New Owners Maintain What Has Made Ginger Brown’s So Special

For nearly four decades, Ginger Brown served her famous giant cinnamon rolls and other delights at the Lake Worth restaurant that bore her name.

When health challenges forced her to retire last year, she entrusted Mazen Haddad and his family to continue her legacy. After all, they already owned and managed four successful restaurants nearby. 

The Haddads include patriarch Mazen, wife Summer and sons Moe and Shady. They currently own the Benbrook Café in Benbrook, JR’s Café in Saginaw, and Moe’s Cafés in River Oaks and Azle. Shady manages Moe’s in Azle, Summer runs Benbrook, and Moe guides Ginger Brown’s Old Tyme Restaurant and Bakery and Moe’s in River Oaks while Mazen has his hand on the pulse of Jr’s Cafe in Saginaw. 

Since taking over the 175-seat facility, the Haddads have pretty much kept Ginger Brown’s just like it was under its founder. That includes retaining the vintage photos, miniature jukeboxes at every table and most of the staff, including long-time servers Lulu and Joyce Smith. 

“We kept everything,” said 43-year-old son Moe. “We have other menus at our other locations, but we just kept it as it was at Ginger Brown’s. We just wanted to keep it as is and tweak where we can.”

In addition to the cinnamon rolls, Ginger Brown’s has been known for its outstanding pancakes, chicken fried steak, Chicken 4 Ever tenders, and banana pudding. The home-cooked meals are served diner style. Customers have their choice of eating at the diner or ordering online for pickup. 

“There’s a facade of cookie jars that have accumulated all the years the place has been here,” Moe said. “At holiday time we have boxed orders of cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls. If you want to see madness, it’d be trying to keep up with the cinnamon roll orders at holiday.”

Brown followed in her father’s footsteps as a restaurant owner, beginning as a cook in the family’s Odessa restaurants at age 12. She opened Ginger Brown’s Old Tyme Restaurant and Bakery eight years later in 1986 at age 20 after securing a loan to buy some leftover equipment from a J.C. Penney Company department store coffee shop. 

She told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1988 that one of their cooks developed the recipes for the cinnamon rolls and bread. 

The elder Haddad, now age 65, was a general manager for Denny’s and IHOP for nine years before taking the entrepreneurial plunge in 1996. He started in the restaurant business washing dishes in 1979. 

Ginger Brown’s Old Tyme Restaurant and Bakery hosts a large regular clientele. Moe Haddad and his 20-person staff also handle catering for birthday and holiday parties and business meetings for up to 200 people.

“I’ve noticed customers who come in who were babies when they first came here and now bring their babies,” Moe said. “That’s three generations of people.

“There was one guy who recently came in on his birthday who said we had waited on him as a baby and now he is seven feet tall.”

Ginger Brown’s is open Monday through Friday from 6 am until 3 pm, and 

6 am – 4 pm on weekends. While the restaurant remains open for breakfast and lunch as it has since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Haddads are considering re-opening for dinner. 

Visit gingerbrowns.com for more information and ordering options. 

Come join the many satisfied new and past customers. “We’ve had a great first year and are extremely happy to be here,” Moe said.