Red Bull Inn's salad dressings return to Carnegie
A taste of the Red Bull Inn is back in Carnegie.
The restaurant chain founded there ceased business years ago, but production of its signature salad dressing has returned to the town. Randall Fleck opened Genuine Red Bull Salad Dressings on Feb. 2 at 525 West Main St. There, under his company name, Fleck Foods Inc., he'll manufacture two types of dressing — Red Bull's Italian dressing and a zestier version called Tri-Pepper.
His father, Louis, started the tradition in the late 1960s at another Carnegie location. The Red Bull Commissary was the site for dressing and soup production and home to the Red Bull's corporate offices, located off the Parkway West. The commissary was in operation until 1987.
Randall Fleck took on production of the dressing, as he did at the commissary, from his home in Collier. He is one of four children of Louis and Lois Fleck, founders of the Red Bull Inn Restaurant chain in 1964.
“The business is back in Carnegie 50 years later,” Fleck said.
The original Red Bull Inn was on East Main Street, and eventually there were more than 20 restaurants in three states. Louis Fleck died in 2004, and the last of the restaurants closed in 2007.
The youngest of the Fleck children learned all aspects of the business.
“I worked in every one and in every position for at least one month,” he said. “I was a busboy, a waiter, a bookkeeper. I got to know the employees very well, and the customers.”
Customers can order Red Bull dressings online or at the store, and purchase a 16-ounce bottle for $2.95. The dressing also is sold in 32-ounce and one-gallon quantities.
“I like it. People come in and tell old stories,” said Fleck, who grew up in the town.
The Flecks had a history in the food business. His mother ran a diner in Carnegie. Before that, the family owned a corner market at the top of Lincoln Avenue, where his grandfather and great-grandfather worked.
Morry Miller, who once owned the former Izzy Miller's Furniture Store in Carnegie, remembers the family and the town when Red Bull Inn restaurants were thriving.
“Red Bull Inn was a ray of sunshine in the restaurant business in Carnegie,” said Miller, who grew up in Carnegie. “It brought a lot of people from the outside to town.”
About a dozen Red Bull Inns were in the Pittsburgh area, and Miller recalled locations such as Pleasant Hills, Ambridge, Dormont and the North Hills.
“Lois and Lou finally hit it big with the Red Bull,” Miller said. “They had a good chef.”
Today, Fleck and two part-time assistants prepare, bottle and distribute 300 gallons or 2,400 16-ounce units at a time. The original recipe of apple cider vinegar, ground pepper and other spices, hand-pressed garlic and 100 percent canola oil still is used.
“I put good stuff in, and good stuff comes out,” he said. “It's a good concept.”
The recipe was developed as a marinade by a Red Bull Inn chef. After a batch was made, what was left over became dressing.
“It's garlicky,” Fleck said.
That distinctive dressing was just one offering for Red Bull Inn patrons at the salad bar, a concept that Louis Fleck popularized.
As the dressing orders arrive, Fleck mixes the ingredients inside a stainless steel vat from 1968 that was used to make both soups and dressing. The smallest batch he'll make is 150 gallons.
The dressing is sold in Giant Eagle Market District stores, along with Costco and Sam's Club locations. He also has supplied pizza shops and local churches for spaghetti dinners.
He predicts that business will increase as he gets established at his new address.
“Sales is me. Delivering and making the dressing is me,” Fleck said. “I wear all those hats.”
His father did the same. “I'm proud of my dad and proud to follow in his footsteps.”
To place orders, visit redbulldressings.com or call 412-279-7282.
Dona S. Dreeland is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-388-5803 or ddreeland@tribweb.com.
