After 46 years, Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant in Naperville has closed.
The owners say they are charting a new course with a drinks-only business, “The Can,” which they plan to open at 634 E. Ogden Ave. where Miss Kitty’s Saloon is located.
Pepe’s served patrons for the last time on New Year’s Eve as the lease on its longtime 1270 E. Chicago Ave. home drew to a close. The owner of the stripmall site plans to redevelop the space for a different use.
On Thursday night, the Naperville Liquor Commission unanimously endorsed a Class C tavern license for the owners’ new enterprise. Final approval could come at the Naperville City Council’s Jan. 16 meeting.
Co-owner Matt Rocush said Friday that obtaining the license is the last hurdle in making the move, which otherwise is “pretty good shape.”
The idea is for Pepe’s to start anew as “The Can,” serving alcohol without providing food service. The new business could be open by month’s end.
Rocush said the opportunity to breathe life into a new version of Pepe’s “is exciting.” But saying goodbye to what has been a Naperville fixture — and a big part of his life — is bittersweet, he said.
Pepe’s as a brand started in Chicago some 57 years ago. The restaurant now has more than 30 independently owned and operated locations across the Chicago-area and Northwest Indiana.
The Naperville restaurant opened in 1977, specializing in casual family dining.
“Sometimes we’d have three generations of people at the same table,” Rocush said.
He has co-owned the Naperville business since 2015 with his wife, Sandy, and partner Rod Peterson. But even before he took over the local franchise, he was a fan, he said.
“I’ve lived here since 1978,” he said. “And my dad used to … go to Pepe’s on lunch breaks with his work guys. He started bringing me in the ‘80s.”
After he and Sandy married about two decades ago, Pepe’s became a regular spot for them. Over the years, they became friends with the former owners and jumped when a chance to buy the business came up.
Each of them quickly fell into a role. Matt ran the kitchen. Sandy ran the bar — known as The Cantina, or “The Can” (a precursor to plans now) — and Peterson kept track of the books.
“It’s been a wonderful thing,” Sandy said.
They hadn’t planned to move until the Eagle Crest shopping center, located at Chicago Avenue and Olesen Drive, was sold and plans to open a Heinen’s Grocery Store where a Butera store once stood were announced.
The new owners are redevloping the strip mall where Pepe’s and a few other businesses had been operating, and initially the Rocushes were optimistic that Pepe’s would be able to stay, they said. When they learned that wouldn’t be the case, they announced on Facebook in April 2023 that they were losing their lease.
“(Heinen’s) has informed us that upon rebuilding, they will only be replacing the grocery store with no other retail spaces available,” the Facebook post said.
At that point, they started looking for a new spot to call home. But at a cost of $750,000 to $1 million, launching a new Pepe’s restaurant proved too expensive, the Rocushes said.
“Even on a 10-year lease, we would never be able to make that kind of money back,” Sandy said. “It wasn’t feasible.”
Transitioning to just a bar was more within their financial wheelhouse. But that doesn’t mean aspirations to return to a full restaurant at some point are dead, Matt said.
“We would love to continue the Pepe’s tradition where we’re at, but that remains to be seen if we’re able to do that,” he said.
For now, the owners are making best of what they have — and remain keen to keep the spirit of Pepe’s going whatever their next steps are.
“We’re very, very sad,” Sandy said. “But we’re hopeful.”
The Rocushes also wished Heinen’s well with Eagle Crest, which, according to city staff, is making slow progress.
“We have not received much from Heinen yet,” Naperville Financial Director Rachel Meyer wrote in an emailed statement. “All that we have are preliminary engineering plans for their store. … They still have a long way to go.”
Reached by phone Friday, Jeff Heinen said “we’re working to move it along.”
“To build something, there’s a lot of i’s to dot and t’s to cross, but we’re working through the processes,” he said.
The goal is to open the new Naperville location in the spring 2025, Heinen said.
