Redd's in Rozzie is Closing

July 17, 2018    » posted by: charlieredd

I always wanted to own my own restaurant. When I was sixteen and began working in kitchens I found a calling. When I moved to chef-owned restaurants I knew this was my goal. That never changed leading up to April 2011 when Redd's in Rozzie opened.

I began saving for this restaurant as a line cook in 2002. I fought harder then anyone I know to own it individually, run it to the best of my ability, and try to balance my standards while nurturing the team.I don't want to close this popular, profitable, special little neighborhood restaurant, but the City of Boston is not giving me another option..

This restaurant is closing because the largest asset of this business, the liquor license, is going to be devalued tremendously by a Boston City Council initiative led by Ayanna Pressley and supported by Roslindale councillor Tim McCarthy to flood Boston with free liquor licenses. This initiative is popular politics meant to drum up image for the individual city councillors' next political ambition, not change neighborhood licensing in a healthy manner.These type of drastic changes in restaurant licensing in neighboring areas have wiped out the value of licenses and I refuse to let that happen to my life savings. The license has been sold and will be moved out of Roslindale. I have invested all I have into this restaurant, but I will not consciously lose everything because these city politicians wish to change how restaurants work without listening or considering the restaurants that made this square what it is..

Redd's in Rozzie should not have to close, but it is. I am proud of what I built here and feel we are leaving Roslindale before we have achieved what we could achieve, but so be it. There are many fantastic restaurants here and I hope you will continue to support them as much as you have supported me. I want to thank the incredible business community here that I still call friends and wish them all the best. I also want to thank everyone who has worked at Main Streets for their tireless support of this project. Your support of local business is needed now, more then ever, to insure this special square continues on. Every time you buy something from an online vendor or buy at a big mall store that you could buy here you hurt your community, your environment, and your business communities future. You hurt your home..

Redd's in Rozzie has been a dream come true because of the people that love it. The support the friends of this place have brought is humbling. Thank you to all the people that called bingo, made movie screens, built gardens, wrote articles, hung wallpaper, fixed the locks after a shitty employee called the health department on my cat, shoveled the roof, danced on the bar, put there arm around me after someone stole another $10,000, never gave up on this project to "save the little southern restaurant", came through with financing so I could own it outright, showed up with German keg taps for Oktoberfest, talked me through sweating a pipe over the phone before a health inspection, provided me shelter so I could close the bar and come back for brunch, on and on and on and on. All the hugs and hugs and hugs. This village has truly raised and carried this place in so many ways. Thank you to you all. .

Most importantly, thank you for coming and eating, drinking, and celebrating. Your dedication to us has cemented my confidence that cooking good food from good sources served with kindness is a successful business model. That was my dream, and you helped make it a reality. I look forward to our future meals together, here at Redd's, in new restaurants, and in our homes..

Finally, I want to publicly thank my wife, Kate, and our children for their unwavering support. The tremendous effort and sacrifice they made to allow me to open, operate, and nurture this restaurant was inspiring in their endurance. Everyone should have a spouse that makes them far more then they could ever be on their own. I am eternally grateful to her for this restaurant's success..

This restaurant and this neighborhood fused together to make something very special that I feel will never be recreated. Until we close our doors, every day should be a celebration of that time, like any good funeral. A party. I look forward to running Redd's in Rozzie into July for another month with our complete focus on making your last experiences with us the best you ever had. .

Sincerely,.

Charlie Redd.