• the217
• Food + Drink
• To stay open, the Red Herring reaches out

Related Media

Lisa Vironda, 18, serving lunch at the Red Herring

• See Slideshow (6 images)

Related Venues

Red Herring Coffeehouse »
Address: 1209 W. Oregon Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 367-2340
Show on map

After 30 years of business, the Red Herring, located at 1209 W. Oregon St., is facing the prospect of closing its doors forever, but not if manager Chad Knowles can help it.

“Letting the Red Herring close is the last thing I’m going to let happen,” said Knowles. “This isn’t going to happen as long as I have any power over it. That’s my mission in life.”

What originally began as a coffeehouse and live music venue, the Red Herring has evolved into the CU’s go-to vegan restaurant. Though Knowles said the Red Herring has built a strong community patronage, he also said the restaurant has suffered a financial loss each year. Previously, that loss was subsidized by a patron, but this week Knowles said he was informed that the restaurant would no longer be receiving that annual subsidy, meaning for the first time ever, the restaurant would be forced to remain financially stable on its own.

“For the first time in 30 years, we have to turn a profit to make sure that we meet our expenses,” said Knowles. “If we don’t, then there is no more money. We have to make it work for the first time ever.”

Knowles said the restaurant needs to raise a minimum of $2,000 — $4,000, ideally — within the next two or three weeks to remain open for the rest of the semester. He said the restaurant has reached out to the CU community for support and has received some offers, from making fliers to small donations to a benefit concert on Dec. 5.

“The Red Herring is home to a healthy lifestyle, good people, everything that has to do with good things,” said Timothy Williams, a volunteer for the Red Herring. “I depend on this place. A lot of people do.”

Though Knowles said the community outreach has been inspiring, what the restaurant needs most now are more customers and large donations.

“If Red Herring is something [people] are interested in donating to, we need to get them behind us right now,” said Knowles. “We do need to make a cry out to the wealthier ends of Champaign-Urbana since we have to make a lot of money really fast.”

However, Knowles said that the surrounding community has given him hope that the restaurant can remain open for another 30 years.

“Our main fear was that we were not going to be able to stay open because we thought we were going to have to do it alone,” said Knowles. “The fact that the entire community around here has offered to lend a hand to help us has been the main inspiring factor in making us believe that staying open is possible.”