Business & Tech

Doing it Fresh for More Than 50 Years

The Berkowitz family opened the first Duchess restaurant in Bridgeport and added the Monroe location in 1984

Cooks turned hotdogs on the griddle and flipped burgers, while fries sizzled in oil as the Duchess' staff prepared orders for the lunchtime crowd on Friday afternoon. Outside the building, cars, trucks and SUVs waited their turn at the drive-thru window.

Lou Berkowitz, 57, of Redding, whose family started the Connecticut chain over 50 years ago, watched the action from a side wall.

"Lunch is the busiest time for all fast food places," he said, before adding after a pause, "Some just call it really fast food."

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National and international chains such as McDonald's, which is vying to build a second store in town on Main Street, have different business models than Duchess, Berkowitz proudly points out.

"The concept of Duchess today, I feel, is totally unique in the area," he said, sitting in a booth late Friday morning. "When you order chicken, it's not frozen or processed. We cut a 10-pound chicken breast, fillet it and bread it twice a day. Nobody does that."

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"They say it tastes better," Berkowitz said of his customers. "But they don't know why. They just know when they give a chicken nugget to their children, they're giving them something better."

Since Berkowitz's father, Harold, and uncle, Jack Berkowitz, bought Maraczi's, a "shack" selling hotdogs and hamburgers, on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport in 1956, the chain that became known as Duchess grew to 15 locations, including the Park City, Monroe, Shelton, Ansonia, Stratford, Orange, Milford, Naugatuck, Wallingford, Darien, Norwalk and two in both Fairfield and Danbury.

The Orange and Naugatuck restaurants are franchises and the other 13 are owned by the Berkowitz family.

Growing a restaurant chain can be a learning experience, sometimes through trial and error. Berkowitz once had a Duchess in the Sand Hill Plaza in Newtown, but it didn't stick.

"We made the mistake of going without a drive-thru," he recalled. "It's something the public demands."

Just drop the 'T'

Berkowitz's grandfather, also named Louis, was a Hungarian immigrant who owned a small grocery store on Brewster Street in Bridgeport and his two sons, Harold and Jack, were inseparable.

In 1946, the brothers bought Frankie's Diner on Barnum Avenue in Bridgeport together.

A decade later, they bought Maraczi's, which Berkowitz said was similar to Rawley's on the Post Road in Fairfield, but with no seating. However, many years would pass before Maraczi's name was changed to Duchess.

The first Duchess restaurant is still stands around what's known as The Circle on the Post Road in Fairfield.

How did it get it's name?

Harold and Jack Berkowitz were looking at buying a diner in Dutchess County at the same time they were closing on their first Fairfield restaurant. They needed to put a name on the paperwork, so Lou Berkowitz said they decided to drop the "T" from the Dutchess in Dutchess County.

Maraczi's gradually followed suit, first becoming Maraczi's Duchess before the original name was dropped altogether.

The Duchess fast food chain grew from there.

A family business

A well-known fast food giant once offered to buy Duchess, but the Berkowitz family declined to sell, according to Lou Berkowitz.

Lou Berkowitz first became involved in his family's business at age 15.

"I worked at the diner and the Duchess," he recalled. "I was in the kitchen doing food preparation."

Berkowitz had not originally planned to take over his family's business. He graduated Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration in 1978. But when none of the job offers piqued his interest, his father suggested he work with him for six months until the market changed.

Nearly 33 years later, Berkowitz is still heavily involved in running Duchess.

Unfrozen in Connecticut

Though Duchess is a household name in Connecticut, it's growth has been confined within the Nutmeg State's borders. It has considered going national before and Berkowitz said investment bankers approach him about it all the time.

The very business model that has served Duchess so well is actually what's holding it back, according to Berkowitz.

"The chain restaurants all get the food in frozen," he said. "There's no real preparation. It's microwaved. We make fresh food."

For instance, Duchess' buns are delivered from Chaves Bakery in Bridgeport and the restaurant staff prepares its own onion rings and homemade soups.

If Duchess expands to another state, a new food distribution would have to be set up there, Berkowitz said of one hurdle Duchess would have to clear.

"That's why national chains freeze their food," he said. "Duchess is unique in the restaurant market place. There are individual places that serve hamburgers and hotdogs, but not a family owned business that goes head-to-head with the national chains."

Berkowitz is not giving up on the idea of going national, but in the meantime, he's content with expanding Duchess' menu. Big Deli Sandwiches served on thick wheatberry bread were recently added, as well as wraps.

While most fast food places offer three basic items and seven sub-items, Berkowitz said about 50 different choices populate Duchess' menu.

"We're the first with a variety of food," Berkowitz said. "We have a turkey burger, a tuna sandwich and blueberry pancakes. Where else can you get that?

 


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