Mr. Fish announced that it was closing after a 14 year run in the City of Myrtle Beach. The announcement was posted in a message on Facebook. The owner announced that the Mr. Fish Seafood Market is not closing, however.
At a time when competitors do year round business in Carolina Forest, owning a successful restaurant inside the city limits of Myrtle Beach is practically impossible. Mr. Fish beat those odds for 15 years.
Despite $54 million in tax subsidies for marketing, The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce admits that Summer 2023 has been historically off. Earlier this Summer, tourism was down by as much as 20%.
Mr. Fish was among the most beloved restaurants inside the city serving the best She Crab soup along the Grand Strand.
POSTED BY THE OWNERS
Thanks for going on the wild ride with us!
In 2007-2008 I owned a catering business called “Life of the Party Catering” that operated out of my home kitchen and then a food truck for on site cooking. I was doing pretty well and was ready to start looking for a commercial kitchen to expand the business.
My Dad at the time was working out of his home office doing seafood consulting and had the time to help me look for locations. We stumbled upon the small location on 34th avene that used to be the original Jimmy’s Hibachi back in the day.
The rent was reasonable and the space was perfect for what I wanted to do. Dad, being the visionary that he is, convinced me to open it as a fast casual Mr. Fish Restaurant and sell sandwiches five days a week so I can cater on the weekends.
Most of you know this story. You all know what came after that. Life of the Party dissolved, Mr. Fish grew and grew- we took up half of the little strip mall and out grew our location. We persevered through many adversities. Hell, we opened in January 2009- the height of one of the biggest recessions of our lifetimes.
I was 26 years old- had never owned a restaurant, I mean…the modest catering business I had was just myself and my friends that worked gigs with me. Sure I had graduated from culinary school and grew up in the biz, but that meant nothing when it came down to the real day to day ins and outs of business ownership. I was thrown into the deep end and forced to swim upstream.
Not only were we an instant success but we also had major personal issues we had to deal with and reconcile. My brother died tragically May 3rd, 2010. We had been open for just over a year and a half, we were in the middle of expanding into the unit next to us and on top of that was forced to stop construction and missed the entire season, paying rent on a unit that was torn apart, dusty and far from finished.
Our business was still on the up but it was as if our hearts and souls were taken from our bodies.
We persevered and did what felt like the impossible, we made it!
In 2012 we started looking for a larger location. We toured this building a year before and turned it down immediately, but for some reason our agent felt the need to bring us back to take another look and this time, call it divine timing, it felt right. We moved in and opened the doors March 4th 2013.
We went from 85 seats to 300 seats. From just under 2,000sf to 8,500. To say we went through an adjustment period was an understatement. We still had the mentality of that small mom and pop restaurant but now we were in the big leagues and we were scurrying to mentally catch up to the new level of popularity we had achieved.
We took home some great achievements over the years. We were written up in Southern Living, Grand Strand Magazine, multiple blogs and websites like the Travel Channel And news articles. Won local awards at Taste of the town, Chililympics and more.
At some point what comes up must come down. There was the hundred year flood, hurricane Matthew…and then later on came Covid. I also had children in the midst of that timeline which inevitably took my attention away. Myrtle Beach also has continued to grow and expand with bigger and arguably better competition in the area which took us out of the running of being the “New kids on the block”.
We also endured a horrific bomb threat and fire to the façade of the building that really took the wind out of our sails to say the least.
I’m not standing here today taking up your time to tell you about all of our ups and downs to brag or make you feel sorry for us. I am doing this because recently we’ve felt like the rug has been pulled out from under us and some have tried to distort or spread false truths and it’s time we spoke from our hearts to the people that have worked alongside us for so many years. Our fish family and supporters over the past 14 years.
Because at the end of the day this business is a story of an imperfect family taking a risk on an idea, over a glass of wine…succeeding, learning, fighting & growing, and also knowing when it’s time to call it quits.
No matter what gossip you hear, know that it all boils down to my Dad and myself. It’s been my greatest honor to grow into the business woman I’ve become with my Mom and Dad right alongside me through thick and thin. I do not know it all, far from it but this ride is far from over and it certainly is not what some may call a failure. It’s just that every story has an end and we are rounding the corner of our end.
Come see us until (tentatively) September 17th at the Mr. Fish Restaurant Tuesday- Saturday 3-9pm.
**the Seafood Market is not closing**
Stay fishy, Ted & Sheina Hammerman