He hopes someone buys the business because “it’s ready to rock-n-roll.”

In August, Estes said his lifetime passion for cooking, the restaurant’s faithful following and its location near a major sporting complex expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people to the area would help make Red’s Hamburger Shop successful again.

Estes and his two silent business partners purchased the longtime Butler County restaurant on U.S. 127 and planned to open this month.

Estes said he wanted to eventually own three locations, one called Red’s and two called Walley Burgers, and one food truck.

Red’s Hamburger Shop traces its roots back to the early 1960s. It was briefly Mel’s Diner last decade before reopening in 2020 under its old moniker. Craig and Yolanda Beurelein closed the restaurant earlier this year.