Morgan County Bicentennial: Gray Bros. Cafeteria’s legacy endures for more than 70 years

Editor's note: In 2022, both Morgan County and the city of Martinsville will celebrate their bicentennial. This year, the Reporter-Times is publishing a series of stories in celebration of the 200th birthdays for both Morgan County and Martinsville. This story is the fourth part in that series.

MOORESVILLE — You would be hard pressed to find someone in Mooresville, or central Indiana for that matter, who does not know about Gray Bros. Cafeteria. The restaurant has offered delicious family recipes for over 70 years, and is still going strong today.

Zach Gray, the manager of the restaurant and son of owner Merrill Gray, said the majority of the men in his family were involved in the operation in some way.

"All the brothers." Gray said. "We just take mom's recipes and grandma's recipes."

The family-owned restaurant, located at 555 S. Indiana St, Mooresville, has been open since the 1940s, and has managed to stay strong despite many setbacks due to COVID.

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The restaurant, which used to be open every day, recently had to begin closing on Mondays, even though they were still in high demand, and closed their takeout line as well.

Zach Gray attributed the closure to lack of employees to cover the shifts needed to keep the takeout line open and the restaurant fully staffed all week.

"That's a bad thing, because we're usually busy on that day," Gray said. "It's hard to find employees. They're really hard to come by. It's hard to work the people we have so many days without killing them."

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The main food service line will accommodate takeout orders for the foreseeable future.

"We don't have enough people to run it on both sides," Gray added. "But really we do the same amount of business as when it was open. If we get more staffing I could see us definitely opening it back up."

However, Gray added he was grateful for the customers, both new and regulars, who have been coming in and supporting the restaurant, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

"In the past year you've definitely seen more people come in, you've seen more and more of their faces," Gray said. "Even though it's been Covid the past two years, the past year really has been overwhelmingly busy still. It's been great."

"The impact from COVID has really been the short-staffing and trying to adjust to it." Gray added. "Definitely a lot of community support. You see locals come through quite a bit."

Gray noted his favorite aspect of the restaurant was knowing the food was satisfying to the customers.

"It's satisfying seeing the customer's face and enjoyment with their families," Gray said. "It's been challenging, but we definitely have adjusted to that every day."

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While Gray Bros. offers a wide array of items in the restaurant, it is arguably most famous for its pies.

In fact, the business is part of the Hoosier Pie Trail, along with the Martinsville Candy Kitchen, with the Indiana Foodways Alliance.

To contact Gray Bros. for catering, or to inquire about job opportunities, contact Billy Beasley at 317-831-7234.

Contact Reporter-Times reporter Grace Phillips at gphillips@reporter-times.com or at 765-346-4815

This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Mooresville Gray Brothers Cafeteria's legacy endures over 70 years