I am happy to announce that I have started a new chess club here in Illinois.
The Illinois Valley Chess Club is now operating in the LaSalle-Peru area.
The club meets every Thursday evening at 7:15 at the Burger King Restaurant in Oglesby, Illinois. This is located just East of the 54 Mile Exit on Rte. 39. This restaurant is quite spacious and very good for a chess club. They are also open late for those of us getting carried away with our games and play.
We will be having a variety of chess activities including lessons. We have activities planned to interest all levels of players from the beginner to the master. We also will have tournaments in the future for all levels.
At this time there is no cost to be a member or to come and play. We do request that people bring their own chess equipment for playing, including sets, boards and clocks.
I ask any of you that knows anyone close enough that might be interested to let them know about us.
If there are any questions feel free to contact me, Ron Suarez.
How did you get the restaurant to let you use their dining room?
Regards … Jim
P.S. Good luck with the new club.
As you probably know, Burger King is a fast food restaurant. The one that we are going to is located just off a freeway (4 lane divided highway) exit with 4 or 5 other restaurants. This Burger King has a very workable sight for our chess club in that there is a lot of room in it and there are even some 1/2 wall dividers separating some booths from the rest of the place.
I talked with the manager specifying:
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I was going to be marketing the chess club in the area via the local newspaper and radio stations. I pointed out to her that of course each and every time the club was mentioned in the media it would also be said that the club meets at the Burger King in Oglesby just off exit #54 on Rte. 39. This would also give the restaurant publicity. She liked that.
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I pointed out that we would be having the meetings on Thursday evenings which is usually a slower time for such businesses. She agreed, and she liked the idea that people coming in would probably buy at least a drink while they were there.
Except for my charismatic and magnetic personality, that was all I needed 
Oh yes, I wanted to mention that they also had no problem turning off the piped in music for our more serious games/tournaments on club night.
Thanks for the info. Will try this in my local area.
Jim
In Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Gus Gosselin started a successful series of scholastic tournaments held at various Burger King locations. The tournaments are held Sunday mornings, ending around 2 P.M. That’s usually a time when the restaurants have lower customer traffic, so the tournament isn’t very disruptive. In fact, they may bring in some additional business for the restaurant at an otherwise “dead” time.
These tournaments have been a great way of exposing beginners to tournament chess.
Search for “burger king” in the “tournaments” section of MSA.
That is an awesome idea for a chess club location. By the way. Do you know Pastor Tom Gibson?