Ted’s Restaurant, a Birmingham classic where generations of diners have gathered for meat-and-three lunches served with Southern hospitality and a Greek accent, is celebrating its 50th year in business this week.

And husband-and-wife owners Tasos and Beba Touloupis are commemorating the restaurant’s golden anniversary with new-look Ted’s coffee mugs, T-shirts and sweatshirts, as well as a custom poster of the iconic Ted’s sign.

Also, from June 12 to June 17, proceeds from all dessert sales will benefit three area charities — aTeam Ministries, which provides spiritual, emotional and financial support to children and families fighting pediatric cancer; Blanket Fort Hope, which offers healing and helps restore hope to survivors of child sex trafficking; and ELI Thrive, which helps empower residents of Birmingham’s East Lake community.

RELATED: Through the years at Ted’s Restaurant

The Ted’s Restaurant story began with Ted Sarris, who was born in Tsitalia, Greece, and moved to Birmingham in 1955 to work at his uncle Jim Sarris’ restaurant. Five years later, Ted Sarris — or “Mister Ted,” as customers called him — became the sole owner of Old Hickory Restaurant.

Then, on June 11, 1973, he renamed the business Ted’s Old Hickory Restaurant and moved it to its current location at 328 12th St. South, just east of I-65 and a little north of the UAB campus in what is now known as Birmingham’s Parkside District.

Sarris and his wife, Litsa, who worked the register, ran the restaurant for the next 27 years.

New owners; same Ted’s

Fate intervened when, in 2000, Sarris visited Hoover Country Club to make plans for his upcoming 70th birthday, and met Tasos Touloupis, who was a manager at the club.

They got to talking, and Sarris told Touloupis he was ready to hang up his apron. He suggested that Touloupis, who also came to America from Greece, might want to buy it.

Tasos and Beba had lunch with Sarris at his restaurant a couple of days later, and within a month, on May 15, 2000, they became the new owners of Ted’s.

The Touloupises kept the Ted’s name and many of Sarris’ recipes.

“We kept the name because it was an institution downtown already,” Beba Touloupis said in a 2013 interview with AL.com, on the restaurant’s 40th anniversary. “Everybody knew it as Ted’s. We were not just buying a restaurant and a building; we were buying a history and his customers.”

Now, 23 years after they bought Ted’s, the Touloupises are continuing to build on that history.

“It’s our dedication to our customers and the Birmingham community,” Beba Touloupis says of the restaurant’s longevity. “They are like family to us, and we are constantly looking for ways to better serve them — whether it be cooking up someone’s Saturday morning regular or supporting local charities.”

Ted’s Restaurant is at 328 12th St. South in Birmingham, Ala. Lunch hours are 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; brunch hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. The phone is 205-324-2911. For menus and more information, go here.

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