How this Rockford hidden gem fought its way back from the pandemic and what lies ahead
A Rockford restaurant owner whose business was nearly shuttered for good by the pandemic says he has plans to turn the establishment over to a new owner.
“I am going to do this Christmas season and all of next season,” said Mark Tietz, owner of Lucerne's Fondue & Spirits, referring to his retirement plans.
That means the longtime eatery could have a new owner as early as 2025.
“I hope to hand it off to someone when it’s in their prime season, which is fall,” Tietz said.
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Tietz said his decision to sell the restaurant at 845 N. Church St. in Rockford that he opened in 1992 has nothing to with business. He’s got plenty of it. But, at 60, he’s ready for the next chapter of his life. He doesn't know what that next chapter looks like but he knows it's time to make plans to step away.
“I have sacrificed family weddings, events and other things because I am always open,” he said. “I can’t tell you the last time I was on the other side of the bar.”
Often called one of Rockford’s best kept secrets, Lucerne’s serves four-course fondue dinners that are prepared at the tables in traditional fondue pots. Dinners last approximately two hours.
The converted Victorian home serves 85 people on two floors. There’s also a full bar.
“There was nothing like this when we brought this to Rockford," Tietz said. "And there’s still nothing like it.”
Tietz said he came close to calling it career during the pandemic when he was forced to close completely until restaurants were permitted to fully reopen.
“We were notified by the health department that there was going to be a two-week shutdown,” he said. “I was kind of suspicious because what I was hearing on the news was it was likely going to be much more than two weeks. So, I told my staff we were in for a like a two-month shutdown.”
As it turned out, Illinois restaurants were eventually permitted to reopen their dining rooms on a limited basis. That was initially good news until Tietz learned that because of his format, Lucerne’s couldn't do that.
“We had three strikes against us,” he said. “The dinners are too long. We couldn’t use (protective plastic) on the tables because plastic over fire would burn. And the proximity of guests—the tables are mounted to the floor three feet apart, not six feet apart. So, we were forced into a hard close.”
The building was also hit by the tail end of a tornado that tore through Rockford in August 2020.
“Nobody realized it at first because it was during the mandatory shutdown,” he said. “It took the chimney out and dropped 10,000 pounds of brick into the basement and 62,000 gallons of water. I had a $1,300 water bill.”
Water that flooded the 128-year-old structure forced Tietz to make major repairs.
“The floors were buckled,” he said. “We had to replace that (and) get all new refrigeration, a new furnace, new chimney, new stove, ice machine—all new appliances. We really had to rebuild it to reopen it.”
Tietz, who owns the building outright, said before doing that, he thought long and hard about the future and whether a fondue restaurant was still the best use for the space.
“I was thinking about just turning it back into a two-family and making it rental property,” he said.
But, in the end, the decision to keep Lucerne’s going turned out to be the best one, Tietz added. He reopened in September 2022.
“There was a ton of pent-up demand,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. My first call was for 42 people. They reserved the whole building for a family’s 50th wedding anniversary. Once we started taking reservations, it took off again.”
Lucerne’s is open 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
Jim Hagerty covers business and other general news topics for the Rockford Register Star. Email him at jhagerty@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Lucerne's Fondue & Spirits in Rockford could have new owners by 2025
