2 minute read
Sugar Shack Fish Market & Restaurant looks forward to best season yet
by Summer Stevens
Step into the Sugar Shack Fish Market & Restaurant along the causeway in Nags Head and you feel instantly happier. The walls are bright turquoise and bins of fresh potatoes, yellow onions and lemons line the seafood case. A giant chalkboard advertises daily fresh fish offerings like mahi mahi, flounder, salmon and catfish, or shellfish like scallops, mussels, clams and shrimp.
Dine in at the restaurant and choose from options like the bacon-wrapped sea scallops platter, grilled buffalo tuna, the popular shrimp and oyster po’ boys, or Alex’s favorite, the Caribbean fried shrimp wrap. If the weather is warm, customers love the dog-friendly patio seating with soundfront views and a firepit.
Husband-wife team Andy and Alex Couey, owners of Sugar Shack Fish Market & Restaurant, are hoping for a great season. In the two short years they’ve owned the restaurant, they’ve weathered a major hurricane and the COVID pandemic. “Our third season should be a breeze!” laughed Alex.
“We’ve been able to stay open all year and keep our staff safe,” Andy said. They spent eight weeks last summer offering only to-go orders. The challenging situation could have been tragic for the business. “But my wife didn’t kill me and the customers came back,” joked Andy. “People were delighted we were still here. It’s been an outpouring of love,” Alex said.
Customers come for the friendly environment, the fresh fish, and…the banana pudding! “It’s an old family recipe,” Alex explained. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, Sugar Shack offered family size banana pudding orders. “We had two staff members doing nothing but making banana pudding from 10:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. and it was all gone,” she said. “It’s becoming pretty famous,” Andy agreed.
For the Coueys, the best part of owning
a fish market and restaurant is the people.
“I love to learn people’s story,” Alex said. Despite the hundreds of people they see throughout the week, she will often remember customers’ names, their orders and where they’re from. “Our number one thing is customer service,” Alex and Andy agreed.
They are able to provide such a welcoming environment because Alex and Andy work to provide an enjoyable work environment. Sugar Shack has a staff of five in the winter, and up to eighteen in the peak summer season. “We have a really good team,” Andy said. “We look hard for good people,” he said. “We try and make it a positive fun vibe so that our staff wants to be there,” added Alex. “When you walk in here, you don’t know we’re the owners. We blend in, and we do the same work as everyone else,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to another successful year,” Andy said. Summertime is non-stop for the Coueys. The day starts at 8:30 a.m. when they arrive at the restaurant, set up the fish case and call local fishermen to see what’s fresh. Tourists here for the week will sometimes stop in two or three times. “It’s the greatest compliment we could ask for,” Alex said.
Alex and Andy Couey
