Nature’s Best Cafe in Naperville will reopen in January following a temporary closure starting December 20.
Community support helps Nature’s Best Cafe
After almost 10 years at their Brookdale Road location, the cafe attributed the initial closure to rising costs.
“So we decided that it was best to close,” said Simitrio Cruz, owner of Nature’s Best Cafe. “But then the community, I mean, the feedback that we got from them, the encouraging words, and the messages saying, ‘How can I help you? What can we do to keep you here?’”
“When we heard the news, we were pretty saddened by it, really,” said Matthew Fletcher, a Brookdale resident. “They’re really great friends of ours, they’re a great business here in our community, and it really broke my heart. We really wanted to find a way to help the Cruz family and keep this place going.”
Upcoming events will boost business
Fletcher and other community members will host events at the cafe to bring in business. The community will host a family sing-along at the cafe on December 8, and there will be a Breakfast with Santa on December 20.
Some residents even offered to make deliveries.
“A lot of folks in the neighborhood got together, and we’re trying to find ways to help them stay in business because it’s really a great institution in our neighborhood,” Fletcher said. “So we’ve been trying to get the word out via social media, and then we’re trying to develop some events they can have and other ways to get involved to get more people to come in and become regulars.”
Fletcher and one of his friends will start regular trivia nights in January.
This is not the first time the community has rallied behind the business. During COVID, Fletcher’s wife and other community members created a GoFundMe fundraising page to support the costs needed to keep the cafe open.
“We really wanted to find a way to help them and keep them in business. Because I think the whole neighborhood would be less if they weren’t here,” Fletcher said.
Cruz thanks the community
“I just saw on Instagram somebody said that, like, we are a blessing to the community for being here, and I think, you know, I would say they are a blessing to us because they continue to help us,” Cruz said.
Cruz said he is overwhelmed by the community support.
“We’re so happy that they are continuing to help us, and they don’t let us ‘die’ per se, because we were ready. I thought this was the end, and it seems like this is the beginning of a new era for us, so we are very appreciative of the community,” he said.
If you have a story idea, send us a tip!
