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Carolinas' Shuckin' Shack finds recycling shells sells

Oyster restaurants are at the forefront of a shell-recycling movement that not only may again make Chesapeake Bay a hotbed of oyster activity but also serves as a pretty good marketing tool.

May 3, 2017 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

For many restaurant brands, the most valuable pearl in an oyster shell is the meat itself, which can be a huge draw for customers, particularly in coastal areas. Shuckin' Shack, for example, has 10 mostly East Coast locations, with more in the works.

As its name implies, it is particularly dependent on the slippery little masses of meat, serving more than 600,000 of the well-sheltered shellfish last year alone. Whether customers order them raw with all the "liquor" to slurp, or simply steamed, grilled or fried, some diners will travel great distances to get that buttery, salty taste with the sweet finish.

"There’s nothing like the taste of a raw oyster — no cracker, no cocktail sauce, no horseradish," said Shuckin' Shack CEO Jon Weathington, when this site asked him about his favorite way to eat them. "Though we’ve eaten our share of fried, steamed, and chargrilled — raw is the best way to enjoy the delicacy."

The problem with enjoying them raw or any other way, however, is that the wild population of oysters is in danger. In the Chesapeake Bay, for example, the oyster population has dropped to just 1 percent of what it was a century ago, according to Shuckin' Shack's oyster supplier, Rappahannock Oyster Company, based in Topping, Virginia.

"Oysters like to strike (essentially, take up residence after mating) on other oysters, so essentially the oyster population is also the oyster habitat. …" said Rappahannock Oyster COO Anthony Marchetti in an interview with this website. "So the road to population recovery is hindered by the lack of habitat."

Rappahannock is an aquaculture-based oyster producer, which operates under a sustainable model like most oyster farms, since they only harvest what they planted in the first place. That takes pressure off the wild oysters in our estuaries and oceans. Likewise, the company is now very involved — along with many of the restaurants they serve — in an oyster shell recycling program that returns the empty shells that diners leave behind to the Chesapeake Bay.

"We are trying to get as much of the shell we grow back in the Bay to help build up the habitat for wild stock recovery," Marchetti said.

The oyster-shell recycling programs basically build back little oysters underwater subdivisions where oyster offspring grow up.

Oyster-shell recycling means much more than a better restaurant seafood supply

But this particularly delectable object of the ocean has far more importance for humans and the planet we live on than mere food. Oysters are, in fact, some of the most prolific water purifiers on Earth, with each one filtering about 50 gallons of water daily.

When — as in the case of Chesapeake Bay — 99 percent of those purification powerhouses disappear, it's clear to see why the water is nowhere near as clear as it used to be. A single recycled oyster shell — top and bottom — can easily act as the production house for 12 to 16 new oysters. Multiply that times the 600,000 whole shells a single participating restaurant like Shuckin' Shack contributed to the recycling program last year and you can see the very big difference recycling shells instead of trashing them can make overall.

"Restaurants can recycle (shells that) … can be put back into the water by oyster companies like ours, as well as organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) or Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP). …" Marchetti said. "A healthy ecosystem will yield not only a steady supply of oysters, but also all of the other species we enjoy and consume at restaurants. So restaurant participation helps make sure that the rest of their menu is available."

That's why for the leadership team at Shuckin' Shack, participation in the shell recycling program — even with its requirements of added time, effort and expense — is in line with the brand's goals. To put it simply, sometimes the "right thing to do" really isthe "right" thing to do.

"It can be a big problem for the restaurant industry, if we aren't careful where we're sourcing," said Shuckin' Shack's Weathington. "As with many other concepts, 'local is king.' However, we don't want to sacrifice the sustainability of our local beds (or any beds, for that matter) for extra oyster production. … In the past, oyster shells were simply thrown away into the trash or sold to grind up for commercial uses. Now, with the sustainability movement in full force, they are being returned to farms and the wild. … The move to recycle shells has really become popular in the past five years."

For instance, as just a single oyster company producer, like Rappahannock and its participants in the program are churning out about 5,000 to 6,000 bushels of shells annually. That's a whole lot of new mini water purification powerhouses being unleashed in the Atlantic Ocean, and that's got to have an effect long-term on the health of our oceans.

There's a big 'halo' around this oyster bed, too

Today's consumers are keenly aware of the need for these types of initiatives and it's well-documented that millennial customers in particular, seek out brands that participate in programs like these because, as diners, they feel they're not just getting something fun and flavorful to do, but they're also doing good for their world at the same time by helping the restaurants they patronize do good things.

"The consumer is the one who drives the demand for a product … (so) if consumers ask for farm-raised oysters, that's what will be served to them and local waters will benefit … and by shell recycling, the consumer just multiplies the benefits," Weathington said.

"A healthy ecosystem will yield not only a steady supply of oysters, but also all the other species we enjoy and consume at restaurants. So restaurant participation helps make sure that the rest of their menu is available (and) … oysters are the foundation of a healthy ecosystem, from water to providing habitat for other species."

Weathington says he hopes restaurant participation industry-wide will build like a tidal wave. After all, those brands which do recycle their shells are not only doing something pretty nice for our world, but can also benefit from the "halo" such participation creates around brands which do well by their communities.

It's the kind of social responsibility marketing that builds customer love in ways that few other methods can deliver, he said.

"Many people want to not only know what they're consuming and where it is sourced, but also the environmental impact," Weathington said. "Customers today are far more health conscious and environmentally conscious than customers in the past. … That's why you see companies in the restaurant and retail industry who take an active approach to sustainability and the environment doing so well. ...This is our way of giving back in a big way. … We're sustaining our business model by sustaining the environment."

About S.A. Whitehead

Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.