Wynder's Restaurant Closes in New Lenox

in New Lenox closed last week, but owner Terry Johnson is hopeful for future opportunities to market his trademark franks.

The restaurant closed last Friday, Feb. 10, because his business partners "decided to throw in the towel," Johnson said. He also pointed to the widening project on Route 30 as a reason the business couldn't continue.

"It came suddenly because of the additional year of road construction," Johnson said. "I'd like to give a thanks to all the customers we had during the time we were open. I want to express my gratitude and my regrets."

Despite this setback, Johnson is excited for potential opportunities in the future to license and distribute the spiral-cut hot dogs. In a previous article, Johnson said he was looking to distribute with Disney parks and state fairs across the country. He also said in that article that he was hoping to test a machine to uniformly precut hot dogs on a large scale

"Wynder's is moving forward and we'll be updating our customers very soon," Johnson said, though he didn't want to go further into detail yet.

The plan to widen Route 30 to four lanes has been a concern to business owners along the road. Construction began in May 2011, but the majority of work will be done this year.

Village officials said they're working with business owners to find more ways to help them through this time, when many drivers might avoid Route 30.

"I talked to one business owner along Route 30 who said he's scared to death about what could come," village trustee Ray Tuminello said. "But what's made it better is the communication with the village."

Wynder's, located just across the street from , is the second restaurant to close in that shopping center in the last year. Quizno's closed in 2011, and coming soon to that space is .