It's your business | Baldarotta's opened at new location

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Baldarotta’s Porketta & Sicilian Sausage, which started as a catering company in 2018 and opened a location in the Lincoln Square Mall a year later, finally has its own brick building.

The company launched its new location at 208 W. Griggs St. with a soft opening on Friday.

Expectations have increased since the company announced its relocation plans in May.

“It’s exciting, but also very overwhelming,” said Paris Baldaraotta, who owns the company with her husband Jordan.

The most challenging part of the move was running their Lincoln Square space while working on the Griggs Street location, Jordan said.

Baldarotta’s announced that the mall location will be “closed until further notice” starting Thursday.

“We are focused on getting this (new location) up and running,” Paris said. “And once this is where we want it to be, we will announce when we will reopen in Lincoln Square.”

For the soft opening, the restaurant likely won’t have any retail items available yet and will only have a limited number of grab-and-go items, the couple said.

However, they planned to have a full deli counter, gelato, a full dessert menu, and their usual sandwich offerings.

They expect to be more fully open in about two weeks.

The venue also includes an additional space that Baldarotta plans to use for private events and catering, as well as spillover space if necessary. The room will not be operational during the soft opening, but the company is taking bookings, Paris said.

Baldarotta’s previously completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to help fund the new location, with the effort raising more than $38,000 in pledges from 167 backers.

“We literally couldn’t have done this without them,” Jordan said.

When discussing future plans for the Griggs Street location, the Baldarottas said they plan to eventually add a mural to the exterior of the building, as well as some wall decorations on the inside, such as possibly art and family photos.

“The kitchen is just huge,” Jordan added. “It gives us the opportunity to do more than just sandwiches on the go. … Ultimately, I want it to be a sandwich shop during the day and a more upscale Sicilian restaurant at night.”

Also coming to 208 W. Griggs: Cloud Mountain Kombucha

Signs in the parking lot behind 208 W. Griggs St. say spaces are reserved for 25 O’Clock, Baldarotta’s and Cloud Mountain Kombucha.

The kombucha company is owned by Andrew and Aimee Baumgartner and Kyle Schwenk. It is currently located in Lincoln Square Mall.

The ownership team said they do not yet have an opening date for the Griggs Street location: “We expect to open in the first quarter of 2025. The new space will allow us to expand our manufacturing capabilities. In conjunction with the move, we expect to offer extended hours, an expanded menu and patio seating. Our current location in the mall will close upon the opening of the new location.”

Dunkin’ drive-thru is now open

Mahomet’s new drive-thru Dunkin’ Donuts opened Tuesday, according to a social media post from Visit Mahomet.

The business is located at 1616 Patton Drive and is part of Fairlawn Real Estate’s Churchill Commons development near Route 150.

Boomerangs under new ownership

Donna Graham, the owner of Pipa’s Pub in Champaign, is the new owner of Boomerangs Bar and Grill at 1309 E. Washington St. in Urbana, according to a social media announcement by CU Bands and Fans.

“Donna and Christopher Breen are changing things,” the group wrote. “A new stage where the pool tables used to be, the interior will get a fresh look and paint and if you know Donna, you know there will be lots of live music!”

Boomerangs has undergone a number of changes in recent months. The bar and grill previously closed briefly in mid-August to “restructure, reorganize and modernize our business.”

It reopened a few days later. Then-co-owner Stuart Candlin said much of the restructuring “involved our debt and liquidating shares to free up operating capital.”

However, the company later announced that October 5 would be its last day of operation.

A grand reopening date under new ownership has yet to be announced.

Mahomet Bakery will close in December

Lucky Moon Pies and More closes just before Christmas.

According to Fred Kroner, December 21 is the company’s last day with a regular menu. He added that if they receive orders before Christmas on December 23 and 24, they will fulfill those requests and schedule times for picking up the orders.

“The only non-special orders we would offer those two days (for walk-ins) would be cake pops and chocolate chip cookies,” he said. “If we are open on those days, we will close for good on Tuesday, December 24 at noon.”

Fred and Emily Kroner opened Lucky Moon in 2017.

Fred said a number of factors went into their decision to close, including the impact of inflation on wages, menu prices and supplies.

Lucky Moon previously opened a new, larger location at 703 Eastwood Drive in January 2024. Fred said they had hoped that as their space grew, so would the store’s customer base. While there was some growth, it wasn’t as much as the couple expected.

Fred also noted that Emily opened the store at age 62 as many of their peers were looking toward retirement.

“Cooking, and especially baking, were lifelong passions for her,” he said. “It’s safe to say this was her ‘dream job’.”

He added that with five grandchildren, they knew they wouldn’t run the bakery forever and are looking forward to spending more time with their family.

“We were hoping to find someone to take over and continue the baking tradition we started in our hometown,” says Fred.

“However, that did not happen. The price of doing business is tough for small business owners and it was not feasible to continue.”

He added that they are grateful for their “great and loyal staff.”