Illinois-based cafe unexpectedly closes Springfield location

After a brief stint, the charming cafe serving sweetness at Prairie Crossing has closed doors over the weekend for good.

Fans of Sweet Basil Cafe, a popular breakfast and lunch location for gluten-free pancakes on the west side, will be pulling on locked doors Monday morning, according to past manager of the Springfield location Kathy Duncan.

Relocated to the Champaign location, Duncan confirmed the store located at 4241 Conestoga Drive closed on Friday, Aug. 23. Duncan did not respond for comment when asked why the location shuttered its doors or if employees knew ahead of time.

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Sweet Basil Cafe is an Illinois-specific chain of family-owned restaurants across the state. Aside from the recently closed Springfield location, the cafe has locations in Rockford, Peoria, Skokie, Hanover Park and Champaign. It's unknown if any of the other locations have closed.

The Springfield location in November of 2020; filling the vacancy of O'Charley's, which closed in March 2019.

The business has yet to update the Springfield location on the company website and says it is still accepting applications for employment at the capital city location.

The cafe was the second restaurant to close in the Springfield last week. The Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at 3150 S. Sixth St. abruptly closed on Aug. 19.

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois-based cafe unexpectedly closes Springfield location