Nick's Owner Pleads to Customers to Keep His Business Open

Nick Sarillo sent out a message Tuesday to longtime customers, asking them to help save his business, which, he says, may be going under if things don’t change in coming weeks.

He needs more cash to pay the bills.

Sarillo is asking that his customers eat more often at his restaurant in Crystal Lake, at 856 Pyott Road, and at his Elgin restaurant, 990 S. Randall Road.

, open since 1995, is doing better business than the second Nick's that opened in Elgin in 2005. Both restaurants together employ about 200. 

“As of the beginning of this week, the hard reality facing us has become glaringly apparent to me,” writes Sarillo in an email to his customers. “We overbuilt and overspent, and then we didn’t cut fast enough or hard enough when sales started to go downhill.

“The issue is primarily with our Elgin restaurant, but because we are one company, the failure of Elgin will likely impact (the restaurant in) Crystal Lake as well, depending on the choices our bank makes.”

Thomas Kaltenecker, a chef trained in Europe and head of the Culinary Management Program at McHenry County College, said he knows Sarillo well. Kaltenecker and his family have eaten at the Nick's restaurant in on several occasions. 

Kaltenecker said pleading to regular customers for more business is uncommon in the suburbs. But in the city of Chicago it has been done before to save, say, a neighborhood haunt. 

A plea for help is something a franchise such as “McDonald’s or Chipotle” would never do, he added.

“It is a different technique Nick is using to stay in business,” Kaltenecker said. “I wish him well.”

Kaltenecker said the biggest obstacle for Sarillo, or any restaurant owner for that matter, is the bad economy. Fewer people are eating out.

Sarillo said the coming month is critical. He needs cash to make the next two payrolls. He added that a Walmart opening across the street from the Nick's in Elgin may help bring in more customers there.

“I’ve read Nick’s email; it’s all over the place,” said Gary Reece, president of the . “He’s very benevolent to many groups in the community. We wish him well. Hopefully people will rally behind him and he can pull it out and turn it around.”

“Nick has been there for us,” Sue Mago said. “He has graciously opened his doors to any cause.”

Mago has been involved in youth sports programs in Cary that have received fundraising help from Sarillo on many occasions. 

She forwarded Sarillo’s message to all of her Internet contacts.