As student-run restaurant hits two-year mark, founder reflects on impact

When CEO and founder Will Gerstein first opened Buckets at Chapel Hill as a UNC sophomore in 2022, he thought the late-night restaurant was nothing more than a 10-week experiment. Now a senior, Gerstein has run the business for two years and is contemplating its future after his graduation. 

To celebrate its two-year anniversary, the restaurant is hosting a night of celebration on Friday, Feb. 16, with live music, discounts and free food giveaways. 

“I think it's going to be my favorite night of the semester,” Gerstein said. “I'm so excited.”

Gerstein said Buckets has grown both in size and community impact since its founding. The once-simple menu with only a handful of items has now expanded to include combo orders, desserts and sides. 

The company itself has grown too. Buckets now has a catering division, led by chief operating officer and executive vice president Bode Aucoin, a UNC junior. With its expansion, Buckets is able to partner with student organizations to donate to charities during benefit nights.

While Buckets' catering is new, giving back to the community has been central to Buckets’ platform since its opening, Gerstein said.

When it first opened, the restaurant also organized a give-back program, where people associated with UNC Athletics partnered with Buckets.

The restaurant has partnered with athletes and coaches at UNC, like men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis, and named different menu items after them. Buckets then donated a portion of the profits to a charity of the featured person’s choosing. 

“It's really a great way to get out into the community because not everybody's going out on the weekends,” Aucoin said. “We're only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but we want to be able to spread Buckets and provide some delicious food for a diverse variety of students.”

While Gerstein said the restaurant's work to support the community has been more successful than Buckets itself, the restaurant has been a hit with students as well. 

“It's just a really fun spot, especially when you're drunk, [to] just laugh, eat chicken and be outside together,” UNC senior Karley McNeill said.

 What sets Buckets apart, Gerstein said, is the atmosphere and knowing that the business — from the back end, all the way to the person taking your order — is entirely student-run. AJ Arledge, a UNC senior and economics major, agreed. 

“It's always good to support your fellow classmates,” he said. “Because we're all trying to get started, we're all in college and just helping each other out in any way [we] can.”

Jack Mullane, a UNC junior and a manager at Buckets, has been working at the restaurant since it opened. He said the work experience of being promoted to manager and learning leadership skills has been invaluable for helping to build his future. 

 He said the team and staff at the restaurant are always willing to lend a helping hand when things go wrong.  

“If they're not there that night, then in a heartbeat, they'll come help us or tell us what we need to do," he said. "They've kind of taught me how to do some of that stuff as well."

Gerstein said he has a job in private equity lined up after his graduation, and that he and Aucoin plan on spending the next few months preparing the business for success after his departure. 

Until then, he said he is looking forward to celebrating everyone who has helped him over the past two years — and the impact Buckets has had in Chapel Hill.

“As much as it's a celebration of us and Buckets, I think it's celebrating what the community has built here,” Gerstein said.

Clarification: An earlier version of this article lacked context about Buckets' benefit night partnerships with student organizations. The article has been edited for clarity.

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