Danny Shamoon already owns a fitness center on the North Shore, but wanted to find what he called a more family-oriented business that he could leave his teenage sons.
When he discovered he could open a franchise of the popular breakfast restaurant Buttermilk Cafe, Shamoon needed only the right location – the former Bakers Square in west Wilmette.
“I wanted something to hand down, like a franchise,” Shamoon said. “I found out the formula for this franchise is very family oriented. It started from scratch with a family from St. Charles. I want to run that because they have the same mindset that I do.”
Regarding the Wilmette location, “My wife was raised in Skokie. She’s a Niles North (High School) girl. She went to Bakers Square all the time. Anytime we went for a holiday, she had to pick up a pie from there,” said Shamoon, of Glenview. “She said she would love to get in there and open in that spot. My wife is the most amazing human being in the world to me. I’m going to make her happy.”
Wilmette village officials approved of Shamoon’s interest. The former Bakers Square, 200 Skokie Blvd., had already attracted two other suitors, the Murray Bros. Caddyshack bar and restaurant, which withdrew its proposal, and McDonald’s, which did not receive approval from village officials.
“We’re really excited,” Village Manager Michael Braiman said. “It’s been a really challenging site. It’s really maybe the best-case scenario for the neighbors, the neighborhood and the community in general.”
The Village of Wilmette’s Appearance Review Commission is expected to conduct a conceptual review of the plan at its April 7 meeting, Braiman said. Shamoon will need final review from the Village Board before opening.
“He would come back in May or June for final review,” Braiman said of the necessary board approval. “He should not need any zoning approval from the board. He said he’s hoping for a fall opening.”
Braiman said he likes Buttermilk, a restaurant chain with only four other locations in the Chicago area, at that location because it provides another food option for the west side of Wilmette.
“It’s walkable from the neighborhoods,” he said. “It’s low impact with hours of operation and traffic and noise impact. It fills the need for more modern restaurants on that side of the community with a really beautiful site in need of a lot of love and care for about six years now.”
Shamoon, who owns MyBody Complex in Northfield, said he hopes to open his Buttermilk franchise in fall 2025.
“The timeline, God willing, is to open up early to middle fall,” he said. “The village of Wilmette has been nothing but a joy to work with. They’ve been extremely open to working with me since day one, in constant communication.”
Shamoon does not currently have any special events scheduled for the opening.
“I want to talk to the owners and see what they recommend,” he said of the chain’s founders. “I don’t want to do anything large in the beginning. I don’t want to overwhelm employees who are getting comfortable with working together. I want to wait until management is in place.”
Buttermilk was founded in Geneva in 2014 and has opened additional restaurants in Naperville and Vernon Hills, with a fourth under development in Downers Grove.
“It’s so well structured,” Shamoon said of the chain. “Its ambience, its service, its food – it has a trifecta of everything a restaurant should be.
He observed that people sometimes think of breakfast restaurants as diners, but that’s not the case at Buttermilk Cafe.
“It’s taking a breakfast restaurant and updating it to a more modern perspective of what people think of as a breakfast restaurant,” he said.
Shamoon said he usually orders the same item – an omelette with chicken sausage and goat cheese – every time he visits. But his wife and children “like almost everything on the menu.”
“The stuffed biscuit is one of the favorites,” he said. “There are so many options for people and you’re not flipping through 20 pages like the Cheesecake Factory menu. Also the portions are amazing. I don’t think anyone can sit and eat it all at the same time.”
