Driving Our Economy Forward: White Duck Taco
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — In this week’s Driving Our Economy Forward, we’re checking out a new local business bringing fresh flavor and community energy to Chattanooga. White Duck Taco, co-owned by longtime residents, is blending Asheville-inspired eats with a vision for neighborhood connection and creative events. From movie nights to nonprofit partnerships, they’re aiming to make their space more than just a restaurant — but a true community hub.
“So, Adam and Stephen, Lutz had found this building, and we were looking to open up a brewery and then Adam originally grew up in Asheville. He’s lived in Chattanooga for about 15 years. I’ve lived in Chattanooga about 20 years. But we were thinking about a cool food concept to attach to our brewery, and he’s like, well, what if we could get white duck here? And what if we could brought a part of Asheville to Chattanooga? So many people in Chattanooga loved traveling to Asheville. What if we brought a little piece of Asheville to Chattanooga?” said Nelson Taylor, Co-Owner, White Duck Taco.
“I become. I’ve been cooking for over ten years. And, I’m glad to be here to open this place up in Chattanooga. So I’ll just come out and show some support, and hopefully I can add a little flavor to the city,” said Christian Romaine, White Duck Taco, Kitchen Lead.
“We’re actually opening the White Duck before opening the brewery, but hoping to open the brewery later this year and hoping to announce the branding and name on that, in about a month or so. Day one, we did about 500 people. So, it was really good to see people in this space. Anytime you do a new concept, the fear is, you know, will people show up? Yeah. And they did, in the masses. So, it was great to see it, great to see people sitting in the space we’ve been working on for about three years now. We’re also have future plans of doing a stage outside on our green area, where we look to partner up with local musicians to do concerts out there. We’ll have a big, LED screen out there, so we’ll do movie nights for the family, concerts, sporting events. Also, try to do some, partnerships with local nonprofits to do big events with them. Actually, just met with, a couple people in here today with the main society to do an event with them. So, we’re just trying to be good neighbors and really get connected to the neighborhood as we’re getting started here. Really? Everything about this place, we’re trying to just embrace local. I live in here in Highland Park, less than a mile away, over even the last two days, we’ve gotten to meet all the local people from Highland Park and Orchard Knob over here. And we’re trying to support this neighborhood. And even, like, local artists are one of our people that work here,” said Taylor.
“So, I’m an Orchard Knob resident and we are super excited to have White Duck Taco here. This is one of the only walkable spaces that we can come eat and drink and bring kids and dogs, I think. And I really think white duck will be a catalyst for flourishing in Orchard Knob. And I’m super excited to see what else comes,”said Liz Bounds, Neighborhood Resident.
“In the next couple weeks, we’re really trying to activate the space, start doing events, start doing, you know, trivia nights, start having some live music in here. Partnering with nonprofits. It’d be a good time to get everybody in here and really see the space activated,” said Taylor.
