News
Restaurant Planned for Columbus Road in Athens
By: Steve Robb - Athens Messenger staff reporter
Posted on:
The owners of the Burrito Buggy are in the process of opening a restaurant on Columbus Road in Athens.
Located at the site of the former Columbus Road Diner, the yet-to-be-named restaurant should be open in mid to late July, said Sheldon Andrus, project manager for owners Marla and Jimmy Rutter and their daughter, Bethany Rutter. Andrus said a couple of names for the business are being considered.
“It’s going to be a hybrid between southern comfort food and soul food,” he said.
The restaurant, because of its size, will have limited seating, said Marla Rutter.
“There will be a dining bar that you can sit at,” she said. “There will be a lot of carryout.”
She said the restaurant will be operated by her daughter, Bethany, who recently graduated from the hotel and restaurant management program at Hocking College and previously was house mother and cook at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Ohio University.
Marla Rutter said her daughter has been cooking since she was 16 years old and will be one of the people cooking at the restaurant.
Among the customers the restaurant is intended to serve are people who work at the businesses on Columbus Road.
“We know that Columbus Road is kind of a food desert,” Andrus said. “We want to meet that need.”
He said the restaurant will be open weekdays and Saturdays.
Andrus said more information about the restaurant will be available once details are finalized.
Also, Andrus said there will be a food buggy connected to the restaurant that will vend in downtown Athens. The Burrito Buggy already vends downtown, and the Rutter family also has a mobile version of the Burrito Buggy that goes to special events. The business also does catering.
Andrus said an added advantage of the Columbus Road site is that it has space available for storage for the Burrito Buggy business.