Category:Ritz Restaurant, Allentown, Pennsylvania

The Ritz Barbecue Restaurant at the Allentown Fairgrounds is one of the landmark restaurants of Allentown.

The Ritz, as it is commonly known, was opened in August 1927 by WIlliam H. "Billy" Ritz who established a food stand at the Allentown Fair. The stand sold hot dogs, barbecues, baked beans and ice cream. Ritz had begun as a vendor at the fair in 1897 selling oysters when the Allentown Fair ran 5 days a year and only during the daytime.

After operating the fair stand for several years, in 1929 Ritz asked the the Lehigh County Agricultural Society, who owns the fairgrounds to allow him to continue his business at the fairgrounds as a full-time operation. At the time, the fairgrounds was closed to the public 51 weeks a year when the fair did not operate. But the Allentown Recreation commission had just convinced the Agricultural Society to allow a playground to be built there. So along with the playground, Ritz received approval and he opened a small 30' x 30' wooden frame building on April 4th 1929. The restaurant specialized in serving barbecue sandwiches and ice cream. The business was open all-year round, and during Fair Week as part of the fair.

The original frame structure Ritz built closed down in November 1937. He rebuilt it and expanded it and in March 1938 he reopened in a two-story brick building which afforded sit-down as well as window service. The building today is about the same as then, except for a 16 foot addition added to the east side of the building for additional kitchen space in 1942. Along with the kitchen space, Ritz added a walk-up soda fountain. In 1938, Ritz began to make his own ice cream, starting with a five-gallon freezer. Later he switched to a 10-gallon freezer, then an 80, and finally to a 150-gallon continuous freezer.

Parking was not too much of a problem during the business's infancy because not too many people owned cars. Most of Ritz's patrons boarded trolleys to the fairgrounds. However, in the late 1940s Ritz wanted to macadam the area in front of his restaurant. Society officials did not want to bear that expense, so Ritz himself spent $6000 to pave a parking lot.

Ritz retired from the restaurant in May 1956, and the lease was taken over by John Hesslinger and Roy Minninger, who ran the business as H&M Concessions. Thomas Heeps took it over in 1966 as head of the Wiclian Group.Thomas put his heart and soul into the restaurant. Aling the ice cream my hand in the basement. The pictures that used to grace the old tables throughout the 80's and early 90's were all taken by Thomas of different fairs and concerts at the fairgrounds. In 1981, Jeff and Grace Stinner took over managing the business. These subsequent lessors retained the Ritz name and other aspects of the restaurant, however the Ritz family had no connection with the business after his retirement

On June 16 1998, the Ritz was destroyed by a 2-alarm major electrical fire. However owing largely to the landmark status of the restaurant and the popularity with local residents, the restaurant was completely rebuilt, inside and outside, in the same design as the 1930s structure. It reopened on August 21st, 1998, just over 2 months after the fire. The only difference between the Ritz of today and the one before the fire is that the reopened restaurant no longer makes its own ice cream, obtaining it now from several local dairies.

In June 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the Stinners announced they would end their contract with the Lehigh County Agricultural Society, who owns the restaurant as well as the fairgrounds. It reopened in March 2021 under new management, Laurie and Dan Wuchter who also manage the Allentown Farmer's Market next door. The Wuctners took five months to renovate the interior of the restaurant, with a new kitchens and also bathrooms.

After retirement from the restaurant, William H Ritz later became director of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society, and sponsored many improvements to the Fairgrounds. He passed in February 1976 at age 94. His wife, Gertrude, had passed in 1936.