Former Steak ‘n Shake Location to be Converted to Chick-fil-A

(John Ferak/Patch/File) Chick-fil-A is seeking a permit for another drive-thru on Larkin Avenue in Joliet.

201 N. Larkin Ave. will become the city’s second Chick-fil-A restaurant if a permit for the drive-thru is approved. Chick-fil-A will replace the shuttered Steak ‘n Shake restaurant.

There is a drive-thru request on Tuesday night’s council agenda. A new 5,000-square-foot freestanding restaurant with dual drive-thru lanes, outdoor seating area and parking lot will replace the existing Steak ‘n Shake building and parking lot. Chick-fil-A is proposing demolition of the existing building and parking lot.

In 2022, the Larkin Avenue Steak ‘n Shake restaurant, famous for its chicken sandwiches, closed for the third time after its last reopening. In 2019, that location closed before reopening in early 2021, only to close again. It then reopened again in August 2022 as a drive-thru and curbside pickup only store, but it also did not last.

Interestingly, the city’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant is located in the same shopping center that houses Steak ‘n Shake in Joliet near the Louis Joliet Mall on Plainfield Road.

Originally a Lone Star restaurant, it was bulldozed in January 2021 and replaced with Chick-fil-A Joliet.

A new Chick-fil-A is also in the works in Frankfort, where Chick-fil-A plans to bulldoze another Steak ‘n Shake to build a new restaurant. Frankfort trustees approved this proposal in July.

The new Joliet restaurant is set to open by the end of summer 2025, according to WJOL. Construction is expected to begin next spring.