Chicken-N-Spice in Joliet cutting up its last chunks

The countdown to the Tuesday closing of Chicken-N-Spice has started, but the demand for the downtown Joliet restaurant’s beloved chicken chunks just keeps getting bigger.

“During the last week, it’s been such a wonderful feeling,” co-owner Pat Riemer said Friday. “We’ve been so busy.”

Riemer, who turns 78 the day after she closes the restaurant, announced Monday that she and her husband, Ken, were closing the restaurant. The demand for chicken since then has been intense.

“I’ve got to eat as much chicken as I can before they close,” said Hunter Maccani, who came for a morning meal Friday. Although he’s only 22, he said he’s been “coming here all my life.”

The Riemers opened Chicken-N-Spice in 1981 at 251 N. Chicago St.

The business grew and thrived over four decades thanks to the support of loyal customers and employees, Riemer said.

“We were like the orphans of the chicken industry,” Riemer said pointing to big chains that offered other options. “I’m so grateful to the people of Joliet for giving us a chance.”

Chicken-N-Spice has become a small chain itself.

The Riemers in 2018 gave family friend Steve Wiborg permission to open his own business with the Chicken-N-Spice name, recipes and format. Now there are Chicken-N-Spice restaurants in Shorewood and Orland Hills, and Wiborg is exploring a possible New Lenox location.

The Joliet location, which the Riemers operate on a lease from Joliet Junior College, will not continue.

Originally built in 1968 as a Jack in the Box restaurant, the building is not in great shape and the lease for the property only applied to the Riemers, Pat Riemer said.

They may have stayed longer if Ken, who handles the business end of Chicken-N-Spice, hadn’t reminded Pat of her birthday coming up this year.

“I kind of lost track of time,” Riemer said. “My epiphany was sometime in January when my husband said to me, ‘Do you know you’re going to be 78?’ I said, ‘Who’s going to be 78?’ ”

“That’s old,” Riemer said, although her energy and daily workload suggest otherwise.

Still, she has had one shoulder replaced. And, the first thing she plans to do in retirement is get the other shoulder replaced.

“I don’t want to work until I die, as much as I love this,” Riemer said. “There are places I want to see. There are things I want to do.”

One section of the dining room Tuesday will be devoted to cake and chicken for people who want to stop by and say goodbye. The other side will remain open for business until the final closing time at 6 p.m.

Right now, Riemer and employees are too busy filling orders for chicken to get overly sentimental.

“We’re very busy,” said general manager Angie Ulloa-Medina, who joined the staff 20 years ago when she was a student at Joliet Central High School.

As busy as she was, Ulloa-Medina commented on how she feels about Chicken-N-Spice.

“I love this place. This is my first job and my only job,” she said. “I love Mrs. Riemer and Mr. Riemer and the employees who work here. They’re like my family now.”

Riemer likes to talk about her staff. She pointed out that Michael Cichocki arrived at 6 a.m. that day to start cutting up chicken.

“I came to cut chunks so we won’t fall behind on orders during the day,” Cichocki said.

Cichocki, like many of the Riemers’ 14 employees, is a student. Others are starting young families.

“They have a lot on their plates,” Riemer said. “I’m so fortunate they entered my life.”

She said they have been interviewed for jobs if they want them at the other Chicken-N-Spice locations.

Still, it won’t be the same in downtown Joliet.

“They’ve just got great chicken,” said Wilma Bass, another morning customer leaving with a carryout order. “I’m going to miss it.”