Portillo's is bringing its Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches to West Michigan, with plans filed for a drive-thru restaurant on an outlot near Woodland Mall in Kentwood. Site work has already begun at the property, even though the company has not told the city when the restaurant is expected to open.
The proposed restaurant would sit at 3119 28th St. SE, according to MLive, which reports it would be Portillo's third Michigan location and its first in the western part of the state. Plans filed with the city on Oct. 13 call for 80 parking spaces and a drive-thru, according to WOODTV.com. The project plans are marked “issued for permit,” and architectural renderings show a restaurant with a drive-thru window, a red, white and blue exterior, and multiple Portillo's signs.
Planning Commission Takes Up Landscape and Building Details
Kentwood's Planning Commission had a meeting scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the project's landscape plan and building elevations, with that material included in the commission's agenda packet. The agenda packet does not identify a construction schedule or an anticipated opening date for Portillo's, nor does it list a project cost, restaurant floor area, or projected employment count.
Lisa Golder, Kentwood's community development director, said Portillo's has not told the city when the restaurant is expected to open, though she confirmed that site work has already begun at the proposed location. The restaurant would be near the future Shake Shack site at 3029 28th St. SE, which is expected to open in 2027, per the article.
A Growing but Uneven Michigan Footprint
Portillo's opened its first Michigan restaurant in Sterling Heights in 2021 and followed with a second location in Livonia by the end of 2023. The chain currently operates those two Michigan locations and is known for its Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, burgers, salads, cheese fries and chocolate cake, along with its signature cake shakes, notes WOODTV.com.
Portillo's expansion hasn't been uniformly smooth elsewhere. The Chicago-area chain expects to close a mid-to-high single-digit number of underperforming restaurants, all located outside the Chicago area, with most closures expected by the end of 2026, according to NBC Chicago. The station reports that Portillo's CEO Brett Patterson said the company decided which restaurants to close after evaluating the sales performance of each location, even as the chain opened seven new restaurants outside Chicago in 2026, all in Texas.
Portillo's has also stepped back from at least one planned Michigan project. In Roseville, the company is no longer part of a three-tenant redevelopment deal on Gratiot Avenue, Roseville City Manager Ryan Monroe told the Macomb Daily earlier this month. That reversal stands in contrast to the Kentwood site, where dirt is already moving even without a confirmed opening date.
