(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Wine -- and the public perception of wine -- has come a long way since the 1990s, according Carissa Shaffer.
The co-owner of Patina Wine Bar in Park Ridge has been in the restaurant industry her entire professional life. She and her business partner, Tim Arifi, own two restaurants in the northern suburbs.
“Wine has become something that everyone drinks now, and everyone has found a particular wine variety that they like and that they want to drink,” Shaffer said.
She says she got the idea for a wine bar in 2020, as wine sales soared at the start of the COVID pandemic.
Patina opened on Prospect Avenue in March. Shaffer says the name is a tribute to her father, whose decorating business also bore that name.
There’s more to opening a restaurant than planning a menu and hiring employees. Shaffer says the decor -- from paint to wallpaper to cocktail glasses and chandeliers -- has a purpose.
“Everything was planned out to a T,” she said.
Related
Listen to our new podcast Courier Pigeon
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram