A year ago today, Duke’s Bar-B-Que caught fire. It’s been closed ever since. Daily progress is being made towards the reopening of a local favorite franchise that started more than 45 years ago and now has 14 South Carolina locations. On Friday afternoon, owner Christian Judy, conducted a Facebook Live tour of the new place.
Generations of customers weighed in during the FB session and many others have been on social media platforms in the past few months, about what they would like to see and taste in the upcoming Duke’s. Judy has listened to those comments.
“First, we opted to stay where we were at 4248 Whiskey Road in Aiken, but because of the traffic, I mean how many times have you almost been rear-ended on Whiskey Road? We are making a new entrance to come in on the back of the property on Crosby Road, which should be safer for our guests,” explained Judy.
Sometimes bigger is better
In accommodating customer requests as Duke’s is being rebuilt, here is the 411 on what their fans can look forward to when they reopen.
- Outdoor dining
“We’re pretty excited about this. Lots of folks equate BBQ with being outdoors. The new outdoor dining space will be able to seat between 60 – 75 people.”
- Larger bathrooms
Who knew the loo would be a request from customers? “Before, we had one bathroom, now, we will have two and they are large.”
- Curb Side Pickup
“We didn’t have a separate space for that in our original building, but we will have going forward. Duke’s will encourage online ordering for curbside pickup. We are looking at more efficient ways to meet our customers’ desires.”
- Inside dining space
The original Duke’s seated 145 guests. A larger dining room will accommodate almost double the number of diners, seating about 250. “We also added handwashing stations right before the buffet.”
- Private dining room
A private dining room is being added that will seat around 30 to 40 people, which would probably work great for business meetings.
- Catering
“We are hoping to double our capacity for catering to handle up to feeding 2000 for family gatherings to corporate events.”
Now, for the meat of the issue. Duke’s will be adding a soup and salad bar, more meat selections, sides, and desserts. Those will include chicken and dumplings, catfish, and more smoked items.
“When we listened to what our customers had to say, they loved our side dishes available on the buffet, but they said the BBQ was just ‘Ok.’ We brought in a charcoal smoker instead of cooking with gas, which should make the meat juicier, more tender, and tastier.”
Duke’s will also be offering a Senior discount and even though the buffet price is going up slightly, tax and drinks are included in the $16 cost. The hours will also change to accommodate their staff.
“We will be opening a little later on Sundays for our staff to attend church services. Taking care of our staff and our customers is important to Duke’s. One of the things we’ve missed most in the past year has been the lack of being able to support our community through fundraisers and the like.”
Just as cooking good barbecue is not a rush job, neither has been the rebuilding and reopening process for Duke’s. They’ve had to order almost all new equipment because of smoke and water damage. Judy is still waiting on an electrical panel, but as many area businesses can relate, there is a supply chain challenge.
When will Duke’s reopen? Judy had nothing but praise for Dogwood Construction and Rock Creek Land Development, but they are all working as a team to make sure everything is in place before opening the doors to feed their generations of customers.
The bottom line is that Duke’s Bar-B-Que won’t open their doors until they are ready to offer quality barbecue and customer service and that may not be until the fall. You can visit their Facebook page for updates.
Editor’s Note:
Mitzi Oxford is a veteran broadcaster and features writer who also worked at the same television station in Columbus, Georgia as Augusta’s Brad Means!
If you have a South Carolina story idea for Mitzi, please email her at mitzioxfordcreative@gmail.com.
