Cheesesteak eggrolls, apple‑cheesecake eggrolls, and a South Side success story are all headed to 75th Street, as Twisted Eggroll finally lands a brick‑and‑mortar home on one of Chicago’s most-watched food corridors.
Owner Nikkita Randle is turning a long‑vacant building on the strip into a takeout operation built around a large production kitchen. If construction stays on track, neighbors could be grabbing hot orders, catered trays, and frozen to‑go bags later this year, all coming out of a space designed to feed both the immediate block and a wider customer base.
Grants and financing
Pulling together the roughly $1.5 million development plan took a patchwork of public and private dollars. Randle plugged the funding gap with a Community Development Grant from the city's Recovery Plan worth about $784,238, a $400,000 award from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and a $100,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust. She also leaned on financing help from Greenwood Archer Capital to close the deal.
Those pieces are what ultimately pushed Twisted Eggroll’s move to 75th Street across the finish line, according to Block Club Chicago.
City sign‑off
City Hall has already cleared a key hurdle. The City Council approved a redevelopment agreement that allows neighborhood funds to be used to renovate the property at 657 E. 75th St., giving the project an official green light on the legislative side.
The ordinance appeared on the council’s agenda and advanced through committee earlier this year. The move is recorded in city legislative materials, per the Chicago Councilmatic.
What the shop will offer
Randle’s plan is a takeout‑only counter backed by a serious commercial kitchen. The space will crank out hot eggrolls, handle catering orders, and pack frozen‑to‑go bags, with about 900 square feet of kitchen space reserved for rent to other restaurateurs or caterers.
Customers will order online, then pick up from assigned smart lockers instead of waiting at a counter. On the menu, Twisted Eggroll’s greatest hits will be front and center: buffalo chicken, jerk chicken, and apple‑cheesecake eggrolls, plus a rotating monthly special.
Renovations are expected to take six to eight months, with a goal of opening to customers by the end of the year, Randle told Block Club Chicago.
Built on a South Side footprint
Twisted Eggroll is not some downtown transplant parachuting in. The company has been operating as a catering and packaged‑food business since 2015 and lists a South Side address as its principal place of business.
A company offering statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lists Twisted Eggroll’s address as 4731 S. Ingleside Ave., Unit C1, and notes the business used city grant funding to establish a commercial kitchen, according to the company’s SEC filing. Public filings indicate the new 75th Street spot will give the brand a true retail front door while expanding production capacity for frozen retail bags and event catering.
“I’m feeling grateful,” Randle said of the project, adding that her faith helped carry her through the long buildout. Neighbors and business owners on the stretch have been pushing to turn 75th into a mini restaurant row, and Randle is betting Twisted Eggroll can help pull more independent food ventures onto the block.
The concept blends a walk‑up to‑go counter with rentable prep space, a combination meant to give nearby residents another quick‑service option while creating a pipeline for other South Side cooks looking to scale up.
