Last of Red Bull Inns pulls up steaks
The Red Bull Inn restaurant chain was known for decades for its salad bar, prime rib and lobster dishes. But the business ended abruptly this week, as the last restaurant closed amid a dispute among members of the founder's family.
The inn off the Parkway West in Robinson didn't open Thursday, said Larry Fleck, who ran the restaurant with his mother, Lois, after his father, Lou, died in 2004.
An eviction order signed by Robinson District Judge Carla Swearingen prompted the closing, Fleck said. About 40 employees were put out of work.
Fleck said much of the family dispute is over terms of the restaurant's rent payments to Lou and Lois Fleck's three other children, who hold a combined 72 percent ownership of the building. Daniel and Randall Fleck and Janice Bioni obtained the eviction order after a hearing before Swearingen, Larry Fleck said. Bioni declined to comment, while Daniel and Randall could not be reached.
Rent for the Red Bull Inn was partially suspended for two years while the parkway and a nearby interchange were under construction, he said. Business dropped off by about 50 percent and, while it rebounded somewhat after the highway fully reopened, it didn't reach previous levels.
"People change their patterns," Larry Fleck said.
Lou Fleck opened the first Red Bull Inn in 1964 in Carnegie, and the business eventually grew to more than 20 restaurants in three states. About a dozen locations were in the Pittsburgh area, and the inns were known especially for their extensive salad bars.
"The Red Bull Inn had what probably was the first salad bar in the United States," Larry Fleck said. His father once was featured on the cover of a restaurant trade journal.
The Robinson restaurant opened as a Red Bull Inn in 1983 and, while the chain ceased business in 1991, Lou Fleck reopened that site in the early 1990s with the Red Bull name.
The Robinson building was listed for sale for $3.5 million last summer as a means of settling the family dispute, Larry Fleck said, but it never sold. An attorney representing the three siblings who sought the eviction couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
"While we're closed," he said, "we don't intend to leave the city of Pittsburgh. This could be settled in days, or years, and there are other locations available."
