The Brief
- Robert Gomez, owner of Beat Kitchen and other Chicago restaurants, says the city shut him out of a profitable Riverwalk location with no clear explanation.
- He claims the site sat unused for a year while city officials delayed a decision.
- Gomez is now speaking out about a lack of transparency and oversight in the selection process.
CHICAGO – Robert Gomez, a longtime Chicago restaurant owner, says he’s still in the dark about why the city didn’t renew his lease for a Riverwalk spot that had previously generated about $3 million in annual sales.
The backstory:
Gomez ran Beat Kitchen on the Riverwalk for three years under a five-year lease. The first two years were wiped out due to delays, he said, but in the last three years, the business was strong.…