



Appetite has aligned with altruism in an enterprise familiar to many Portage Park-area residents run by Steve and Nicole O'Brien.

In a unique gesture celebrating the federal tax cut, the family-owned Brgrbelly restaurant opted to slash prices by 20 percent starting Feb. 1, reducing all menu items to the original prices listed on the restaurant's opening day in 2013.

Hence Brgrbelly, pronounced “Burgerbelly,” is placing people ahead of profits in a not-so-random act of kindness, simultaneously thanking clientele for their patronage and giving back to the community.

The impetus was twofold, Steve O'Brien explained. First, their restaurant at 5739 West Irving Park Road enjoys a strong customer base. Second, with Brgrbelly approaching its five-year mark in March, the couple conceived of the price cuts to celebrate the venue’s fifth anniversary and the federal tax overhaul.

“They coincided with each other, so we are thanking everybody for their business,” he said.

Are they happy about the tax cut?

“Oh yeah, absolutely," he said. "Participation goes up in the restaurant, we get more in tips, and the customers get the lowest pricing. It’s a win-win.”

Better yet, the O’Briens plan to sustain the prices “indefinitely, as long as the federal tax cut stays in place.”

How does that work?

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“We don’t do this business for profit; we do it for passion,” Steve O'Brien said. “We’re all about the community.”

Brgrbelly, which specializes in burgers, fries and craft beer, often sponsors fundraisers and events like “neighborhood mash-ups,” incorporating other eateries’ signature dishes into their own with unusual results: beignets made of burger buns with cheesecake, for example. To top it off, the O’Briens donate all mash-up profits to charity.

Not only do the O’Briens think other businesses should follow suit, but they also hope to start a new trend.

“I believe that if you’re selfless in life it’s reciprocal and everyone benefits from that,” Steve O'Brien said. “It’s a balancing act of what you want to do with your tax cut.”