Duck And Decanter

Duck and Decanter, as it is known today, began In November of 1972 under the new ownership of Dort and Earl Mettler. The original location was on Camelback just east of 16th Street (underneath what is now McDonalds in the Sports Authority center). A large gardennursery surrounded the Duck, providing the ambiance of a park like environment with outside seating on a lawn with rolling hills. The Ducks limited, yet growing menu, consisted of freshly prepared, high quality sandwiches made from unique recipes along with a variety of food including soups, salads and desserts. The popularity of the Duck flourished and so needed to expand. The expansion included additional sandwich bars and provided a greater variety of unique goods by creating separate departments for the wine, coffee and gift baskets in addition to the growing specialty foods and housewares area. The Duck was floating high on a wave, but it was not always an easy tide. In 1981, the property of the original Duck and the adjacent nursery was bought. The Duck received notification that their lease may not be renewed. Later that year the Duck opened a second location at Camelview Plaza (now a part of Scottsdale Fashion Square). This store was opened just in case the lease of the original store was revoked. Also that year former Phoenix Mayor John Driggs approached the Duck regarding the opening of a store in the Carriage House at Heritage Square, an historical landmark. Because of this success, the City of Phoenix invited the Duck to co-lease the Teeter House at the Square with the Central Arizona Museum to establish an indoor eating facility. During 1985, not knowing if the thousands of petitioned signatures of our solid customer base was responsible, the original Duck was saved. New ownership of the Arboleda Office complex agreed to build a brand new Duck south of the original location. At the same time, the Tempe City Center was enticing the Duck into a lease, with promises of dramatic growth and an