BY JAIME GATTON

Visiting Bucko’s in Mooresville is like taking a step back in time to when small, locally owned businesses were the backbone of the community, and customers became second family.

“All through high school, I worked weekends at a drugstore in Lincolnton, and a lady told me something then that I’ve carried with me as my own motto ever since,” said Missy Rosenbaum, who took over ownership of Bucko’s after her mom — known among the Bucko’s family as “Ms. Jean” — passed away in July 2022. “She told me, ‘Remember that you may be the only person that customer talks to today.’”

To this day, Missy makes a concerted effort to get to know every customer at Bucko’s — “even the grouchy ones,” she said with a smile. “We get to know our customers. That’s who we are and what we are.”

Sometimes, that level of customer service — combined with the made-to-order fare at Bucko’s — might translate into a longer wait time in the drive-thru.

“I try to be mindful that people don’t always want to wait in line,” Missy said. “But I’m also mindful of the person who turns their car off to tell me a story.”

Missy’s reason behind this is simple: “So much of our world is changing. Everything is turning to technology and kiosks. At the end of the day, we have to realize that we need people. We all need each other.”

As Missy was taking an order at the walk-up window, the customer handed his phone to her, showing a photo of his vehicle that was recently wrecked in a head-on collision. Missy turned the phone around. “Look at what he walked away from!” she exclaimed. “God has a plan for you. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Bucko the (giant) Moose

Bucko’s may be as well-known for its customer service as it is for its hot dogs, pimento-cheese burgers, onion rings, Philly cheesesteaks, sandwiches and wraps, milkshakes and its homemade slaw, chili and chicken salad (which are made from Ms. Jean’s family recipes).

But it’s perhaps what stands behind the building that puts it on a bigger map.

Bucko, as the family has always called him, is a 15-foot fiberglass moose that has become synonymous with the drive-thru and outdoor-dining eatery that opened with very little fanfare at 546 E. Plaza Drive on Labor Day weekend in 1993. “We just put a little sign out, and the whole Town of Mooresville must have seen it and come in,” Missy recalled. “Mooresville has really embraced us.”

From his vantage point near the intersection of N.C. 150 and 115, Bucko has certainly witnessed his fair share of change, growth and traffic during his three decades in Mooresville.

The big moose once found himself embroiled in a small-town controversy. In the early 2000s, town planners — citing an ordinance that prohibited a business from having more than one sign — deemed Bucko the Moose a sign and gave the restaurant a choice: take down the business’s main roadside sign or move Bucko to the back.

To the dismay of many, Bucko was relocated to the restaurant’s rear. But cleverly working around the ordinance, Bucko would be moved, draped in colorful string lights, back to the front every year at Christmastime. The ordinance allowed 30 days, once cited, for the restaurant owners to comply before being fined. By the time the town could fine the restaurant’s owners, Christmas would be over and Bucko would be moved back.

Unfortunately, all the moving took a toll on the moose’s fiberglass body, so now he stays put. He is draped in glowing string lights and lit up every night of the year for customers and passersby to enjoy.

Ms. Jean always said that when she retired, she wanted the moose to be relocated to Sherrills Ford, overlooking the lake on family property. “I’ve told my daughter the same thing,” Missy said. “I’ve had so many people offer to buy that moose, but some things you just can’t put a price tag on.”

Bucko’s beginnings

Perhaps Bucko was simply destined to be in the middle of controversy. He was originally a prominent landmark at Heritage USA, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s ill-fated Christian-themed amusement park in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

The park closed in 1989 and needed new homes for many novelty items, including the giant moose and its similarly gigantic fiberglass companion pig. Missy’s parents got the moose, and her brother, Marty Propst — an attorney who ended up a successful restauranteur for several years in his own right — claimed the pig, which the family took to festivals, where they sold barbecue, hot dogs and chips.

“My dad pulled that pig everywhere we went,” Missy said, smiling fondly. “It’s in New York now, somewhere near Lake George. The new owners named it Bucko, so they dropped the “s” from Bucko’s and named it Bucko the Pink Pig.”

One big family

The name “Bucko’s” was another family decision. “We were watching a TV show, and somebody said, “Now listen here, Bucko,’” Missy recalled. Her family looked up the meaning of bucko and found that it could mean money and friend.

“A living and friendship is exactly what Bucko’s has given our family,” Missy said.

Considering the restaurant’s success, it’s hard to believe it was started by a family with little experience in the food-service industry.

But Missy has always seemed to know it was her calling. Growing up, she loved going with her family on Sundays to the Tastee Freeze in Lincolnton, and she also loved visiting a build-your-own-sundae place in the mall. “I used to say I wanted to work there when I grow up,” Missy said. “Be careful what you wish for! Looks like I’m living my dream: my very own hot dog stand and ice cream!”

Missy, whose parents worked in the trucking industry, worked in the furniture industry after high school, but she took on a part-time job at Jeff’s Ham House, a Mooresville deli. “My family laughed and asked what I was going to do in a deli since I never did anything at home in the kitchen,” Missy said.

As it turns out, that little deli planted all the seeds that would grow into Bucko’s. “The Ham House was a family affair just like we are, but Jeff didn’t have help,” Missy recalled. “So I said, ‘I’ll bring my mom here, and she can help us.’ ”

A restaurant named Rockin’ Robin was slated to open where Bucko’s is located. The owners hired Crouch Brothers movers in Mooresville to drop a modular building and equipment on the site. “Some of the people who worked for the movers still come through here and tell me, ‘I helped move this building here!’ ” Missy said.

Rockin’ Robin never opened, and the building sat empty until Jeff noticed it was coming up for sale. Ms. Jean applied for a loan at her bank to buy it but was turned down. That’s when Missy said her mom got to prayin’. “A restaurant is high-risk,” she explained. “She said if it was meant to be, it would be.”

Meanwhile, at what was the First Union bank next door, a loan officer named Lance grew tired of seeing the would-be restaurant sitting empty. He went to bat for Ms. Jean, and the rest is history. “Everybody we had met helped us along the way,” Missy said.

“At the age of 55, my mom was sending a message and didn’t even realize it. She was showing us that it’s never too late to give something a try. This year, I turn 55,” Missy said, “and I’m still amazed that she took such a gamble — such a leap of faith — at that age.

“My mom and I were truly a team, even in the end years when she was bedridden,” Missy said. “The night before I took her to the hospital, she was writing as fast as she could, making sure we were going to be okay. She knew.”

Now, the team is Missy and her two kids. Her son, Django, offers ideas for Bucko’s and supports his mom and sister, Gabby, who are the boots on the ground.

“Gabby and I can be quite the team, just like my mom and I were,” Missy said. “She’s on the road to becoming a physician’s assistant, but any time she has time off, you can catch her working the window. She’s huge on customer service.”

Bucko’s has become a family in and of itself. One young employee, Missy said, put his life on hold so she could take care of her mom in her final days, and George Torrence has been part of the Bucko’s family for 18 years. “He manages our kitchen and staff and insists on staying true to the recipes that Ms. Jean taught him — no shortcuts,” Missy said.

The sense of family spills over into the community, too. “I’m invited to customers’ weddings and events. Can you imagine? There I am, surrounded by their family and close friends. I feel like they’re my family, and they must feel the same about me!

“The restaurant business is a hard living, and my customers keep me going. It’s an honor to serve Mooresville the best that I can,” Missy said. “There’s no way to explain the gratefulness I feel.”

Check out Bucko’s on Facebook or visit in person from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.