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Smoothie‑shop owners propose all‑day café and evening wine service on Bank Lane; council expresses support
Summary
Joe Krissic told the council he wants to expand his Bank Lane smoothie shop into an all‑day café with coffee, wine, cocktails and outdoor seating using retractable bollards to close the lane in evenings; council members asked timing and operational questions and offered encouragement, though the liquor‑license process and any ordinance approvals remain separate steps.
Joe Krissic, owner of the El An Juice smoothie shop on Bank Lane, told the Lake Forest City Council on May 4 he would like to evolve the business into an all‑day café that adds coffee service by day and wine, cocktails and small evening plates after hours.
"What we want to do is create a space where everyone can just come hang out after work, have a glass of wine, relax," Krissic said, describing plans to place tables outside subject to weather and use retractable bollards to close Bank Lane to vehicular traffic in the evenings. He said the business could be staffed and ready within about a month if approvals are granted.
Council members asked timing and regulatory questions; one member noted that staff and property owners along Bank Lane will meet this week to discuss operational details and bollard installation. "They're about £700 each, but they will stop a vehicle," a council member said of the bollards, raising operational and cost considerations.
The mayor asked whether other ordinances would be required beyond a liquor license; staff said they are reviewing ordinance language and that the council later agreed to take up a liquor‑license ordinance as amended as part of the evening’s business. The discussion did not include a council action specifically granting Krissic a license; any license application would follow the city’s normal review process.
Council members who spoke offered encouragement for the business’s evolution and said they appreciated the potential of the Bank Lane streetscape for outdoor dining.
