Joseph Ledbetter, the Nashville-based restaurateur and founder of BrickTop's, has died at the age of 81 following an illness, according to a statement shared by his family.
Beginning his career as a stockbroker, Ledbetter was a Nashville native who began founding and scaling restaurants brands in 1977, when he co-founded Houston's at 3000 West End Ave.
He helped open multiple locations of the restaurant before eventually selling his stake and exiting the business. He opened Bricktop's in Naples, Florida in 2006 and followed with the first Nashville location of the restaurant shortly after.
“Our team is heartbroken to lose our friend and founder Joe Ledbetter, whose flawless culinary judgment and inherent connection to our customers and team defined
the BrickTop’s brand,” said Ledbetter's business partner Tom Brunnberg, in a statement. “We will assure that BrickTop’s stays true to Joe’s vision of excellence and honors his approachable spirit of hospitality.”
Over the past 20 years, Bricktop's has become a Nashville institution, with locations on West End Avenue, on Demonbreun and in Cool Springs. As exemplified in a 2014 Time Magazine feature story about Nashville, the West End location is a see-and-be-seen type of place for business meetings, lunches with politicos, corporate lawyers and the like.
But the restaurant group has been able to balance that concentration of power with lots of other types of customers, including families of all ages either celebrating something or spending time together for no special reason.
Today, there are 11 Bricktop's locations in Alabama, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and South Carolina and Tennessee.
Funeral services will be held privately for family and close friends. At Ledbetter's request, contributions in his honor may be sent to Christ the King School or Montgomery Bell Academy.
Molly Davis covers growth and development in Nashville and assists with special projects. You can email her with comments, questions and tips at mmdavis@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Founder, owner of Nashville-based chain BrickTop's, dead at 81
