Nature's Best Cafe is closing for good on Friday, July 31. The family-owned spot at 1904 Brookdale Road off Illinois Route 59 is shutting down despite a months-long neighborhood campaign that raised more than $5,000 and put over a thousand hand-delivered letters on doorsteps to save it.

Co-owner Evonne Cruz told the Naperville Sun that despite bingo nights, trivia events, an expanded catering operation, and a GoFundMe organized by neighbor Dawn Fletcher, the business remains in the red.

"Nothing has gone down. If anything, it's gone up more, the food costs have just been through the roof," Cruz said.

The cafe first announced plans to close in November 2025, after summer sales had dropped nearly 40% year over year. Fletcher, a Brookdale Road neighbor whose youngest daughter's first job was at the cafe, launched the save-the-cafe campaign: a GoFundMe that raised more than $5,000, advertising magnets, and over 1,000 letters distributed door to door. Another neighbor lent marketing expertise. Someone else conducted a customer survey and compiled the results into a presentation for the owners.

It worked, briefly. Simitrio Cruz, the cafe's chef and co-owner who has worked in the restaurant industry since 1995, reversed his decision and reopened full time in January 2026. The landlord offered a shorter-term lease to ease the financial pressure.

The Cruz family opened Nature's Best in 2016 after Simitrio's son and two other family members were diagnosed with celiac disease. That inspired a scratch-made, gluten-free menu of hand-tossed pizzas, sandwiches, smoothies, and fresh-squeezed juices. All three Cruz children worked at the cafe over the years. The space doubled as a neighborhood gathering spot with free WiFi, board games, and community events like Theater for Charity's "Cabaret for Good" cabaret in March 2026.

But as a small business buying ingredients week to week without the buying power to lock in annual contracts, Nature's Best stayed vulnerable to every price spike in eggs, chicken, and produce. Cruz said customer counts declined year over year, with evenings hit hardest. Catering was paying the bills, but the dine-in traffic the cafe needed never recovered.

For Fletcher, the loss is personal. "Simitrio is family," she told the Naperville Sun. "Every young person should be so lucky as to have a patient and considerate boss as their introduction to the workplace."

Fletcher's GoFundMe will remain open after July 31 to help Simitrio Cruz with his transition. No announcement has been made about what will occupy the Brookdale Road space.