Faith, Family and the Heart Behind The Shark Shack

The Shark Shack has never tried to be fancy.

That is part of its appeal.

"We want The Shark Shack to be fun, comfortable and family-friendly, while still serving food we're genuinely proud of," Taylor said. "You can come straight from the beach in your flip-flops, bring the kids, sit at a picnic table, play some cornhole and enjoy a really great meal."

Then she gets to the heart of it.

"That's what we want to bring to Atlantic Beach: a place that doesn't take itself too seriously, but takes its food and the way people are treated very seriously." 

That philosophy applies to the people who work there, too.

Taylor's view of leadership is straightforward.

"To me, good leadership means leading beside your team, not above them," she said. "I would never ask an employee to do something that I wouldn't be willing to do myself."

Ask Taylor how important The Shark Shack team is and she does not hesitate.

"There simply wouldn't be The Shark Shack without our team," she said. "Jeremy and I may own the business, but it takes every person who walks through those doors ready to work to make it what it is."

Because the restaurant is small, customers often get to know those employees, too.

"They recognize the faces at the window, joke with the people handing out their food, and sometimes come back asking about someone they met on their last visit," Taylor said.

A season together can include chaotic lunch rushes, 100-degree days, thunderstorms, equipment failures and plenty of ordinary moments in between.

Faith is visible at The Shark Shack.

Scripture appears on signage and social media. Christian music may be playing in the background. But Taylor says publicly identifying as Christian carries a responsibility that goes much deeper.

"Our faith is at the heart of how we try to run The Shark Shack," she said. "We are very open about being Christians, but for us, that means much more than displaying Scripture or sharing our faith on social media."

"If we're going to publicly say that we follow Christ, then we have a responsibility to try to reflect Him in the way we treat people."

That can mean kindness when a customer interaction is difficult, patience with an employee, feeding someone, offering a prayer or giving someone another chance.

"We certainly don't get it right all the time," Taylor said, "but we want people to see something different in the way we conduct ourselves and care for others." 

Taylor and Jeremy describe The Shark Shack as their mission field.

"Owning a restaurant just happens to be the place God has given us to live that out, for now," she said.

That does not mean they expect everyone who walks through the gate to share their beliefs.

"We want The Shark Shack to be a place where believers and nonbelievers alike feel genuinely welcomed and loved," Taylor said. "We never want someone to feel that they have to believe what we believe in order to have a seat at our table."

"Quite the opposite. Jesus showed love to people from every walk of life, and that's the example we want to follow." 

For all the attention The Shark Shack has received, Taylor gives much of the credit for its growth to something decidedly old-fashioned.

Word of mouth.

"Without a doubt, our customers," she said when asked what built the restaurant's presence in the community. "Word of mouth has always been more powerful than any advertisement I could ever create."

Someone enjoys a meal and tells someone else.

Then that person becomes the next one saying, "You have to try this little place in Atlantic Beach."

"At the end of the day, our customers are our best advertisement," Taylor said. "They have helped build The Shark Shack right alongside us." 

Those customers come from two communities.

There are the locals who return throughout the season, and the visitors who return year after year.

"Whether you live five minutes away or drove five hours to get here, we want you to feel equally welcomed and appreciated when you walk up to our window," Taylor said.

Some visiting families have made The Shark Shack part of their annual vacation.

"Some families have been coming back for years, and we've actually gotten to watch their children grow up between visits," she said.

But she also treasures the familiar local face walking through the gate.

"Our locals give us a sense of community, and our visitors allow us to share a little piece of that community with people from all over." 

Pieces of the Thomas family story can be found throughout The Shark Shack.

Every year, as the family prepares to reopen for the season, Taylor takes a photograph of their four boys at the restaurant.

"We've watched them grow up through those pictures, just as we've watched The Shark Shack grow," she said. "Someday, I know we'll look back at those photos and realize just how much of their childhood, and ours, happened inside that little restaurant."

Other family members have left their mark, too.

The Local Hero Menu was inspired by Taylor's sister Christie, a retired Coastie who began her Coast Guard career at Fort Macon. Taylor's brother Aaron helped find the recipe that eventually became the foundation for The Shark Shack's cilantro lime sauce.

"There are pieces of our family woven throughout The Shark Shack," Taylor said. 

Taylor also sees The Shark Shack as part of a much bigger local story.

"I think locally owned businesses are a huge part of what gives the Crystal Coast its personality," she said. "You can visit the same chain restaurants and stores almost anywhere, but the places that only exist here are part of what makes visiting, and living here, special."

Behind those businesses, she said, are families who live here, raise children here, go to local churches and schools, shop in one another's businesses, support fundraisers and weather the same storms.

"Of course we're all running businesses, but we're also neighbors," Taylor said. "Someone else's success doesn't take away from ours. When our local restaurants, shops and small businesses thrive, our entire community becomes stronger."

"You're not just visiting a business," she added. "You're getting to experience a little piece of the people who call this place home." 

Buying The Shark Shack property in 2026 changed the way Taylor began thinking about the future.

"We weren't simply operating a seasonal restaurant anymore," she said. "We were putting down permanent roots and creating something that could become a legacy." 

Of course, she thinks about their four boys.

"They've grown up here, and I would love for there to be something waiting for them if they choose to be part of it when they're older," she said. "I don't want them to ever feel obligated to follow our path, but I love knowing we're building something that could give them that opportunity."

But Taylor's idea of legacy does not stop with her children.

It includes employees like Austin and others who have invested their own time and lives in building The Shark Shack alongside the family.

"I don't necessarily dream about making The Shark Shack bigger," Taylor said.

"I dream about making its foundation stronger, strong enough to create opportunities for our children, for the people who have helped us build it, and hopefully for another generation to carry forward the heart behind what we've created."