Shuckin’ Shack is Coming to Glen Carbon
Date Posted: September 21, 2022
Posted In: News, Projects,
From The Edwardsville Intelligencer: Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar is on its way to Madison County.
The restaurant will be in the new Meridian Plaza, which is being built at the southeast corner of Route 157 and Meridian Road in Glen Carbon. Hunter Yung, who will be the franchise owner along with his wife Shannon Yung, said he hopes it will be open by early to mid-2023.
Yung started his career working for Olive Garden and Buffalo Wild Wings and has been building restaurants for over 20 years.
“When I got introduced to Shuckin’ Shack, I was on the Carolina coastline building some projects for a client and we always take him to an oyster bar when he’s in town,” Yung said. “We let him pick and he chose the Shuckin’ Shack, and I was kind of addicted from the jump.
“When we heard there was a franchise availability, it kind of fit with what we had been doing with restaurants for a lot of years.”
The Shuckin’ Shack brand started as a 900-square-foot shack in Carolina Beach, North Carolina in 2007 and began franchising in 2014. Today, Shuckin’ Shack has grown to 17 locations across six states and soon to be eight, with several more locations slated to open by the end of 2022.
“We like to think of ourselves as a vacation concept, especially for people from the Midwest or the Ohio River Valley who are more accustomed to going to the beach only once every year or two,” Shuckin’ Shack CEO and co-founder Jonathan Weathington said in a phone interview. “Here on the East Coast, we call it an authentic coastal environment.
“We serve wild-caught domestic seafood, good cocktails and cold beer. We’re a mini-vacation experience and we try to create spaces that are indoor-outdoor. We feel that it’s a top-to-bottom great experience and a great product.”
The Glen Carbon Shuckin’ Shack franchise will be the second for the company in Illinois, following a restaurant that recently opened in Naperville.