Cooper's Hawk to move HQ to Woodridge, produce more wine
Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant will move its headquarters from Countryside to Woodridge next year, doubling its winemaking operations and bringing in 190 jobs.
The growing restaurant chain will move to 9020 Murphy Road, the same center where Kellogg's is expected to move out later this summer.
The move will provide more than 125,000 square feet of space, nearly doubling the current size of the Cooper's Hawk facility in Countryside.
"We're really excited to start the next chapter of growth in the village of Woodridge. The move provides us an opportunity to enhance support to our restaurants, while also creating the optimal space to support our restaurant, corporate and winery team members," CEO and founder Tim McEnery said in a statement. "We're looking forward to being part of the Woodridge community and are thankful to Mayor Cunningham for her support through this exciting transition."
The new space will allow for a new, higher capacity bottling line and additional wine tanks to support the growth of wine sales at its restaurants and tasting rooms, and to its Wine Club, which has about 250,000 members.
Coopers Hawk produces about 485,000 cases of wine per year and plans to double that by 2020. Cooper's Hawk Winery is currently ranked among the top 35 producing wineries in the United States, the company said.
Since it started in 2005, the chain has opened 28 restaurants in Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Locally, they include St. Charles, South Barrington, Naperville, Arlington Heights and Wheeling.
Last month, McEnery, who resides in Roselle, said the company plans to open additional restaurants, including one in Oak Park in July and another in Reston, Virginia in August. He also plans three more next year in Florida, Ohio, and possibly two more in the Chicago suburbs.
The company is the 31st largest wine producer in the United States. Grapes are brought in primarily from California, Oregon and Washington and some from overseas. It produces 5 million bottles a year from its winery, the company website said.
Woodridge Mayor Gina Cunningham-Picek said that while the village is losing Kellogg's, it is gaining 190 jobs from Cooper's Hawk.
"The village continuously works to bring new businesses to Woodridge to create jobs, increase offerings of goods and services to our residents and to support the community through the related tax revenue," Cunningham-Picek said.