A Collinsville restaurant closes its doors. Owners plan to continue some services
About a year after moving to a larger location, a Collinsville barbecue restaurant is now closed.
Red Top BBQ & Chili recently announced on Facebook that the restaurant “will be closed until further notice. The financial obligations [have] become a little unbearable at the time. We will keep you posted with our final decision. If you have a catering order we are still committed to you.”
Owner Melissa Gilmore confirmed in a phone interview Monday that the business is permanently closed.
Red Top moved last summer from its drive-thru-only location at 605 Vandalia St. to 834 S. Morrison Ave. in Collinsville’s Southtowne Plaza Shopping Center.
At that time, Gilmore said that she and her husband, Larry Gilmore, would have more room to offer what they couldn’t before, such as indoor dining, bar service and an event space available for private parties.
Since operating from the Morrison Avenue location, Melissa Gilmore said that business had been OK, that they had good days and bad days. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays were their busiest days. They had a few parties in their event space, which took off a little too late.
On Saturday, Aug. 17, the Gilmores held a family-friendly event outside the restaurant in an attempt to keep the restaurant’s doors open.
Despite the good turnout and the amount of food served from their trailer, Gilmore said it wasn’t enough to help keep the business afloat.
The cost to keep the place open – such as utilities, payroll and other expenses – became overwhelming, according to Gilmore. Their license and permit renewals fell around the same time, and those fees added up as well.
Moving forward, their catering services will continue, and the couple will maintain their food truck. Gilmore said that her husband is still trying to secure a location for the truck, which would operate on weekends every other week.
The Gilmores have about 18 months remaining on their lease. Gilmore’s daughter and her friends are looking to open a restaurant of their own and may take over that lease.
If their daughter and her friends take over the lease at the Red Top, they will operate the food truck from the parking lot on South Morrison Avenue.
About Red Top BBQ & Chili
The Gilmores opened Red Top July 29, 2016, and had a strong customer base.
During the COVID pandemic, the couple built up their reputation by providing free lunches to kids for more than a year through a free lunch program.
Members of Collinsville’s community offered support by making donations and providing additional food items.
Their efforts gained a lot of publicity, and Collinsville was later named as a finalist as one of the Nicest Places in America 2020.
For information about Red Top’s catering services, call or text 618-402-4391.
