BATON ROUGE — A Baton Rouge staple restaurant is now under new ownership, a report by the Baton Rouge Business Report says.

Louie's Cafe was purchased by Fred Simonson, a longtime employee and general manager, and his wife, Molly River Simonson. The couple purchased the restaurant from Jimmy Wetherford, who had owned it since 1978.

The deal closed Sept. 1. 

Simonson did not disclose the exact price he bought the cafe for but said that it was less than $1 million. 

“We came up with a number that’s fair to all the parties involved. … It wasn’t a seven-figure deal,” Simonson told the Business Report. 

Simonson began working at Louie’s as a dishwasher in 1991 while attending LSU and has spent much of his adult life at the restaurant. His wife is also the front-of-house manager at Elsie’s Plate and Pie. 

Simson says he does not plan to make any major changes to Louie's and also does not plan to reestablish the cafe as 24-hour.