Kendricks and Mahilda Douglas have been growing Douglas Eatery since 2019. Their family food truck has become a foodie favorite in Marlboro County.
Photos| Cheris Hodges
BENNETTSVILLE—Douglas Eatery is the epitome of a family business.Depending on when you’ve visited the Douglas Eatery Food Truck, you’ve probably been served by nearly every member of the family.
Kendricks Douglas and his wife, Mahilda, started Douglas Eatery in 2019.
“My wife was baking and I was designing. We started getting into flavoring icing and matching those with different types of events or seasonal flavors. My daughter had to go to a Duke summer program and we had our first bake sale and the turnout was so great. And with the influence of my family, they said take this show on the road. That’s when I purchased a concession trailer, just doing local events and kids parties,” he said. “That spawned into what we do today.”
What Douglas Eatery is today is a brightly colored food truck that serves cupcakes, ice cream, turkey legs, all-beef hot dogs, and specialty lemonades.
When the Douglases started their company, he said people were a little slow to warm to food trucks at different events, but the customers had other ideas. And more events popped up featuring food trucks.
“Once you have a core fanbase, business increases a lot,” he said.
Douglas Eatery is one of the few local food trucks that sell sweets and meats. And at every event, the truck has different options for customers.
Douglas said the gourmet cupcakes are still the eatery’s bestseller. But the turkey legs and the flavored lemonades are a hit as well.
Mahilda Douglas created the popular flavored lemonade. And anytime the Douglas Eatery food truck is out in the S.C. heat, the lemonade flies out the window.
“It caught on kind of fast and a lot of people started trying the product,” he said. “Now, it’s one of our bestsellers.”
Douglas said the food truck is going to turn into a brick-and-mortar store in the near future. He has a space in downtown Bennettsville.
One thing about Douglas Eatery that stands out the most is the family atmosphere. Going to the food truck, you’re probably going to run into his wife, his daughter, his mother, his sisters and aunties.
“It feels great and wonderful,” he said of the support he’s received from his family and the community. “When coming up with a business plan, the last thing you think of is the support or reaching a certain milestone. You’re more concentrating on expanding the business and you never think how easy it can be when you get the support from your city, friends and family. Once they started to help, our goals became a little easier to reach.”
Douglas said he wants to be a part of downtown revitalization and create a place where more locals can be hired and a place for young people to come in and enjoy.