Above: Anthony and Katie Young overcame more obstacles than they care to recount in their mission to reopen one of Chadds Ford’s most beloved eateries.
By Pam George
Photos By Butch Comegys
After floodwaters from Hurricane Ida consumed Hank’s Place in 2021, owners Anthony and Katie Young vowed to rebuild. But over the next four years, supply shortages, bureaucratic red tape, FEMA requirements and insurance issues would test the owners’ resolve.
They had already endured the Covid-19 pandemic, and few would blame the Youngs for selling the land. “The two of us, though, are pretty stubborn,” Katie says. “The staff were also behind us, supporting us emotionally and going to township meetings. Their energy kept us moving forward.”
Adds her husband, “We weren’t going to let the naysayers win.”
All of that is behind them now. On July 15, 2025, a new Hank’s Place opened for business. The structure is now nearly 10 feet off the ground, with mechanical systems on the roof. The walls around the ground level — used for storage and staff parking—are designed to break away, allowing floodwaters to flow underneath. A covered deck with a fire feature and ramps to the front door are appealing new elements.
Inside, the open dining room has a beamed cathedral ceiling, an expanded counter, and wide windows that bring light into the space. Is it different than the previous building? Of course. But the essence of what makes Hank’s Place such an integral part of the Brandywine Valley is palpable.
From Hot Dog Stand to Hank’s Place
The 2021 flood wasn’t the first time the Brandywine Creek had swallowed the business at Route 1 and Creek Road (Route 100). From 1970 to 1973, Hank’s was inundated four times. In 1973, a resigned Henry “Hank” Shupe told a reporter that he and his wife, Virginia “Ginny,” had planned to leave the area anyway.
Shupe wasn’t the first to run a restaurant on the site. In 1950, the owner enclosed a fruit stand, added stools, and opened George’s Hot Dog Stand, later renamed George’s Brandywine Lunch. (George’s surname was not mentioned in past articles.) The site had also housed Frank Brittingham’s blacksmith shop and a service station, according to an article in Chadds Ford Life.
Members of Hank’s loyal staff join Katie and Anthony Young (back right) for a photo in front of the restaurant’s dynamic new entrance.
On Oct. 15, 1960, the Shupes — originally from Virginia — purchased the business and, later, the green-and-white building. The restaurant was so small that cleaning up after a minor flood wasn’t the ordeal it is today. In 1973, it closed for a few weeks after a damaging deluge. However, in 1977, floodwaters rose to the level of the lunch counter and froze, damaging the foundation. The Shupes bulldozed the structure and rebuilt on slightly higher ground.
During the construction, Virginia sold coffee to regular customers. Over the years, Hank’s has had many. In 1998, writer Caryl E. Huffaker of The Morning News wrote that Hank’s is “the place where locals gather to swap stories and gossip.” At 5 a.m., construction workers came for coffee, followed by truck drivers, businesspeople, artists, and locals, she wrote.
By 1991, the Shupes were finally ready to retire to Tennessee. Their departure caused consternation in the community. Some said a new owner would put in — shudder — booths. Others whispered that a gift shop was in the works. However, new owner Peter Skiadas, who, along with his four brothers, owned the Longwood Inn, made few changes.
The Skiadas family also owned restaurants in Lancaster County, so Peter included some Pennsylvania Dutch favorites on the menu. There were also Greek dishes, including chicken orzo soup. Peter was raised in Greece, and his wife, Voula, is first-generation Greek American.
Friends & Fame
By 2003, Hank’s was serving an average of 600 meals each weekend day. “We’re the place where friendly people meet, and hungry people eat,” Voula told a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter that year. Current owner Anthony Young would maintain that it is still true. On one Sunday morning, when the regular was off, he worked the door.
“The first person was a single woman, and the next was a party of two,” he says. “By the time I went to seat them, they asked for a table of three.”
Before buying the restaurant, Anthony regularly sat at the counter on his day off. “My nickname became ‘Turkey Club Guy,’” he recalls. He often talked about motorcycles with another regular at the counter. Anthony knew him as “Andy.” The art world knew him as painter Andrew Wyeth, and Hank’s Place was a favorite haunt.
As early as 1964, a newspaper article noted that Wyeth and son Jamie, then 18, met daily at Hank’s. “You can tell them Mrs. Wyeth never cooks,” Andy quipped over ham and eggs.
Wyeth was such a well-known customer that author Gene Logsdon traveled from Ohio to consume an untold number of hamburgers at Hank’s Place — all in hopes of running into the painter. (He later wrote Wyeth People.) When a bus driver spotted the artist in the parking lot, he stopped short on Route 1, and tourists poured out the door. Wyeth beat a hasty retreat.
In 1986, when his paintings of Helga Telstorf were unveiled, reporters descended on Chadds Ford — and Hank’s — looking for information. A writer from The Vancouver Sun wrote that Hank’s customers had some new “gossip with their crab cakes and corn muffins.” (In case you’re wondering, Helga reportedly loved the spinach salad and roast pork and sauerkraut.)
By 1991, Voula and Peter were ready for retirement. At the same time, Anthony and Katie were looking for a change. “We had this great idea to buy a restaurant,” Katie says.
The final wooden beam installed in the new Hank’s Place bears the signatures of loyal customers and supportive friends.
The Next Generation
Growing up, Anthony and Katie were on a culinary collision course. They both graduated from West Chester East High School, albeit in different years. Anthony entered the hospitality industry at 13 and never looked back. “I’m a restaurant guy through and through,” he maintains. He worked at Bobby’s Seafood in Newtown Square, the Dilworthtown Inn, and Pace One in Thornton, where he met Katie, a server, in the 1990s.
After graduating from Pratt Institute, Katie opened an ad agency, which counted MBNA among its clients. Meanwhile, Anthony spent 18 years with Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant. Both faced a career crossroads when Iron Hill and the bank went through transitions. (Bank of America, which purchased MBNA in 2006, began restricting and selling off international operations.)
The couple heard that Hank’s might be for sale. They also learned a bank was interested in the location, which alarmed Anthony. “It’s my neighborhood spot,” he says. “As a regular, this was my restaurant.”
Katie had been coming to Hank’s Place since childhood. It was the couple’s “meet-in-the-middle” spot when Anthony worked in West Chester and she was in Wilmington.
It’s hard to outbid a bank. But Voula and Pete knew Anthony and appreciated his passion for food and hospitality. They appreciated that the Youngs had honeymooned in Greece and named their standard poodle Agora, Greek for “gathering place.” It’s now the name of the Youngs’ holding company.
The sale went through in May 2017. Katie helped at the restaurant when she wasn’t running her ad agency, then joined full-time. As for Voula and Peter, they retired to Lancaster. Peter passed away in 2024 at the age of 88.
The Youngs knew the community wanted to preserve the status quo. “There wasn’t any real pressure since that was our goal,” Anthony says. Still, the chef insisted on using high-quality ingredients and employing elevated techniques.
Take, for instance, butter instead of margarine, potatoes peeled and mashed by hand, and eggs cracked to order. Admittedly, some preferred the old ways.
“We explained the difference to them, and they became more comfortable with the changes,” Katie says. “They [began to trust us] more because we were giving them a quality product.”
Anthony also launched a series of themed dinners, which let him showcase his skills.
As for the décor, the customers liked the one-story building just the way it was — low ceiling, paneled walls, tables, chairs, and a homey counter. The flood, however, forced changes.
Weathering The Storm
Hurricane Ida hit the region on Sept. 1-2, 2021, dropping up to eight inches of rain in a matter of hours. The Brandywine Creek crested at just over 23 feet in Chadds Ford — breaking records set by Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Hurricane Anges in 1972. With little floodplain, swiftly rising waters washed away bridges and roads, consumed cars, and surged into homes and businesses.
Hank’s Place server Rhonda Thompson shares a laugh with a group of friends celebrating Ralph Hanby’s 90th birthday (on right with cap).
The day before, Hank’s employees had placed whatever they could on the counter. It didn’t help. The water level forced PECO Energy to cut the power lines. Restaurant supplies and furniture floated in seven feet of water, as minnows swam around food, and tadpoles and tiny turtles took up residence.
This time, there was no manageable cleanup. The building was razed on Dec. 8, 2023. The Youngs received a special permit to operate a food truck in the parking lot, but hours were limited to three days a week, four hours a day.
The truck kept Hank’s visible, but only to a point. “It wasn’t paying the mortgage or keeping our staff employed,” Anthony notes. In 2022, Kennett Square Mayor Matthew Fetick facilitated an agreement allowing Hank’s Place to temporarily occupy 201 Birch St., which has been home to Taste of Puebla, Kennett Steak & Mushroom Restaurant, and the Sawmill Bar & Grill.
Rising From the Waters
When the Youngs met with Glen Mills-based architect Tom Dever, flood-proofing topped their list. Next, they wanted the new building to complement the village setting, alongside neighbors such as Brandywine Prime in the old Chadds Ford Inn. Materials include local stone and wood from the late George A. “Frolic” Weymouth’s property.
The vaulted ceiling and numerous windows make the restaurant inviting, and the modern farmhouse chic aesthetic — complete with painted Windsor counter stools — suits the village setting. Restoration experts salvaged several pieces of artwork, including Jamie Wyeth’s “Draft Age,” a painting of artist Jimmy Lynch, a regular at Hank’s Place; and Wyeth’s “The Red Coat.” Outside, new sculptures include steel pieces by Stan Smokler.
The Youngs didn’t cut corners, which comes with a price. “It’s called borrowing,” jokes Anthony. The couple secured a commercial loan from a local bank. “They’ve been in the trenches with us,” Katie says.
On opening day, the Youngs left their garage and headed to the restaurant. “Here we go. We’ve made it through,” Katie told her husband. “We’re going to take a moment to take pride in what we’ve accomplished.”
They arrived at Hank’s Place at 5:30 a.m. to find two small pajama-clad children and their dad waiting patiently at the door. “That’s why we did it,” Katie says of the rebuild. “It’s the tradition. It’s the memories.”
And what would Andrew Wyeth have said? Katie dabs at her eyes and, in a tremoring voice, answers, “Way to not give up.”
