EAST LIVERPOOL — Changing times and an uncertain economy has led to the end of times for the 6th Street Cafeteria & Deli (6th Street Cafe), formerly Bricker’s Cafe.

The restaurant, a family owned business located in the heart of downtown East Liverpool, has been a staple in the community for nearly a century and was known for its homestyle meals, homemade pies and other desserts. The business announced its permanent closure via social media on Tuesday, one day after announcing it was temporarily closing for repairs.

Owner Raymond Stephens (Chef Ray) purchased the business in February 2024 when former owner Greg Bricker was planning to close it to focus on family and his other businesses. Prior to that the restaurant had been owned by Dan Deitz, a relative of Bricker’s. While the families changed over time, the restaurant remained family-owned for more than 94 years.

Stephens, who took over the restaurant shortly after opening Chef Ray’s Diamond Bar and Grill on the Diamond in November of 2023 and also owns Chef Ray’s Cafe in Calcutta, said it has been an uphill battle for the last year with the deli, with him taking money from his other two businesses to keep it going.

Stephens said he was sad and heartbroken to see it come to this.

“The repairs are a bit much and there are no funds to do it,” Stephens said. “It’s tough, this has been very tough and it’s something I cannot overcome, but I’ve been trying. I’ve been trying to keep it going.”

The business closed temporarily for repairs on Monday when the sewer line backed up for the third time. After having it checked out, Stephens found out that the 100-foot sewer line which leads to a manhole had collapsed, meaning the whole thing would have to be dug up to be repaired at an estimated cost of $20,000 to $25,000.

Stephens said that it is big money and there is no money to fix it.

“That place hasn’t had its own funds for quite some time. I have been feeding it from the other two businesses, and it’s come to enough is enough. I’m going to start hurting my other businesses if I don’t stop,” Stephens said.

He said he could get a loan but questioned how do you pay off a loan for a business on which you aren’t even breaking even on.

Stephens currently has a three-year, $20,000 loan with 4 percent interest through the Community Improvement Corporation, which he obtained as start-up funds in February of 2024 to upgrade the outdated equipment in the business, which he says will now have to be paid back from his other businesses.

He noted that in a weird sense it is kind of a weight lifted off his shoulders.

“It’s tough, the bottom line is, and I finally came to realize it. I’ve been a chef for almost 46 years, and I have opened a lot of restaurants for people, I have taken over casinos, I have done different things, and I have always been successful,” Stephens said. “I’m not patting myself on the back, but I always knew the right things to do, the right buttons to push, but this place has me more puzzled than any place I have been involved in.”

Stephens said he just can’t keep going with it and putting out that kind of money.

“Deitz and Bricker saw the writing on the wall and got out without it costing them a bunch of money. I went in and it cost me a lot of money,” Stephens said.

He noted again that he was sad over the closing and that he, his daughter, Tosha Stephens, and his employees all gave 110% to keep it going.

“It’s been here 94 to 95 years, and it had a great run. I thought we could bring it back a little bit. Going in I knew it wasn’t going to do the numbers it did 20 years ago but, I thought I could at least get it back up to where it showed a profit and made some money.”

Stephens said the first six months after he took over, it did well and showed a decent profit, but then it started to decline and level off, then business dropped.

“Those days, we’ll call it Bricker’s, because that’s what I’ve always known it by, but those days are over. They had that great run years ago,” Stephens said.

He recalls being a kid and going to the cafe with his mother and said that’ when things were great, but over the last 30 to 40 years a lot of jobs were lost, and the population declined and there just isn’t the foot traffic downtown anymore.

“The people that patronize that place aren’t like the younger crowd that goes into The Diamond. The younger crowd will drive from Pittsburgh or Steubenville to The Diamond, but these people aren’t going to do that. It’s a different breed, a different society I guess,” Stephens said.

Stephens said that things have changed during the years that he has been a chef and although no one likes change, he has had to change with the changing times to survive and give people what they want now.

“There aren’t the older people out there like myself that say I want to go get that homemade pie, one like grandma used to make for Thanksgiving,” Stephens said. “It’s now the younger generation who does things differently. The people that come in and buy the pies for the most part are the older people. We very seldom see young people come in to buy a pie. It is how we grew up.”

Stephens said he grew up with his mom making homemade noodles, peeling or slicing potatoes for mashed potatoes and home fries, making gravy with flour and broth from her meat.

“You don’t see that anymore at home. But that’s just not the way it is anymore,” Stephens said. “It’s sad.”

He noted the Diamond Grill does well because it has a different atmosphere and a different crowd. While older people do come into The Diamond, it’s mostly a customer base of people in their 30s and 40s who want to enjoy a meal and have a glass of wine or a drink with their meal.

“People who go to a restaurant nowadays want to go somewhere nice and have a cocktail. Not go to a restaurant and have a bowl of soup or a spaghetti dinner and go home,” Stephens said. “The people who want the soup and sandwich or spaghetti dinner and go home are disappearing. They are dying off.”

The business has tried advertising and doing other different things including hiring managers.

“I’ve done everything I can do,” Stephens said. “When this (sewer line collapse) came up, it was the nail in the coffin. It was like ‘something is telling you something Ray. You got to do what you got to do.'”

Stephens said even when his daughter told him enough was enough, he wasn’t ready to give up and that he kept telling himself that he couldn’t fail with this because he would be letting people down, people who have jobs there, the city, and the people that patronize the business. He said it was difficult to come to the decision to close. He said he is sorry to see it come to this, but he has to move forward, and he can’t let it get the best of him.

At the time of the closing, the cafe employed five people, all of whom he said are like family to him and have been offered jobs at his other two businesses. One, possibly two, have accepted his offer and he is waiting to hear from the other three about what they decide.

Ray said the employees were appreciative of him saving their jobs for nearly two years, but they could see business steadily declining since the pandemic.

Stephens has not yet had the opportunity to think about what the future plans are for the building, and most likely it will be listed for sale. He said right now his focus is sitting down and talking with his employees and explaining what he has been through.

He announced the restaurant’s closing to the public through the following post on social media:

“This isn’t the way we hoped things would end, but we’re so grateful for every single person who supported us along the way, from the regulars who became family, to the new faces who gave us a chance and our great employees who gave us 100 percent. You’ve made every bit of this journey worthwhile.

“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of 6th Street. We’ll always cherish the memories made within these walls.”

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com