Vinnie's Barbee-Q is getting ready to serve the last order at its Decatur restaurant, 1250 South Side Drive. The restaurant's last full day will be Saturday, and it will be gone after close of business at 8 p.m.
"I am closing the Southside Drive store to concentrate on my restaurant at the Hickory Point Mall," owner Vinnie Barbee said. "I've got a good spot there, and it's going very well. We also have a good catering business."
Barbee said he needed to focus more attention on his best-performing location, and with the lease on the South Side Drive property up for renewal early next year, it was time to make his move now. Of the two employees at the Decatur restaurant, one will transfer to Forsyth, and Barbee says the other has taken a job with another restaurant.
Barbee and his wife, Debbie, started their food business after he lost his job when Bridgestone/Firestone closed in 2001. They opened their first restaurant on Water Street in August 2001, followed that with another in Mount Zion in July 2002 and then their third, at South Side Drive, in November, 2002. Responding to business trends, the couple closed the Mount Zion location in 2003 and Water Street in 2005. They opened the mall restaurant in May.
"Everyone told me negatives about the mall. That the mall was dead. The mall don't have people. But they were wrong," Barbee said. "The mall is a long way from dead, and business is very good."
Barbee, whose operation won the Decatur Black Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year award earlier in August, said he will continue with his many charitable projects and also said he's looking around for another Decatur location. "I'm not counting the city out," he added.
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After several years in the making, a Long Creek winery is fully licensed and ready to sell its products.
Long Creek Vineyards at 7185 E. Firehouse Road features a 5-acre family vineyard, which was established in 2004. Products from the vineyard will be available in The Decanter in downtown Decatur and restaurants throughout the area by mid-September.
"It's been a long process, believe me," said Terri Fisher, one of the family members who owns the vineyards. "It's not anything huge scale yet, but it's just getting out there and earning some money instead spending money."
Wine also can be purchased at the vineyard winery, which will be open noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays beginning Oct. 4 or at other times by appointment.
An outdoor Octoberfest is being planned Oct. 18 and 19 to showcase the vineyard's wines.
For more information, call 521-6297.
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Twenty percent of your bill for lunch or dinner at any Decatur, Sullivan or Mahomet Monical's Pizza restaurants on Tuesday, Sept. 2, will go to United Cerebral Palsy Land of Lincoln if a special flyer accompanies your payment. To get one, call 428-5033.
On Biz, published Fridays in the Herald & Review, highlights business developments. Contact Tony Reid at treid@herald-review.com or 421-7977 or Chris Lusvardi at clusvardi@herald-review.com or 421-7972. Theresa Churchill contributed to this column.
Posted in On_biz on Friday, August 29, 2008 12:00 am Updated: 2:33 pm.
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