The Dog and Duck’s Susan Forrester

You’ve got to admire many things about the Dog and Duck‘s female half, Susan Forrester. First, she is a genuinely nice person free of the hubris that has doomed many business owners over the years. She’s fun to know, and I would she’s imagine fun to work for. You don’t keep an owner-operated enterprise going for 23 years without a fair portion of humility, honesty, and yes, a true passion for customer service.

She has no interest in living in what she describes as “the mansion on the hill.” She would rather be free of debt, and free to go on doing her part at one of Austin’s most popular pub grub joints. Susan got her first brush in the hospitality business as a bookkeeper with the Texas Showdown Saloon along with her husband Billy Forrester (current owner of Billy’s on Burnet). Along with two partners she opened Crown and Anchor somewhere around 1987 (she’s not great on dates) and is still one of the owners. Billy had a hankering for opening a craft pub, and went to England to check out the real deals. When he came back, they found empty space with a parking lot on Guadalupe at the former site of Le Bistro de Armand. The Duck opened in 1990 and after some intense lobbying by Billy to allow brew pubs, their companion restaurant The Brew Pub at 4th and Guadalupe opened in 1993 with brewer Steve Anderson in his prime. The Brew Pub was squeezed out of existence by an adjacent real estate development in 2003.

The name for the duck grew out of Susan’s passion for collecting duck decoys. Both she and Billy wanted to do pub and American comfort food along with specialty beers. The only thing that has changed in all that time is the lunch specials that longtime employee and Chef Ernie Rivera produces on a daily basis. His veggie burger is a killer, for example, along with more familiar fare like the Bubble & Squeak and Bangers and Mash.

“We don’t have mixed drinks,” says Susan with her typical candor. “They’re not good for you, but great beer is like great food.” She characterizes her typical customers as “good, every day people who like nice food, beer, and fun. It’s a mix of students, local attorneys and business types, couples. I’m delighted with our mix of customers.”

Her manager Hunter Darby has been there 21 years. Many of the bar and wait staff have long tenures as well. Hence, the Duck has relatively few new employees. And Susan candidly says, “I love them all.” Her current partner Jeff bought out Susan’s ex Billy and together they do the front-of-house-back-of-the-house thing. “I’ve treated everybody like I’m their mother. If my staff is happy, they’re gonna make the customers happy. We’re like one big family.”

She doesn’t like pretense and conveys that easy-going sense to her staff. That makes for a relaxed mood at the Duck which Austinites really appreciate. But that’s Susan. And trust me, this lady is no decoy.