MIDDLETOWN, Ind. — The Red Brick Inn’s famous fried chicken will make a comeback in May, according to the owner of the now closed restaurant.
Red Brick owner Greg Goff said he closed the restaurant after realizing that he’d never be able to buy the land and the building the restaurant was housed in.
Goff, who has owned the restaurant for 18 years, said he didn’t want to continue paying rent, so he decided to walk away from the property, opting for a small diner in his hometown.
In May, Goff hopes to reopen the Middletown Diner, and plans to offer the traditional favorites featured at the Red Brick Inn over the past 80 years.
Goff gave up on trying to get what he called a fair price for the Red Brick Inn.
“I’m tired of paying rent. I want to own a piece of real estate I can call my own,” he said.
And now he has it.
The famous fried chicken and hand-dipped, hand-sliced onion rings will make their return, Goff said, but not until he does some work to the Middletown Diner, located on Indiana 236.
The new diner is considerably smaller, he said.
While the Red Brick Inn housed 156 seats, the new restaurant only fits 45.
This could mean success for Goff.
When he was running the Red Brick Inn, Goff said, the cost of heating and cooling a large restaurant with a declining number of customers became a problem.
“You still have to heat the area that 156 chairs are in, even if it’s only 30 people there,” Goff said.
Goff said he also decided to pick up and leave Anderson because the city didn’t show him enough support.
“The city of Anderson gives tax abatements and discount electricity for new businesses but they don’t do anything to help us old businesses out,” he said.
And with utility rates on the rise, Goff said it just got too hard to keep the doors open. “They make it harder for the little guy to stay in business.”
Although he’s already purchased the Middletown Diner, Goff said he hasn’t yet selected a name for the new restaurant.
Red Brick Inn isn’t an option, he said.
“It’s not a red brick building that I’m moving into so it really doesn’t apply.”
Some have suggested that he name the restaurant after himself since his customers were so loyal that they often said they were heading to “Greg’s place,” not the Red Brick Inn, Goff said.
Goff welcomes residents to offer their own ideas for the restaurant’s new name.
“If you have any ideas, give me a shout.”
Although he’s left the Red Brick Inn behind, Goff is confident that many of his customers will follow him to his new location in Middletown.
“Our customers out there for the last 30 years, they weren’t like customers, they were friends, and they were more — they were family. It’s sad leaving them. We had people who came in every day that we talk to like family.”
The new restaurant won’t be a carbon copy of the Red Brick Inn.
Goff said he plans to offer ice cream varieties and hopes to make the place a kid-friendly family restaurant complete with outdoor dining and a play place.
The customers, even those who have to drive farther, will follow him, he said.
“When they find out that I’m over there, I think a lot of them will come over, because like I say, they’re family.”
Contact Brandi Watters, 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com
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