefront in Brookfield, where Bill’s Place first opened in 1984 until it moved to LaGrange Park in 1995, was too good to pass up, he said.
“We saw [the lot] was vacant for a long time. We saw that any previous business that went to that specific location didn’t really succeed because they never did any major improvements to the property to draw customers,” he said. “We’ve driven by that spot, and it was for sale for so long, and we just saw a good opportunity to expand Bill’s Place. It’s close enough to Bill’s Place, so we can keep an eye on both locations.”
Speaking of major improvements, Konstantopoulos said he has a lot in mind for the location, which most recently operated as Tom-n-Lou’s 34 Drive-In from 2021 through 2022, when it appears to have fizzled out.
“We’re doing a full remodel. We’re doing an addition, new plumbing, new electric. We’re going to do work on the parking lot. We’re going to add a fence,” he said. “We’re investing a lot of money in that property because we feel that that part of Brookfield is a good location, and some of our future customers don’t know about Bill’s Place because they don’t travel down Maple [Avenue], so we’ll get a lot of traffic off of Ogden [Avenue].”
He said he hopes to target new customers who live in south Brookfield and Lyons with the new location while the original spot will stay open for residents of north Brookfield or LaGrange Park who already know and love it. He said Miguel Galicia, a former longtime employee of Bill’s Place, will be a “working partner” who manages the new location.
Konstantopoulos is taking advantage of a property improvement program grant from Brookfield, which reimburses property owners for half the cost of aesthetic enhancements to their businesses up to $20,000. According to village documents, Bill’s Place is receiving the maximum amount from the program to put toward the changes, which cost an estimated $41,100 altogether.
He said the grant will allow Bill’s Place to add new landscaping and lighting to the parking lot. A 200 square foot addition will allow the business to expand the building’s kitchen to prioritize quick food service.
While the food offerings haven’t been finalized, Konstantopoulos said Bill’s Place Express won’t carry pizza or roasted chicken like the original location, though many staple menu items like hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, gyros, hand-cut fries and soft service ice cream will be available.
While his eyes are set on the future of Bill’s Place, Konstantopoulos said the most exciting prospect of opening the new location is honoring the past.
“Expanding Bill’s Place, keeping my father’s legacy going, using him as a steppingstone for his 40 years of owning a restaurant to broaden Bill’s Place’s reach,” he said. “Anything I do, I’m going to do with my dad in mind because, without him, we wouldn’t have Bill’s Place, and we wouldn’t be expanding. We wouldn’t be trying to grow his name.”