Open just 2 months, Cafe Fontana to shutter

The start of the school year means the end of more than just the summer for Cafe Fontana, the local cafe that opened not three months ago in the Kenilworth Assembly Hall.

The cafe will close at the end of August, according to the Kenilworth Park District.

“It was a tough decision,” Park District Executive Director Johnathon Kiwala said. “But the business was not sustainable.” 

The cafe opened in the first week of June with a bang. Community members were invited to a lawn party, which featured music, drinks and games for children, to mark the cafe’s opening after it took over for Kenilworth Cafe.

While the opening created a buzz, “there was a pretty steep dropoff between the first week of it being open and the rest of the summer in terms of traffic,” Kiwala said. 

Joe Machionna, the head chef at Marco Roma Pizza as well as the director of Cafe Fontana, reportedly made the decision, Kiwala said, and it was based on financial factors.

The business was not drumming enough support.

“They thought there would be more consistent and steady traffic,” Kiwala said, citing that there was a lot of advertising and public outreach for the restaurant early on. “They thought there would be more support but that didn’t materialize for them.” 

For now, the space will not be used for any in-house vendors. The Kenilworth Assembly Hall will continue to support Kenilworth community groups as a venue for meetings, programs and special events.

As the park district reimagined usage of the assembly hall, adding entertainment and recreation in and near the space, officials in 2022 explored the addition of a small cafe. The idea was rooted in residents’ desire for a gathering space in the center of town and near the Metra station.

The Kenilworth Community Cafe opened on Sept. 19, 2022, serving simple coffees and small breakfast items in the indoor/outdoor setting with 13 bistro tables outside and a 1,700-square-foot patio.

It closed 18 months later.

Kiwala said it’s back to the drawing board for the space.

“(We are) coming to the realization that (a cafe) might not be the right idea for the space,” Kiwala said. “We are just going to continue doing what we’ve always been doing.” 

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