Red Barn stood out in the early fast-food business. Its restaurants were built to look like barns, and the menu leaned on familiar favorites such as burgers and fried chicken.
Don Six, Martin Levine and Jim Kirst founded the chain in 1961. It eventually grew to roughly 300 to 400 locations, but its last restaurants closed in 1988. The first opened in Ohio, though accounts differ on whether it was in Columbus or Springfield.
Ohio has been home to several well-known fast-food brands, said Capri Cafaro, an Ohio-based managing director of America the Bountiful Media. Wendy’s began in Columbus and was among the early chains to offer a drive-through window. Its square burger patties also helped set it apart. Arby’s got its start in Boardman, Ohio.
Red Barn’s barn-shaped buildings were central to its identity, along with interiors designed to feel comfortable and homey, Cafaro said. The look matched the name, she added, and became part of the chain’s appeal. Similar themed architecture showed up at other restaurants, including Long John Silver’s and the classic, hut-roofed Pizza Hut locations.
The menu featured comfort food, from hamburgers and fried chicken to fish sandwiches. Red Barn’s double-decker Big Barney was similar to a Big Mac, and it appeared before McDonald’s added the Big Mac to its national menu in 1968.
The chain also had cartoon mascots, including Hamburger Hungry, Chicken Hungry and Big Fish Hungry. Its jingle went, “When the hungries hit, hit the Red Barn.”
Red Barn offered a self-serve salad bar, and some accounts say it did so before Wendy’s. Wendy’s, however, says it was the first national chain to introduce salad bars, in 1979.
At its height, Red Barn had locations in 19 U.S. states, as well as in Canada and Australia. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1986. Its final 22 restaurants were in New York, Ohio and Washington, D.C., and the last franchise lease expired two years later.
A handful of restaurants carried on with a similar feel. One, The Farm in Racine, Wisconsin, closed permanently in 2020. The Red Barn name is gone, but some of the recognizable barn-shaped buildings still house other businesses.
For former customers, the chain remains a source of nostalgia, Cafaro said. Food can bring back memories and remind people of a happier time, she added.
