Red Barn (restaurant)

Red Barn
Company typeState incorporated
IndustryFast food chain restaurants
Founded1961; 63 years ago (1961)
FounderDon Six, Martin Levine and Jim Kirst
Defunct1988; 36 years ago (1988) as Red Barn (remaining opened stores became "The Farm")
FateFranchise licenses were allowed to expire and stores were closed. Some opened stores however became "The Farm".
Headquarters
Dayton, Ohio
,
United States
Number of locations
Between 300–400 restaurants in 19 states at its peak. Locations in Canada and Australia as well.
OwnersDon Six, Martin Levine and Jim Kirst (founders 1961)
Richard O. Kearns – Red Barn System, Inc. (1963)
United Servomation (late 1960s)
City Investing Company (1978)

The Red Barn restaurant was a fast-food restaurant chain founded in 1961 in Springfield, Ohio, by Don Six, Martin Levine, and Jim Kirst. In 1963, the small chain was purchased by Richard O. Kearns, operated as Red Barn System, with the offices moving briefly to Dayton, Ohio and in August 1964 to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the late 1960s United Servomation, also called Servomation, bought the Red Barn chain.[1] In 1978 United Servomation merged with the City Investing Company's GDV division which also owned the Motel 6 motel chain.[1][2] Only interested in real estate, construction, and financial services the new owners ceased advertising for the chain along with allowing the franchise leases to expire with the last of the leases expiring around 1988.[1][3] At its peak, Red Barn had 300–400 restaurants in 19 states, as well as outlets in southern Ontario, elsewhere in Canada, and Australia.[4]

Following the shutdown of operations, most of the Red Barn buildings were converted for other uses. A few of the chain restaurants were renamed "The Farm" in various states and continued serving the same menu items available when they were under their Red Barn franchise. There were two locations under "The Farm" name in Racine, Wisconsin and Bradford, Pennsylvania that served the same menu items. The Bradford location closed for a brief period in 2014 from a small fire and permanently closed in December 2015.[5][6] The Racine, Wisconsin store closed on February 2, 2020.[7] The Australian Red Barn stores were sold and converted into McDonald's locations.

  1. ^ a b c "Service America Corp. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Service America Corp". www.referenceforbusiness.com. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Motel 6 – Company History". www.company-histories.com. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  3. ^ Rich Perrott (September 2, 2010). "barnbuster".
  4. ^ "Being Spotless and cleaning up". The Age. 30 September 2006. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  5. ^ "The Farm Family Restaurant closing, for sale". The Bradford Era. December 19, 2015.
  6. ^ "Down on the Farm: Farm Family Restaurant slated to reopen on Tuesday". The Bradford Era. January 30, 2015.
  7. ^ "The Farm diner has closed, gone out to pasture". The Journal Times. February 27, 2019.