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BUSINESS OF LIFE

This is a sampling of stories from the Business Journal’s weekly Restaurant Roundup email. Subscribe at wilmingtonbiz.com.

Indochine Express set for Monkey Junction

Solange “Niki” Thompson, owner of Indochine, plans to open a satellite location of her popular Market Street restaurant this fall.

Indochine Express will be located in the former Chop’s Deli spot off South College Road, just opposite of Wal-Mart in Monkey Junction.

Thompson said she has been looking for a satellite location for some time, and always had Monkey Junction in mind.

She said she believes takeout and delivery will play a pivotal role in the future of the restaurant industry, making now a great time to move forward with an additional location with that as its primary focus.

Thompson credits her dedicated employees with allowing her to move forward with these plans.

“It’s truly a very organized, welloiled machine and I’m very grateful to my wonderful staff.”

Renovations are now underway at the new location, and pending permits and inspections, Thompson hopes to be open in about eight weeks.

Indochine Express will serve all of the restaurant’s most popular Thai and Vietnamese dishes, including a variety of curries, Pad Ki Mao and Pad Thai. - Jessica Maurer

Castle Street restaurant Rx reopens for dining in

It’s been more than five months since James Doss and his wife, Sarah Rushing Doss, made the decision to close Rx Restaurant on March 15 because of COVID-19.

Rather than remain open and do to-go orders only, they wanted to protect those they employed. “Our staff is our first concern,” Rushing Doss said. “We chose to close down completely instead of doing takeout ... [and] cut our expenses as much as possible.”

Rx, 421 Castle St., received a Paycheck Protection Program loan, so the Dosses used their time off to figure out how to operate the restaurant with new safety protocols in place and ensure economic viability.

They reopened Aug. 27 and had also instituted a family-style takeout program, using a new pig cooker to prepare a whole hog and offer Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue and sides.

The post also noted that Rx will have limited to-go items from its regular restaurant menu. So far, it will offer chicken wings, pimento cheese and ham. Rushing Doss will post it on their website as soon as it’s updated.

They have also started building an outdoor dining area to double the amount of people they can serve.

New chef at Boca Bay brings back Sunday Funday

Every Sunday for more than a decade, Boca Bay had been a brunch hotspot in Wilmington, serving upward of 300 people in a mere five hours.

The restaurant and its famed brunch buffet—packed with waffles, sausage, blintzes, even a madeto-order omelet station—went on hiatus once COVID-19 hit the U.S. in March. Even when Boca Bay reopened under Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order in phase two, the owners had to re-evaluate what Sundays would look like.

“We removed the buffet since customers use common serving utensils and dispensers, as they move through the [line],” said Kevin Jennings, who, with his wife, Stacey, owns Boca Bay under the Urban Food Group umbrella. “However, the outreach for us to keep our brunch going was so strong, we knew we needed to come up with a different plan.”

So they hired Chef Dean Bauer to oversee the 2025 Eastwood Road eatery. First on his agenda: Bring back Sunday Funday with an a la carte menu, featuring 15 new items, including asparagus strudel, chicken and waffles and smoked corn and lobster chowder, among others ($6-$28). The menu also includes $2 mimosas.

A culinary arts graduate from Schenectady County Community College, Bauer has worked in hospitality since age 19, including at Wilmington’s Beau Rivage and Carolina Beach’s Marriott. He took the helm at Boca Bay in June.

Bauer also is sharpening Boca’s sea-faring palate, with the goal of making it “the most vibrant and exciting seafood restaurant in Wilmington.” - Shea Carver

| BUSINESS OF LIFE |

Bakery gets a taste for success

BY SHEA CARVER

When Brian Dickey opened Sweet D’s Cuisine, a bakery located at 2321 S. 17th St. in the old Priddyboy’s location, he thought he would be able to ease into its operations.

Between the pandemic curtailing a lot of normal foot traffic at local businesses and depending on wordof-mouth to draw in customers, a soft opening seemed reasonable for Aug. 1.

By the end of the second week being open to the public, Dickey realized he needed to hire a general manager sooner rather than later. He couldn’t oversee front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house and keep within his expectations of stellar customer service.

“My wife couldn’t believe it when I told her during the first week of service how busy we were,” he said with a laugh. “She took off work the second week to help out and see for herself. Customer response went above our expectations.”

By Aug. 22, Sweet D’s was churning out 200 dozen sweet croissants a day – not to mention other treats, like mini pies, cupcakes, cake pops, homemade ice cream and milkshakes.

Local hospital and medical industry workers, immediate neighbors of the bakery, were the first to show support. Once social media caught the sugar rush, it sent the bakery viral among locals.

“The day I signed the lease on this property, I had a feeling it was going to do well,” Dickey said. “I knew God was going to look over me and make this happen – but I had no idea it was going to be this popular. I just wanted to offer something sweet to people during these hard times we are facing as a nation.”

On Aug. 28, the bakery’s sales tripled after local TV station WECT ran a story that garnered 87,000 views. The bakery had to enforce a one-dozen limit per customer for the rest of the day until they could restock their product.

Sweet D’s traction keeps gaining strength, too, as folks stop in daily to ask about posts they see from the business’s Facebook page. Staff constantly promote something decadent and tempting for customers. Almost always, first-time inquiries become repeats.

“These things are addicting,” said

PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER Family business: Sweet D’s Cuisine, a bakery on South 17th Street, specializes in filled croissants and other sweet treats. Pictured are owner Brian Dickey (right) and his wife, Shante Dickey (left), with their children Nyla Dickey (from left), Julian Hilliard and Gabriel Dickey.

one gentleman upon entering the bakery. “I’m already a return customer – and I was just here yesterday.”

“What’s your specialty?” another asked.

“The cream-cheese filled croissants,” Dickey answered. “But we also have specialty items every weekend; this weekend it’s all Oreo-flavored.”

Sweet D’s croissants come either plainly glazed or stuffed with various fillings, like chocolate, lemon, raspberry, blueberry, apple-caramel, Bavarian cream, white cream, strawberry cream cheese and so on. They serve them coated in cinnamon and powdered sugar, as well as offer specialties like chocolate-covered banana-filled, vanilla-covered strawberry-filled and maple-bacon.

“My sister started us on this journey 10 years ago,” Dickey said. “We’d always stop in Whiteville at Darel’s, [another bakery that specializes in sweet croissants]. We felt a place like that would do great in Wilmington.”

Dickey hired a professional food company to develop and perfect their dough recipe, so it’s crispy on the outside, with a flaky yet soft crumb, and perfectly sweetened by its glaze. His 20-plus person staff pump all fillings to order.

“Making sure everything is fresh is how we stand apart,” Dickey said.

No stranger to hard work, Dickey’s entrepreneurial spirit gained its footing more than a decade ago. He started Gifted Hands Services, a cleaning company that employs 32 people. During COVID the company had larger cleaning contracts – Lowe’s Home Improvement and UNCW, among them – which helped finance the opening of Sweet D’s.

Branching out into the restaurant industry has been a dream of Dickey’s since youth. In fact, the name of the bakery comes from his mother, Dee, and father, who went by the disc jockey name “Sweet D” on 1490 AM.

“My mother had a restaurant when I was younger in the Seabreeze/ Carolina Beach area,” Dickey said. “I can remember her making shrimp burgers and hamburgers. Also, my grandfather was a good cook – he fed 13 kids daily. I’d watch him and my grandmother make homemade biscuits, but he would never tell me the recipe. He just said, ‘You gotta do it and feel the dough.’”

Dickey already envisions Sweet D’s evolving into a savory restaurant down the road. He also plans to expand the sweets menu to include gluten-free items.

Taking in customer feedback is important, too, and being community-inclusive, Dickey said.

“We have talked about starting a book club for kids,” he said, “so every time a child finishes reading a book, we give them … something sweet. We think it’s important to reward hard work.”

If the success of his first bakery is any indication, growing into a second, even third location seems like a natural next step. “Franchising is a possibility,” Dickey confirmed. “It’s something I’ve already considered. People are coming in from Charlotte and Raleigh, asking if we would open a Sweet D’s in their city. It’s been truly amazing.”