Kolarik kept the restaurant open for many years; then when he discovered that construction of I-55 would cut the restaurant off from major highway traffic, he briefly sold it to another operator before buying it back.
 However, as more traffic moved to the interstate, business dwindled and the restaurant was taken over by a local bank, which kept it in operation until another buyer could be found.
 Delbert 'Dell' Rhea, a prominent Chicago businessman who had managed the then Stevens Hotel and had been the executive director of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, at the time owned the Woodbine Inn down the street from the Chicken Basket.
 Rhea sold the Woodbine Inn and purchased the historic roadhouse in 1963, taking over Kolarik's former business and keeping the Chicken Basket's menu and name but adding his own name as well.
Rhea's son Patrick, who grew up working in the restaurant along with his mother, Grace Rhea, assumed control of Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket following Dell's death in 1992.
The Lombardi family (Billy and Annie) bought the restaurant in 2019 with the promise to continue the tradition by keeping intact the original recipe, service, and homestyle environment that makes the Chicken Basket.

The building and its classic freestanding neon sign were added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 5, 2006, along with fellow Illinois Route 66 restaurants Lou Mitchell's and Ariston Cafe.
The restaurant was featured on a Route 66 edition of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
Kolarik kept the restaurant open for many years; then when he discovered that construction of I-55 would cut the restaurant off from major highway traffic, he briefly sold it to another operator before buying it back.  However, as more traffic moved to the interstate, business dwindled and the restaurant was taken over by a local bank, which kept it in operation until another buyer could be found.  Delbert 'Dell' Rhea, a prominent Chicago businessman who had managed the then Stevens Hotel and had been the executive director of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, at the time owned the Woodbine Inn down the street from the Chicken Basket.  Rhea sold the Woodbine Inn and purchased the historic roadhouse in 1963, taking over Kolarik's former business and keeping the Chicken Basket's menu and name but adding his own name as well. Rhea's son Patrick, who grew up working in the restaurant along with his mother, Grace Rhea, assumed control of Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket following Dell's death in 1992. The Lombardi family (Billy and Annie) bought the restaurant in 2019 with the promise to continue the tradition by keeping intact the original recipe, service, and homestyle environment that makes the Chicken Basket.
The building and its classic freestanding neon sign were added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 5, 2006, along with fellow Illinois Route 66 restaurants Lou Mitchell's and Ariston Cafe. The restaurant was featured on a Route 66 edition of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket