'A match made in heaven': Iconic Daytona restaurant to open first satellite location

After nearly 50 years as a single-location restaurant, a beloved Daytona Beach eatery is preparing for the ultimate expansion.

Mr. Dunderbak's, a family-owned restaurant known for its Bavarian-style deli foods and variety of nearly 500 craft and imported beers, plans to open its first satellite location at Dunes Brewing in Port Orange.

The collaborative expansion — serving as the first new branch to the Volusia Mall restaurant in its nearly half-century in business — was a “no-brainer,” according to Doug Martin and Michael Benedict. Martin purchased Mr. Dunderbak’s last March with his son, Matt Martin. Benedict co-owns Dunes Brewing alongside Bobby Zitzka and Chris Thompson.

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“I was lucky enough to have someone like Mike contact me,” Martin said. “And it would be good to have something else to go with the mall location … Now we can expand the brand, you know? It’s been sort of pigeonholed in there … This will be much easier to get to and will service a whole different area.”

As times have changed, the iconic Mr. Dunderbak's restaurant has proven to be a constant for generations of frequenting customers, returning time and again for the sandwiches, schnitzel and unbreakable consistency to which it has long been tied. Benedict himself recalls tradition-embedded visits to the eatery throughout his life, first with his mother, and now years later with his own children.

“And I actually worked there in the '90s, so this is really full circle for me,” Benedict smiled.

After an ever-growing influx of food service requests from Dunes Brewing’s customers, the idea for culinary collaboration struck like lightning.

“We started thinking, can we do this, or should we partner with someone?” Benedict began. “And I’ve known Doug forever, so I was like, 'I’ve got to talk to Doug — this is like a match made in heaven. It’s perfect.'”

Mr. Dunderbak's and Dunes Brewing: What to expect

As a nod to Mr. Dunderbak’s nostalgic nature and unparalleled longevity, the new satellite location hopes to embody the very same sentiments customers have long associated with the timeless restaurant in a new, and far more accessible, location beneath the Dunlawton Bridge.

Known as “Dunder Down Under” the expansion will feature a full wrap-around deli and nearly-identical menu to the original eatery, with the addition of several new brewery-appropriate snacks, weekly specials and long-time cuisine requests. A handful of the restaurant’s most popular beer selections will also make their way to the Dunder Down Under location, alongside Dunes Brewing’s own variety of beers, wines, ciders and seltzers.

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Come the expansion, the brewery’s staff will double to roughly 25 bartenders, with a team of eight to 10 rotating staff members at the Dunder Down Under.

According to Benedict, the team plans to take full advantage of the satellite location’s brand-new, 1,100-square-foot kitchen, one he says will be nearly 10 times the limited size of Mr. Dunderbak’s current space, offering greater opportunity for menu expansion, pickup and delivery services, and catering for baby showers, private parties and other special events the brewery is accustomed to hosting.

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“We’ll be adding significant growth (to the kitchen), so that they’ll be able to push more items that are on the menu — like the schnitzel is a great example. It can be pushed more, because now they’ll have more than one fryer,” Benedict said.

“And we’ll have amazing catering opportunities, so that’ll be a whole new path to explore.”

Customers will be able to place their orders with one of the brewery’s many servers or bartenders, from their phones, or at the kiosk, where they’ll then receive a text message notifying them when their meal is ready.

Bringing a new generation down under

For Martin and Benedict, bringing Mr. Dunderbak’s to Dunes Brewing is more than simply an expansion, it's an opportunity to introduce the iconic mall restaurant to a new generation — one accustomed to the convenience of online shopping, who's lost interest in rack-by-rack retail therapy, and perhaps never stepped foot in what was once Daytona's local retail hub.

According to the duo, it’s the perfect marriage of two entirely unique customer bases in one historic location: The Down Under District.

Nestled below the Dunlawton Bridge, the secluded business community is home to a handful of unshakable Port Orange staples, including Our Deck Down Under seafood restaurant, Dairy Bar ice cream shop, Jimmy Hula’s and, of course, Dune’s Brewing.

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“(The Down Under community) has only been getting stronger, so ‘Dunder Down Under’ just made perfect sense,” Benedict said.

“It also allowed Doug and Matt and his team to have a little bit of separation from Dunderbak's — not that it's going to be much different, but it is going to have its own opportunity to explore the menu further … and it's really complementary; it fits in, you know? It’s another great thing that’s come down to the Down Under.”

Looking ahead: Opening date and more to come

Down the road, phase two of the expansion will include several new additions to the brewery, including a private event space available for booking for parties of 20-25 that will lead to a quaint outdoor beer garden, Benedict tells me.

Although no official opening date has been announced, Benedict and Martin plan to tentatively open the Dunder Down Under by the end of this summer, with the hope of being fully operational by the brewery’s Oktoberfest celebration.

“The staff (at Dunderbak's) is consistent, and it’s not just a job — you can tell. Everyone’s having fun and it's enjoyable, which is why you want to go back,” Benedict said.

“So, I’m very excited about bringing that aspect here to the brewery … This is a local place, so bringing in a local favorite was just a no-brainer.”

Dune’s Brewing is located at 59 Dunlawton Ave., Unit 102, in Port Orange and is open 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Monday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Friday – Saturday and 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday. For information call, 386-872-4007 or visit dunesbrewing.com.

Mr. Dunderbak's is located at 1700 W. International Speedway Blvd., Unit 210, at the Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach and is open 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday – Saturday and noon – 6 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 386-258-1600 or visit mrdunderbaks.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Mr Dunderbak's Daytona restaurant to expand at Dunes Brewing