Downtown Barberitos Owners Give Farewell, and More Food News – Flagpole
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Downtown Barberitos Owners Give Farewell, and More Food News
by Sam LipkinJuly 13, 2026
Last week ended with news of two downtown establishments closing on East Clayton Street: Barberitos and Bad Moon. While Bad Moon held its final night over the weekend, the owners of Barberitos said that they’ll be closing the franchise’s first Athens location at the end of the month
Keith Neace, the owner and operator of Barberitos Downtown for the past 20 years, said that he wanted to publish a thank you letter to all of Athens
Dear Athens,Change is inevitable. It’s as certain as death and taxes, and a “wise man” taking credit for saying it. But enough with using an attempt at humor to mask forlorn relatability. With a slightly saddened soul, a false stoic demeanor (we’ve already cried it out), and a clear conscience, we announce that the Neace family will no longer own and operate the original, the one and only, Barberitos in Downtown Athens as of the end of this month.I started working at Barberitos in May of 2000. It seemed appropriate and efficient as I was living downtown and nearly all my classes were on North Campus. Other than for a brief stint training franchisees and opening their locations, I’ve been true to downtown the entire time.This has been my home, and I’m very fortunate downtown Athens has been so incredibly good to me. I lived downtown, I went to school on the edge of downtown, I worked downtown while in school, I got married downtown, we had our reception downtown, we owned a business downtown, and we built a life downtown.In addition to a restaurant and our livelihood, we’ve experienced life in this physical space; all three of our children’s first birthday party, a homebase for so many families during homecoming and Christmas parades, we’ve been a landmark for directions, a downtown industry juggernaut, a firm and willing stepping stone for brilliant employees before they go on to bigger and better things, and place of refuge for kids waiting for a ride to leave downtown when it got a little too intense.As we are a franchise and as ownership has changed, at the end of the month I will no longer have a license to operate the business to which I’ve dedicated my professional life. Before we close the doors and flip the breakers for the last time, I wish to express my appreciation to all of Athens.THANK YOU for the last 26 years! We have been undeniably privileged to epitomize the phrase “living the dream” by running this restaurant in downtown Athens. Any restaurant surviving and thriving for 26 years is rare, especially in an environment as such. When I reflect on what has been accomplished, I’m humbled and truly grateful. For Downing Barber (Barberitos’ founder with whom I worked and from whom I learned so much), for all the bar tenders, bouncers, and service industry who dodged bullets with us on late nights (fa real) and toiled with us in the trenches of Game Day madness, for all the employees who became part of our family throughout the years, for all the other business owners with whom we endured hardships and losses and also celebrated success, for all our beloved customers; for UGA faculty, staff, and instructors who walk the extra distance to patronize our establishment, for all the Law Schoolstudents studying quietly for hours in the lobby, for the courthouse workers we’ve served for years, for the smiles we’ve received and compliments we’ve been paid, for all officers stationed downtown (we always joke you’re here for one of us), for the legion of lawyers, for all of City Hall operating OUR local government, for CCSD for everything you do everyday for the children and families in OUR community and for supporting our family business, for all those whose hands we held when they were new to a participatory concept, for anyone impressed with simple authenticity in food and in people, for parents on college tours who chose to support local business instead of filing like lemmings into homogenized corporate replicas, for those who’ve trusted us and honored us with the opportunity to cater your receptions and birthdays and graduations and special moments in your life, for townies and regulars whose order we know when you walk through our door, for athletes we see only once every year at Twilight or everyday like clockwork because you need real food for fuel, for bands on tour that still comesee us when you’re passing though town because a moment we shared 25 years ago still lingers fondly, for all the families we know who would deliberately go out of their way driving into downtown to support us during COVID times (we truly appreciate your love), for all the parents who trusted us to employ and teach your young, innocent kids, many for their first real job, in a restaurant in downtown Athens (I hope we didn’t corrupt them… too much), for every one of you who deserve credit for educating me or influencing me or helping me, but I will not mention by name because I did not ask your permission and I refuse to drag you into my drama, and for anyone I’m forgetting because the deluge of memories overwhelm me with emotion and my keyboard is blurry… THANK YOU! Thank you for all you’ve given me and my family, and thank you for all you’ve taken away. This balance is essential to our experience. Thank you for being the reason I chose this path, along with the movie Office Space. Thank you for being the reason I chose to stay the course. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your lives. Thank you for the true community. Thank you for the acceptance, the love, and the entire adventure.Most importantly, I need to thank my wife. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for riding shotgun on this insane journey. I didn’t realize when I was younger and self absorbed and was filled with delusions of grandeur, but you are the reason for my hard work and my success. You’re the reason I’m so motivated. You’ve always been the subconscious inspiration that empowers me each day. I love you! Thank you for everything.I’m fond of poems and words crafted to evoke reflection. I thought of closing with any number of quotes about endings and transitions. Most were too dramatic for my sentiment, or too profound to represent a guy who rolls burritos for a living, or just not good enough for the people who will read this. I leave it simple. In the immortal words of Dr. Seuss, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Athens, we love you!Keith Neace and Family
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