By Maggie Beamguard
Insider Editor
A handful of misplaced phone calls guided two local businesses to marinate in a perfectly paired brine. The Pickle Place, Moore County’s first indoor pickleball facility and Brooklyn Pickle, a Southern Pines sandwich shop, saw a unique opportunity for a kosher match.
When Moore County’s first indoor pickleball facility, The Pickle Place, launched on May 11, it had just a handful of members. “Today, we’re thrilled to have grown to 183 members across various membership levels,” said Katie Carpenter, who co-owns The Racquet Club at Seven Lakes, 116 Edgewater Drive, and its premiere pickleball facility with Canyn Russell.
In addition to four courts with a hard, rubberized surface, The Pickle Place features other amenities to help the building of the pickleball community, including a pro shop and a bar area where players can unwind after a game.
“We’ve also established exciting partnerships with local businesses such as Brooklyn Pickle and Hatchet Brewery, allowing us to offer our guests an exceptional selection of food and beer,” said Carpenter.
The Pickle Place opened with a plan to establish an integrated restaurant. But after exploring the challenges of the restaurant industry, they decided against it.
“We always wanted to provide our customers and our community with food options,” said Carpenter. Then one day, Craig Kowadla and Stephen Ziff, owners of Brooklyn Pickle, visited The Pickle Place. Brooklyn Pickle had been receiving calls from people who wanted to rent courts to play.
“We’re getting these phone calls,” said Kowadla, “and thought Pickle Place/Brooklyn Pickle would be a pretty cool partnership.” So Kowadla and Ziff visited The Pickle Place to see if they could spear a gig.
“After a brief conversation with them, we realized that a partnership would be a fantastic opportunity,” said Carpenter.
Since then, Brooklyn Pickle has catered several events at the facility which also boasts a food vending machine on-site that offers their delicious sandwiches, side salads, scoops, desserts, chips and drinks.
The menu includes pasta, potato and broccoli salads. The top selling item and customer favorite is the chicken salad scoop. Desserts include cheesecake, puddling and the brookie, a combination of chocolate chip cookie and brownie. Prices range from $2 for a bag of chips to $7 for a delicious sandwich.
“Brooklyn Pickle is actually a well-known deli located in Syracuse, New York. It’s famous for its hearty sandwiches and, of course, its pickles,” said Carpenter.
The deli has been around since 1975 and is beloved for its generous portions and quality ingredients. It offers a variety of pickles, including dill and half-sour, which are often served as a side with their sandwiches.
The Southern Pines location at 1788 Old Morganton Road, opened in November of 2023, making it the first outside of the restaurant’s home state. It is one of seven sandwich shops owned by Kowadla and Ziff, who since opening in Southern Pines have licensed locations in Raleigh and Charlotte.
They picked the Sandhills for their first out-of-state venture after Ziff, who spent summers visiting his grandparents who lived at Longleaf Country Club, introduced Kowadla to the area. “He would always say how great it was. So we went down, and that was that. We fell in love with the area,” said Kowadla.
Brooklyn Pickle found a natural partner in The Pickle Place.
“Katie is a really great person and is so upbeat,” said Kowadla. ‘She is easy to work with. It’s great to be involved in her place and to partner together. We just bring all the pickle energy together.”
The two pickle businesses go together like bread and butter, the most essential of pickles.
“A restaurant in a pickleball facility can offer a variety of options to cater to players and spectators alike,” said Carpenter. “The atmosphere in The Pickle Place is casual and relaxed, with plenty of seating for groups to gather and socialize, so you can enjoy your meal while watching the games. It allows the entire community to come and enjoy some delicious food without leaving the neighborhood.”
For more information about The Pickle Place including membership and hours of operation visit racquetclubatsevenlakes.com.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
