CEO Jonathan Weathington and Vice President of Marketing Darren Keeler share insights on the well-loved brand’s newly refreshed menu, featuring fan favorites and a few highly anticipated additions.
Shuckin’ Shack, the beloved seafood franchise, is making waves with its latest announcement: a revamped menu that promises to take diners back to the brand’s roots.
1851 Franchise spoke with CEO Jonathan Weathington and Vice President of Marketing and Creative Darren Keeler about what we can expect from the updated menu.
Returning to Shuckin’ Shack’s Roots
Shuckin’ Shack is embracing authenticity and practicality in its new menu. However, the main motivation for the change was a desire to return to the brand’s roots.
“This new menu is more indicative of where we came from,” said Weathington. “We also made some choices based on practical menu engineering, as every restaurant does; we took off low-performing items and adjusted high food cost items. We also decided to include some items that have performed really well when they were featured as specials or limited time offers.”
New Menu Items: A Sneak Peek
So what are some of the new menu items we can expect to see? Weathington and Keeler divulged a few of their favorite dishes.
“We have some blackened shrimp poutine fries and they’re great, but I won’t tell you how many calories are in them. It’s a good shareable item,” Weathington said.
As for diners looking for something a little lighter, the brand is introducing a variety of shrimp skillets.
“For something lighter, we have a couple different flavors of shrimp skillets which would be perfect for a quick snack, like on a girls’ night out or a night where you’re bouncing around from place to place. There are four different flavors, including buffalo and scampi. They’re so good,” said Keeler.
Keeler also revealed that the menu will contain some great shareable plates, such as a Seafood Plateau with raw oysters, clams, tuna tartar, crab salad and shrimp cocktail.
While seafood dishes typically take center stage at Shuckin’ Shack, Weathington’s personal new favorite is something completely different.
“Some of our locations have some new flatbreads. Between myself and my office staff during the testing period, we could not stop eating them. They’re fantastic,” said Weathington.
Improved Menu = Improved Customer Experience
The updated menu isn’t just about adding new items and improving sales — it’s about enhancing the overall dining experience and giving customers what they really want. The brand has listened to feedback from customers and put their experience at the center of its choices.
“Designing a new menu can be stressful because you feel beholden to certain menu items that maybe you thought would perform well but didn’t perform so well, or maybe a personal favorite of yours just wasn’t ordered that often,” said Weathington. “But we listened to our customers. We’ve made sure the menu still offers the items that were selling very well because our customers really like them and want to continue ordering them.”
If you’re dying to see which existing items made the cut and what new items will be on offer, you won’t have to wait too long. The new menu will be available at all Shuckin’ Shack locations starting in mid-April.
You can check out your nearest Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar’s new menu at www.theshuckinshack.com.
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