After more than two decades of pancakes, hugs and home-style hospitality on Underhill Avenue, Prospect Heights fixture Cheryl's Global Soul is staring down a rent hike that could push the beloved restaurant out of the neighborhood it helped shape. Owner and chef Cheryl Smith says she is racing to renegotiate her lease, juggle new landlord fees and keep her staff on payroll, all while trying not to think about closing the doors.
Speaking with News12, Smith described a "significant rent increase, additional fees and a looming lease deadline" that have left the business in serious trouble. "When people come here, I want them to feel like they've come home. The thought of not being here hurts my heart - I built this for people," she told the station, which also highlighted the spot's homemade pancakes, warm atmosphere and role as a neighborhood anchor for years.
Fundraising and neighborhood support
To buy time, Smith has launched a fundraiser to help close the financial gap. According to GoFundMe, the campaign started on Feb. 9, 2025 and currently shows $11,621 raised toward a $70,000 goal. Regulars and organizers have been stacking the calendar with ticketed events and weekday programming to drive more business while lease talks unfold. The combination of online donations and in-person support has been steady, but the total is still far short of what Smith says she needs to secure the space.
A wider pattern of small-business losses
Cheryl's fight is playing out against a rough backdrop for small businesses citywide. The New York City Economic Development Corporation's economic snapshot estimated about 8,400 businesses closed in Q2 2025, leaving net business formation deeply in the red. That kind of churn reflects how rising commercial rents, higher input costs and softer foot traffic are teaming up to squeeze neighborhood operators. For an independent restaurant like Cheryl's, a landlord's big increase on top of those pressures can turn survival into a math problem that simply does not work without outside help.
How the restaurant is trying to survive
Smith says she is leaning hard into community programming to keep the cash register ringing while negotiations continue, adding live-music nights, private events and special promotions. The restaurant's own calendar lists recurring specials and service days, and Cheryl's is still serving at 236 Underhill Ave. as she tries to hammer out a workable deal. Profiles of Smith report that she opened Cheryl's in the mid-2000s and steadily built it into a neighborhood gathering place with a global-inspired spin on comfort food; see Black-Owned Brooklyn and Cheryl's Global Soul for more background.
For regulars, losing Cheryl's would mean more than just one less brunch option. One diner told News12, "We should be supporting our local businesses with the high prices, tariffs, gas, oil, everything." For now, the restaurant remains open, and what happens next will depend on whether fundraising, packed events and those tense lease talks can close the gap between neighborhood love and the landlord's new terms.
