In celebration of their 40th Anniversary June 11, Ted's Birmingham is honoring the restaurant's history in the city of Birmingham and the involvement of owners Tasos and Beba Touloupis in the community by giving back to those doing great things for the city.
To celebrate the anniversary week, June 10 through the June 14, Ted's Birmingham is planning a week of online storytelling through pictures and video, great food, and proudly partnering with five local nonprofits to raise and donate money each day to a different group's cause.
"We are so blessed to be a part of this city, and even more blessed to be connected with the people doing such amazing things to help and support people in need in our city," Beba said. "For 40 years Ted's has been serving support in this city, not only on peoples' plates, but also in many aspects of their lives."
Ted's will be donating a portion of their lunch sales to Camp Smile a Mile, Kids One, The Urban Food Project and the Cornerstone School. As part of a way of further interacting and involving their online fans and patrons, the staff are letting their Facebook and Twitter fans nominate and vote on the fifth nonprofit to be featured and donated to for the anniversary week.
Tasos and Beba truly value community, locally grown food, and local economy. As REV strives to develop a local food distribution system, Ted's Restaurant has proven to be one of our strongest and most loyal supporters, purchasing produce weekly from Alabama Farmers through The Urban Food Project. Therefore, we couldn't be more grateful to have been selected as a non-profit beneficiary of Ted's Anniversary Events to give back to the community. This
partnership will further solidify our mission to make Birmingham a food hub to strengthen Birmingham's food economy,î Taylor Clark of The Urban Food Project, a group that is part of REV Birmingham.
Each nonprofit being featured each day will be encouraging their faithful donors and supporters through social media to visit the local restaurant and eat.
The History of Ted's Birmingham
Tedís Restaurant has been a Southside Birmingham favorite for 40 years. With the original Ted's Cafeteria Restaurant sign still intact, its clock frozen in time, the owners say that the restaurant beckons the city to a time of meat and three goodness.
Tedís opened in 1973 with Ted and Litsa Sarris as the originals owners. The Touloupis bought the restaurant in 2000. The Touloupis said that Mr. Ted worked with them for three months to make sure they followed his recipes and traditions and kept serving good southern food.
"We've honestly tweaked only a very few recipes of his, some things are just great the first time around," Beba said. "Over the years we've added some new ones of our own, but we feel fortunate and blessed to be able to continue Mr. Ted's tradition in this city!"
Ted's has been featured in several publications around the city including B Metro, REV Birmingham, AL.com, and Magic City Made.
They have also played a part in several major culinary events around the city including Break N' Bread, The Gumbo Gala, Corks and Chefs, and many other private functions.
In addition to serving healthy, home cooked meals for lunch and providing an even broader menu for catering corporate events and weddings, the restaurant also serves breakfast every day with a great southern, but still Greek, flare.
The restaurant is located at the corner of 12th Street South and 4th Avenue South and serves breakfast from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.