Danyelle George, bartender, works behind the bar last week at Woochi in downtown South Bend. Woochi is among the restaurants that received a riverfront district liquor license that saved the co-owners money over a conventional license. SBT Photo/GREG SWIERCZ
At a glance
Here are the restaurants in downtown South Bend that have obtained three-way liquor licenses:
Chicory Cafe
The Exchange Whiskey Bar
Woochi
Le Peep
Linden Grill
Swolfies House of Bluz
LangLab
Luna Moona (but the business did not move forward)
Tapastrie
Cinco
South Bend Brew Werks
Source: City of South Bend
SOUTH BEND — Local restaurateur Phil Schreiber believes the impact of the riverfront liquor license program in downtown South Bend is obvious.
Obvious by the number of new restaurants that have opened in the past two years. And obvious from the growing popularity of the wine and beer walks, dining promotions and live music options at locally owned venues in the heart of the city.
Without the program, Schreiber says he probably wouldn’t have purchased the Chicory Cafe. He knew from the get-go that he wanted to expand Chicory’s offerings, but the profit margin for the 45-seat cafe could not justify the cost of a traditional liquor license.
Liquor licenses are expensive, often costing from $30,000 to $50,000, which can prove challenging for an independent restaurant owner to afford.
The program offers the same three-way licenses for $1,000 within the city’s Riverfront Development District, which is located along the St. Joseph River near downtown.
“I wouldn’t be here without it,” Schreiber says matter-of-factly.
“It’s been instrumental in adding to the vibrancy downtown,” Schreiber says. “Growth was pretty stagnant before it, so that makes its success pretty clear. Since the licenses became available, we’ve probably had 10 new restaurants open. So it’s doing what it’s supposed to do, for sure.”
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