WILMINGTON — After two years serving customers in Wilmington, a Cargo District cidery is undergoing a change in the new year.
READ MORE: Bull City Ciderworks opens Wilmington’s first standalone cidery
Bull City Ciderworks at 615 S. 17th St. will become Tides Taproom by January and come early spring, if all goes according to plan, it also will house a new restaurant, Zeke’s Smash.
Founded in Durham, Bull City Ciderworks started more than a decade ago with five partners, which has dwindled today to three: CEO John Clowney, AJ Nelson and Ben Ingold. AJ moved from Durham to Wilmington in summer 2023 to look over the Port City location — one of many ciderworks, including Durham, Greensboro, Cary and Lexington.
“As I was talking with John and Ben, I had the idea of creating a separate branded store for myself and doing something a little bit different,” AJ said on a phone call Wednesday.
Operationally, he added, it made sense for him to take over Wilmington’s location, as it’s the farthest store from the other four taprooms, all located less than 100 miles from each other. According to Clowney, Bull City Ciderworks is also seeing an uptick in production and distribution; freeing up operations in Wilmington allows more energy to be put toward grocery and retail products.
The other Bull City Ciderworks locations will remain open but the Wilmington store will have its last official day on Nov. 30.
The Tides Taproom will open in the early year and have its own local brand of alcohol created under Tides Beverage Co. Filling its 24 taps will be various craft beers, as well as hard ciders, seltzers, lemonades and teas.
“And I’m still going to be working with John and the manufacturing that Bull City does to provide many of the products we’re going to be making under Tides,” AJ explained.
All Tides products can be purchased in the taproom only and if its growth warrants it, later down the road AJ may consider distributing to retail. He’s also toying with the idea to create a non-alcoholic beverage, if the community shows a need for it. In fact, the customers at Tides will be a driving force of the product lines and flavors served in the taproom.
“From a manufacturer perspective, we can really produce almost anything,” AJ said.
All ABC permits will remain so cocktails will continue on the menu as well. But AJ is most excited about providing alcoholic options others haven’t seen in the area.
“It’s pretty rare, in my experience — at least that I’ve seen — that you would find hard teas or lemonades on tap,” he said.
He’s bringing in his brother, Kyle — now in the process of moving from Winston-Salem — to run Zeke’s Smash. The restaurant will be located in the front portion of the building, facing the street.
Its menu consists of simple pub fare: build-your-own smashburgers (beef and turkey) and dogs, maybe chicken sandwiches eventually, as well as shoestring fries and cheese curds. There will be plenty of toppings to choose from — the standards of lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickle but also specialty sauces, fun proteins like egg, mushrooms, chili, etc.
Kyle also wants to do daily specials, such as wings on Sunday or Taco Tuesdays.
Though two separate businesses, they’re located under one roof; each will serve all clientele no matter where they are in the building. The restaurant will be counter service or customers can order digitally from a QR code.
Most importantly, Kyle has built into the business model charitable give-back. Zeke’s Smash is named after the son of family friends, whose 5-year-old is going through treatments for Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia — a rare cancer.
“He has treatments at Duke, and to put into scope how rare it is, I believe he was their either sixth or eighth case,” Kyle said.
Kyle did scientific research in cancer biology while studying at Wake Forest University. He has degrees in the science field and said a portion of proceeds from the restaurant’s sales will be donated to charities that deal with juvenile cancer.
He also has other ideas baking to create more support around families dealing with a cancer diagnoses. Kyle wants to highlight a family of the month whose child is being treated for cancer and may be in financial need, taking donations for them via QR codes posted around the restaurant.
“I don’t have a name for it yet,” he said, “but the QR code would take scanners to their story and a link to donate $1 or more pretty quickly. … If we, in some way, shape or form, can help raise a little money to help these families out, every little bit helps.”
He also wants to make Tides and Zeke’s a home for a St. Baldrick’s fundraiser, the nonprofit behind the shave-your-head in solidarity with kids battling cancer. Kyle has participated three times and raised several thousand for the organization.
“My goal is to eventually be able to bring an annual large-scale funding event like that to Wilmington,” he said.
Before working in science, Kyle had been immersed in the restaurant industry for 16 years and loved the fast-paced nature of the business. He oversaw every facet of the food industry previously, from bus boy to line cook, waiter to server, and even was preparing to become a chef at one point.
“I just realized that I was never going to make any good money at it,” he said.
So he went back into a field that aligned with his major. Yet, two weeks ago, Kyle left his job working for a CDMO that makes medical devices and products.
“When I left the restaurant industry last time, I said the next time I came back I would own my own restaurant,” he said.
He hopes to hire upward of 17 people to run Zeke’s Smash, which plans to open for lunch and dinner. Operating hours are still being worked out. However, the goal is to make it “warm and inviting,” AJ said, for friends and family to grab a drink, a bite and be entertained.
There will be more TVs added, giving it a sports bar feel, and there is skeeball, cornhole and darts.
“But I’m basing it off of bars in the Midwest,” AJ said, adding the pub culture in that area often includes games. “A lot of games are involved around dice and there’s other table games, but not board games.”
There won’t be live music, as AJ said there are plenty of venues that offer as much and do it better; nor will food trucks set up on site since a restaurant is being built into the business.
The taproom will open first as only cosmetic changes are needed: switching out logos and branding and having new murals created by Marissa Glace. Then Tides will open as construction on the restaurant takes place — designed by architect Rob Romero and Cargo District developer Leslie Smith overseeing the build-out.
A sendoff party for the current Bull City Ciderworks is scheduled for Nov. 30 with live music, games, trivia and sales on to-go items. AJ takes it over Dec. 1, with the announcement of Tides grand opening soon thereafter.
“In my mind, it’s about customers having a memorable and lasting experience when they’re there,” AJ said. “Nothing else really matters.”
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