Pearce's At Fox Bend Golf Course Rebrands As Christina's Grill
OSWEGO, IL — Fox Bend Golf Course's restaurant, known as Pearce's for years, has undergone a change. After rebranding and remodeling, the Oswego restaurant has been unveiled as Christina's Grill and Gatherings.
Located at 3516 Route 34, the restaurant was closed for two weeks at the start of February while undergoing a designer renewal, meaning the theme changed. The space, once stuck in the '80s, has been updated with a modern, farmhouse-style approach.
The newly unveiled restaurant had its soft reopening Feb. 16. Since then, Christina Soboj, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Allen, said the "response on our social media has been phenomenal. People are very, very excited."
"Our main focus is comfort food. We really don't advertise as being high-end," she said. "We've created the decor to be a comfortable place. It's more trendy, it's a farmhouse look. The dining room is completely renovated."
The couple took on the restaurant two years ago and wanted to rebrand then, but with seemingly constant fluctuations as a result of COVID-19, they decided to hold off, Christina told Patch.
With the update, several businesses owned by the couple are housed under the same roof. While golfing, golfers will be able to pick up something to snack on during their game. With a new 50-person banquet room on the lower level, the community can rent the space for baby showers and celebrations of life, Christina said. Outside, the pavilion can still be rented for large events, weddings and proms.
School lunches are also catered out of the facility, Christina said, who added that between 400 to 500 children are fed a day.
"It was time to let people know that we have all these businesses under one roof that we can service the community," she said. "By changing the name ... you're just becoming more intriguing to the community."
When the couple was approached by management to take over the restaurant, Christina said she was able to convince her husband, who wasn't sold at first. She said the opportunity sounded "exciting to me to try to bring back something that needs a spark under it."
"That's when he said, 'Well, since you talked me into it, I think [the name] should be Christina's," she said. "I've always wanted to be self-employed. I've worked my whole life in human resources, and since we took on this venture, he said, 'This is yours. You wanted it, this is yours.'" I'm able to bring my human resources background and make sure we're hiring the right kind of people."
Once the season begins to change from wet and dreary winter to sunny spring, Christina said they have "so many different things" lined up for the year. Holiday brunches, monthly concerts and barbecues are just a few of the activities planned.
"I just want to make sure that we're here for the community," Christina said. "So many of our customers have said that there isn't a place where they can come and rent a room and have a party for their family. ... We're here for the community."
This article originally appeared on the Oswego Patch
