When Half Shells Seafood was founded over two decades ago, co-founders Lovett and Bill Bayne were passionate about building a friendly, fun and caring company with a culture that puts people first.
While they have grown from a small, 12-table neighborhood joint into a family of restaurants, their focus on community has stayed the same. One of the ways they do this is through a program they have called First Tuesday Benefit.
On the first Tuesday of every month, every restaurant picks a local charity and donates 15% of the day's sales to them. Since they started the initiative, the company has donated over a million dollars to various local charities.
Because of this, Half Shells Seafood and their sister restaurant Fish City Grill have developed a lasting reputation as a friendly, neighborhood seafood joint where customers and team members become family.
The Katy Half Shells Seafood restaurant, located at 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd., Ste. 140, originally opened in 2007 and was one of Fish City Grill’s few franchise restaurants. The restaurant had several operators over the years and when the co-founders decided to buy it back, they planned a significant remodel.
The remodel brought a fresh, coastal vibe to the restaurant and they decided to rename it with the same name as their first restaurant, Half Shells Seafood. With its full bar that opens to the patio, Half Shells Seafood features a specialty cocktail menu to complement its robust food menu, and is the perfect space to sit and enjoy the variety of live music and activities hosted on the Central Green. Customers will also find fresh seafood specials that change daily on the restaurant’s menu.
“The chalkboard specials are created by our chefs and offer an opportunity to create something special for their customers,” said marketing director Gje Greene-Wallace. “Once we know what they like, we tailor those specials to customers’ wants.”
Another thing customers may not know? The Half Shells Seafood menu is made from scratch; the chefs make everything from soups to dressings to sauces. Some of Greene-Wallace’s personal favorites include the chargrilled oysters—cooked New Orleans-style with lemon pepper butter and topped with Parmesan cheese, garlic caper salmon, crab cakes and gumbo.
“I could eat our gumbo every day,” she said. “It has a dark roux, shrimp, chicken and Andouille. It’s amazing.”
In addition to forever favorites, Half Shells Seafood also offers seasonal items. The restaurant serves up various dishes featuring fresh fish like mahi-mahi, Texas Gulf redfish, wild Alaskan salmon, halibut and of course, Louisiana crawfish.
“Half Shells Seafood in Katy exemplifies who we are, staffed with friendly team members and General Manager, Rick Gust. Gust is a long time Katy resident and connected to the community,” Greene-Wallace said. “He’s a great leader, and takes great care of our team members and customers.”
To learn more about Half Shells Seafood, visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
The above story was produced by Community Impact's Storytelling Multi-Platform Journalist Sierra Rozen with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team. Our integrity promise to our readers is to clearly identify all CI Storytelling posts so they are separate from the content decided upon, researched and written by our journalism department.
