Local restaurant gearing up for large “March Madness” crowd

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) — The first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament tipped off on Thursday and one area restaurant expects a big crowd during opening weekend.

Zeke Smash opened around Halloween, meaning 2026 will be their first time welcoming customers during “March Madness.”

Owner Kyle Nelson says they ordered around 10-percent more product than usual to accommodate. They also used last year’s foot traffic numbers from adjacent business Tide’s Taproom to estimate how busy they might get this month.

All this comes after a busy Super Bowl weekend in February, which gives Nelson some high expectations.

“We anticipate this weekend actually being a little bit better,” Nelson said. “At least on par, because also the day before the Super Bowl, we also had Duke-Carolina one. Obviously March Madness is one of the biggest sporting events of the year here in North Carolina. As a native North Carolinian, I love this time of year. I have fun and I look forward to serving everybody.”

The tournament’s opening day also saw both Duke and UNC play their first round contests.