DE.CO food hall has transformed part of the historic DuPont Building on Wilmington’s Rodney Square into an open food hall with a bar, an event space and vendors selling pastries, Vietnamese pho and Indian street food.
DE.CO, which officially opens Thursday, is billing itself as a “launchpad” for chefs. The $5-million Buccini/Pollin Group (BPG) project is similar to R. House in Baltimore, which features a pop-up space that hosts a new chef every few weeks.
Peter DiPrinzio is with Seawall Development, the company behind R. House that BPG hired to bring vendors to DE.CO. DiPrinzio says DE.CO’s pop-up space will make it easy for chefs to set up a temporary operation. “They can come with really just a great product and a great team, and we’ve got everything else in the kitchen— from equipment to the point of sale system,” he said.
One of DE.CO’s permanent vendors is Baltimore-based Connie’s Chicken and Waffles. Co-owner Khari Parker says he found DE.CO after Connie’s was a pop-up at R. House.
“The pop-up is amazing,” said Parker. “As an entrepreneur, it gives you a platform or incubator of sorts to actually grow your idea, to explore your concept, without the confines of a traditional brick and mortar business.”
DiPrinzio says DE.CO’s pop-up space is scheduled through the next few months, but the company is looking for chefs to come in beyond that.
State and city officials praised project as bringing “excitement” to Wilmington.
“More people are going to want to be here and more businesses are going to want to locate here,” said Gov. John Carney. “And when the City of Wilmington is successful, the state of Delaware is successful.”
Some of DE.CO’s food vendors, like Pizzaria Bardea and Al Chu’s Sushi, have other projects in Wilmington— while some are from out of state.
BPG officials say the idea for the project was born of the Chemours Company, a DuPont Building tenant, looking for a food option for its employees.
