Alpharetta is getting a new seafood restaurant.
Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar is coming to 9 S. Main Street in downtown Alpharetta. The menu includes seafood favorites like oysters and shrimp, a range of sandwiches and sides, and more, alongside creative cocktails.
Renovations are expected to take place over the next two months, transforming the space into a beachy oasis, complete with a giant shark, surfboards and several TVs. The space was formerly occupied by South Main Kitchen, which closed in August.
“I don’t know how extensive the remodeling is going to be, but we’re going to be concentrating on the bar area, so we can have a pass-through window to the outside, extending to the left, and having a raw bar with a guy shucking oysters, clams, peeling shrimp,” owner Rob Schryver told What Now Atlanta.
Schryver is a first-time restaurant owner but no stranger to the industry. He spent 10 years in the Navy before moving into consulting and working with major restaurant brands.
“Military service is a great way to start things,” he said. “It’s a great career path for folks, whatever the path you take.”
Schryver had been interested in owning his own restaurant, gaining insight into the industry by working with brands like Wendy’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and McDonald’s.
“My capacity of working with them was around point-of-sale implementations and operational efficiencies,” he said. “With that I got a good sense of what made restaurants operationally efficient, what sort of pitfalls they could run into, what sort of issues they should be looking out for driven by the data generated by the point-of-sale system.”
Schryver wasn’t sure what type of restaurant he would operate, but he knew he loved seafood, particularly oysters, which he and a friend would enjoy when they vacationed with their families in the Florida panhandle.
“We made a point of going to those places [on vacation] because once we got back here, it was hard to find raw oysters,” he said.
So Schryver knew he wanted to operate a business, and he was interested in bringing quality seafood to inland Georgia. When researching, he came across Shuckin’ Shack and its existing Georgia location in Cumming.
“I popped in there one day and really liked it,” he said. “I went back a few times, met the owner. I was talking about things and basically that led me to continue the conversation with Shuckin’ Shack about becoming a franchisee.”
Shuckin’ Shack opened its first oyster bar in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, in 2007. The brand began franchising in 2014 and has since expanded to 18 locations across six states.
In addition to Shuckin’ Shack’s location in Cumming and the upcoming one in Alpharetta, the brand recently expressed interest in expanding to Athens, where it has an eye on opening two to three locations over the next several years.
Shuckin’ Shack in Alpharetta will hopefully be open in January 2025. Schryver is excited about the space, located in the heart of the town with lots of walk-by traffic. The space checks all the boxes of what he had been looking for during the search, which took several years.
His menu recommendation?
“Go for the shrimp, stay for the oysters.”
Follow on Instagram @shuckinshackalpharettaga for updates.
1 Response
Great concept, and a great picture of their “calamari”, but they are going to have to drop prices for me to go there. $19.00 for fish and chips! WTF!?
Groceries are expensive these days and restaurant margins are razor thin. Catfish plate at Captain Ds you can get for $13 if that’s what you want, but quality and service are just going to cost a little more!