EST. OUR BEGINNINGS 2004
THE QUEST THAT STARTED IT ALL
OUR STORY
“There weren’t many cheesesteak places in Charlotte. So I thought, let’s do something different from everyone else.”
Duckworth’s opened its first restaurant in Mooresville, NC in September, 2004 following a trip to Philadelphia, PA where we visited just about every Philly shop in town and ate Cheesesteaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner (literally) for 3 days. The objective of that trip was to get an idea of what’s done in the Cheesesteak capital then come back to NC to create our own twist on that.
Because Duckworth’s had no working restaurant we teamed up with a foodservice distributor in Hickory, NC (Institution Food House) where we used their commercial kitchen to test our recipes, cook times and various ingredients. It helped that this kitchen was at their corporate offices where we were able to test our menu items by providing lunch to the staff that worked there every day we were there practicing. This went on for about 12 months and was a great way for us to learn our way around the kitchen. (and the staff loved the free food too!)
“We weren’t a franchise, and we didn’t have anyone to teach us. We literally worked 9 to 5 every day during the week to create the menu.”
After about a year of testing we were ready to put our menu together, which consisted of about 18 Philly Cheesesteaks/Subs, Fresh Cut Fries and Ice Cream (yes, ice cream). So, on September 16, 2004, Duckworth’s was born.
Nearly a year after opening we realized that ice cream wasn’t too popular for us so we replaced our ice cream bar with a beer bar, which offered 19 taps—that was the beginning of what would become our entry into the draft beer world.
As time progressed there became a demand for a wider selection of menu items so we added many new items over time, as you can see from our menu today. We also doubled our draft beer selection to 40 taps and expanded our bar and dining room areas to meet the demand.
Today, we offer more draft beers than ever before and have opened up additional Duckworth’s locations. We still operate with the same philosophy—to create simple, non-pretentious menu items that taste great and offer superb beer selections that contain unique and rare beers that can’t be found just anywhere.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story- we hope to see you soon.
Cheers!