Blake Shelton’s Ole Red is heading south! The singer announces a new Ole Red restaurant will open in Orlando, Florida in early 2020.
“We’ve brought Ole Red to some of my favorite places, and I’m excited to have another spot for country music fans to have fun with their friends and family,” Shelton says in a statement. “I think it’s impossible to visit Orlando and not have a good time, and that’s why I know Ole Red is going to fit right in.”
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Ole Red will be located in the ICON Orlando 360 development. The new venue will be two stories, covering approximately 15,000 square feet, and seating around 500 people.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ole Red to the complex,” said Cindy Campbell-Taylor, Vice-President of marketing, sales and public affairs at ICON Orlando 360. “We look forward to providing an additional dining and entertainment option for our visitors and locals alike.”
The new Ole Red will be Shelton’s fourth restaurant. He already has one in Tishomingo, Okla., and Nashville, and will open his third in Gatlinburg, Tenn. in early 2019.
“We are delighted to expand the Ole Red dining and live country music experience to the top tourism destination in the country,” says Colin Reed, Chairman and CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties. “The development site we have identified is in a prime entertainment zone that will put the Ole Red brand in front of the more than 70 million people who visit Orlando each year.”
Shelton’s Ole Red in Music City reminds the singer of how far he has come since moving to Nashville from Oklahoma right after high school.
“There was Tootsies and Roberts, and there was Printers Alley,” Shelton recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow. How did those guys get that gig? I’d love to have that gig, at Tootsies. I wonder who they know. I wonder if I can meet that person. I wonder if I would be good enough.’ It seemed like a hill I could never get over, just to get worked into the circle of guys that were playing the honky tonks down here back then.”
Shelton will soon once again return as a coach on The Voice, a position he’s held ever since the show’s debut in 2011.
“I didn’t realize that most people in this country had never, ever heard of me, at all, or heard my music,” Shelton tells Sunday TODAY. “And it wasn’t until I got on The Voice as a coach that I realized, ‘Man, I am nobody.’ I remember the first time or two they introduced us on the stage. … The Voice changed everything for me, and I mean everything.”
Information on all of the Ole Red locations can be found at OleRed.com.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Jason Kempin
