Jack in the Box eyes Joliet Route 59 location for new restaurant

Jack in the Box plans to open a restaurant on Route 59 in Joliet.

The California-based fast-food chain is on the agenda this week seeking approval for a drive-thru permit from the Joliet City Council.

The future Jack in the Box would replace a former Arby’s restaurant at 2101 Route 59, according to a staff memo to the City Council.

“The building will be remodeled, along with other site improvements,” city staff said in the memo.

The council votes Tuesday on the permit.

Jack in the Box in July announced plans to open restaurants in several communities in the Chicago area, including New Lenox and Plainfield. The Joliet location on Route 59 is in a section of the city where businesses and residences often are identified as being in Plainfield because they have Plainfield postal addresses despite being within the city limits of Joliet.

Headquartered in San Diego, Jack in the Box is among the nation’s largest hamburger chains. It has 2,200 restaurants in 23 states, according to its website.

It now has nine Illinois locations, all in the St. Louis area.

A Jack in the Box on Route 59 would not be the first in Joliet, but it would be the first in more than 40 years.

Jack in the Box had a restaurant in downtown Joliet that did business from 1968 at least into the late 1970s. The building was taken over by Chicken-N-Spice, which opened in 1981 and grew to become a local fast-food icon.

The downtown Chicken-N-Spice closed in 2021, but the business continues at another location also on Route 59 on the Shorewood stretch of the highway.