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With headquarters in Oak Brook, Portillo’s has over 40 locations
around Chicago and four downstate – one each in Normal,
Springfield, Peoria and Champaign.
In what appears to be an indirect swipe at Illinois, Portillo’s
CEO Michael Osanloo said they are opening new locations in
Arizona, Texas and Florida for several reasons.
“We’re going to places where the population is growing, where
the economies are healthy, where there is a great environment
for companies, and where maybe the labor situation is not quite
as challenging in some other markets,” Osanloo told Yahoo!
Finance.
Portillo’s was founded in 1963 by Dick Portillo, who named his
first restaurant “The Dog House.” He opened his first drive-thru
in 1983 in Downers Grove. The company filed to go public in
2021.
Osanloo said in April of this year that Portillo’s opened a
location in Florida with a goal of hiring over 100 people.
“Sometimes you can hire people and you’re hiring anybody who
walks in, but we’re very selective, so we have a pretty high bar
for what we look for, and we had no problem hiring in St.
Petersburg,” he said.
Some companies have chosen to pack and leave Illinois.
Billionaire Ken Griffin was one of them, taking his company
Citadel to Florida. Just before he left, he told the Economic
Club of Chicago that crime would be a driving factor for leaving
and blamed Gov. J.B. Pritzker for sitting on the sidelines.
“It is a disgrace that our governor will not insert himself into
the challenge in addressing crime in our city,” Griffin said.
In June, Caterpillar moved its corporate headquarters out of
Illinois to Texas. The construction equipment giant was the
second major company to leave the state in five weeks after
Boeing also announced they were moving their headquarters to
Virginia.
Based on a survey in April by Chief Executive magazine of 700
CEOs and business owners from every state, Illinois ranked 48th
in the country for best business states.
According to the survey, Texas, Florida and Tennessee are the
top three states for businesses. The author said the combination
of a fast-growth population and a low-tax, low-regulation
business climate is a “proven catnip for companies.”
Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in
Illinois for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of
experience in radio news reporting throughout the Midwest.
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