"Beautiful Vision" Patrick Stubbers and Noah Brendal of SEABEAR OYSTER BAR

Shell to Shore Presents: the SHELLCAST! Episode 5!

Welcome back to ShellCast, a new podcast from the Shell to Shore team about oysters and shoreline conservation.

Our fifth episode features Noah Brendel and Patrick Stubbers, the co-owners of Seabear Oyster Bar. These two long-time friends and business owners provided Shell to Shore with its humble beginnings as our first-ever restaurant partner. These two are deeply passionate about oysters, food,  community, and most importantly, people. These two work incredibly hard to foster a meaningful and fun work environment, and we are proud to call them our friends!

Please enjoy this episode and visit https://seabearoysterbar.com/ for more information!

Support Shell to Shore by becoming a member at https://www.shelltoshore.com/s2smember

Sponsor of our annual fundraiser, "Shellfest", at https://www.shelltoshore.com/shellfest

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey y'all, this is McKendrick Beardon, editor and producer of this first season of the Shellcast. I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to Shell DeShore, an organization that I have grown to have a deeper understanding and admiration for by really by listening along with you. I'm honored and humbled to have a small part in the inspiring work that they're doing. Hope everyone enjoys this final episode. I know that I did. That being said, Patty, this intro is for you. Well, the answer is I was one of their bartenders for ten years. Ten in my heart and a lifetime in my mind. Patrick and Noah are deeply passionate about food, particularly oysters, community, and most importantly, people, and the world in which they inhabit. There is no truer blue than these guys. They're not going to say it, so I'll say it for them. They work incredibly hard to foster a uniquely positive work environment and nurture the interests of those seeking a brief or sometimes lifelong career in the service industry. Seabear has given me some of the fondest memories and lasting friendships of my adult life. It's given me a family. Best job ever, best bosses ever. Sorry, I know I sound like I have sand in my eyes. Well, my boat's not quite as cool as hunting Nick's, but there's plenty of room. All right, let's boogie.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

It's uh it's a pleasure to be here with y'all, sitting here with Patrick Stubbers and Noah Brindle. Thanks, Nick. All four of us sitting on Pulaski Street. Why don't we start off with y'all telling uh a little bit uh uh about yourselves and uh just individually, like who are you? What are you into? What are your what are your hobbies? What do you what do you like to think about?

SPEAKER_04 2:46

This is Patrick Stubbers with Seabird Oyster Bar. Um, I guess you know, oysters are the reason why we're all sitting here talking. Um I like them, they're delicious. Uh we've had a long road of trying to, you know, do the best we can with the extra shells, and uh I

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SPEAKER_04 3:01

don't know. Nice to sit out here with you guys and figure out what we're gonna talk about.

unknown 3:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yeah, uh Noah Brendel, owner, co-owner of Seabar Oyster Bar, along with Patrick. Uh you know, what I like to do personally, um really appreciate uh all things natural, the natural world. Like to get outside, like the mountains, like the coastline, always been intrigued by nature in itself, uh how it operates, how things work, food systems, uh yeah. I mean, pretty much that. You know, as a young kid, started going outside, started learning about food. They the two kind of go hand in hand and always loved fishing and hiking and things that get you outside, and also focused a lot on food when I came in into college. So here we are.

SPEAKER_05 3:55

How'd y'all how'd y'all get to know each other?

SPEAKER_04 3:58

To be honest, I don't know how the first time I met Noah went. Um, but we just have worked together in different facets for a long time, you know, whether it was like definitely food related, food and wine related, um, as far as doing subclub work together, um, as far as just getting to know each other through like dining, through working in two restaurants that were kind of almost across the street from each other. Uh, we competed against each other in a in a you know old school food challenge back in the day with like his restaurant in mine.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

I just forgot about that.

SPEAKER_04 4:28

So, you know, it's like I don't know, it's it's been a mix of things. Um, and with Noah talking about, you know, being into nature, um, it's turned into food and wine and now nature, you know, like learning more about oysters and going out and seeing what what's happening in that world and kind of like it both enjoying the coast. And um, but as far as meeting, it was food and wine and just kind of the proximity of Athens, you know, being close to people who care about the same things.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, for sure. I would, you know, I there's not much to add to that. We were both working for restaurants that were at the time 15, 20 years ago, kind of coming up on the same, like, I don't want to say like farm to table movement, but like more collective consciousness behind food and where it comes from, kind of thing. And Patrick was working at the national at the time. I was working at Farm 255 at the time, and we had a very good friend, common friend, uh, who was kind of like the binder between us. His name was Damien, and he and his friend started the supper club and then kind of recruited Patrick, and over time I got into it. And I would say that our relationship probably really started when we started doing the Four Corseman, which was a supper club that we did here in Athens on, I guess, Pulaski Street. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 5:44

Obviously, we're gonna talk a lot about Seabar, uh, but you can say a little bit more about the Supper Club because that's kind of like a mythological, you know, entity for many people in town. I mean, I think that it has a real repetition.

SPEAKER_04 5:56

The Supper Club was absolutely wild and really like for me, just a really pivotal moment, pivotal moment and just like teaching myself food, teaching myself how to work with others in a kitchen. Um, you know, Noah was a big part of it. Randy, Damien, Nancy, Eddie, our buddy Nathan Brand, uh Aaron Barnhart, Matt Palmerley, Matt Palmerley for sure. Um, the Supper Club was pretty much most of us just wanting to play restaurant in a more serious setting than the restaurants we already worked in. Um and I had a piffy the other day, and it's weird, I never thought about this. It's like all the food we put out of all those years in the supper club usually took four to seven people to plate. And I don't think that's ever been talked about before because people are like, Oh, you did a supper club? It's like, yeah, yeah, but like, yeah, each course was different, but we put a lot of effort into it, and and also honestly, we were just we were teaching ourselves how to like be involved in this industry. So the four course one was a fun, a fun time for all of us, and obviously meeting friends and yeah, making things outstanding.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

A lot of like strong bonds formed during those periods of time, friendships, and just our relationships and our connectivity to food, really, in general. I mean, you know, imagine like working for someone who tells you what to do day in, day out. This is how you make it. You use one cup of this for the two tablespoons of this, and then being able to go into this environment where like there are no rules. And you know, just like in life, you you you you throw some pitches and they're bad, you throw some pitches and they're good. Like, and we had way more, I'd say we had way more hits and we had a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

We had a good batting average, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Where we were batting above above above the above the game, but like I think we were batting above 500. Yeah, we were above 500 for sure. Way better than the Braves are doing right now, anyway. You know, we it was and it was just this magical experience where not, I mean, obviously it was focused around food, but like it was also just about community and bringing 26 to 30 different strangers into a house and sharing this common thing that we all love, which is food, you know, it's like it's something we all have to have. And we all everyone that walked into that house had no idea it was gonna happen. Most of the times, us included, you know, like how are we gonna pull this off? And you know, you share that experience with someone, and that bond just it's you know, it's hard to beat.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

And you know, I I don't know how long has it been since we've done a uh, it's been 10, 11 years because we stopped right before Sieber opened.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah, and and to this day, I really can honestly say I don't think there's a better dining experience in Athens than what those dinners were. I can say that.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

Dude, they were fun, they were really fun.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

I mean, you get a bunch of strangers having cocktails, drinking wine, loosening up, experiencing food with the cooks at the same time that they're experiencing the food. We never tested anything, it was happening like alim and like, hey, we have this idea, we're gonna put all these elements on a plate, we're gonna send them out to these 26 people who paid $100 at the time. Looking back, I'm like, oh my god, what a steal! But like, we're gonna send these out first, and then we're gonna share a plate that

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SPEAKER_01 9:19

we make for ourselves to eat.

SPEAKER_07 9:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

And it was like, holy shit, this is phenomenal. You know, and it was just it was such an experience and like kind of a time and place thing. But that I think is what for me personally, I can't speak for Patrick, but that for me is what personally solidified my like foot in the food movement and like just general interest in cooking. I mean, I had been there, but like this was like okay, this was the thing.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

Well, then so how long from there you guys came up separate, you came to Athens separate, you did restaurants separate, you did the the four coursemen. How long from there to CD Bear? Was it just a year, you said, until C Bear Avenue? Uh C-Bear's 2014.

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Yeah, C Bear's 2014. Um, we started winding down the separate club in 2013-ish. Um, I think we did our last dinner, actually, maybe not 13, less than or early 14.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Like a little, not maybe overlap, but like same year we're in started. Okay. I thought there was more of a gap between. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

No, it was it was very it was very abrupt.

SPEAKER_05 10:42

Well, and that brings us to a pretty important point in in all of our lives. Seabear. Uh Hunt, I want to cue you up to actually get in on this answer a little bit also, uh, to the degree you feel comfortable. But can y'all tell us about how, why seabear started, and some of the history that really jumps out at you as the most kind of memorable?

SPEAKER_04 11:07

Uh yeah, uh Seabrisk started in 2014. Obviously, 2013 was a big year of us like putting it all together and trying to figure things out. Um I think ultimately it started because we needed something in Athens that was just a little different. You know, we'd had a really good run with some great restaurants, and um I was very excited about sustainability working at the National for a long time uh with Peter Dale, and you know, he was the chef and I was the six chef, and we kind of wanted to do something else that involved a sustainable aspect of seafood, and it's kind of hard to find something more sustainable um than oysters. I consider oysters proactive more than sustainable personally. I think being involved is a is a is a statement um as opposed to a passive way to um you know help things out. Um so yeah, we uh we'd we'd traveled a bunch and we had always found ourselves at the end of events at an oyster bar because you you're done cooking for the evening, you're done catering for the evening, you probably want a beer and you probably want like not a cheeseburger right away, at least, you know. You want a couple small bites before you get into something big. And uh there's something about oysters that just like to me elongate a meal and make you kind of feel relaxed before you get into actually like big eating. Um, so I don't know, there's Athens just felt like it it it was ready for something

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SPEAKER_04 12:25

that was kind of on trend to move forward as far as an industry, and and things that have changed in the past 10 years as far as oysters go is has been monumental, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

So yeah, I mean let the record reflect, in the words of a wise man. Patrick started Seabear, and I wasn't a partner initially. I came in, I don't know, maybe somewhat like a year kind of Hunt Revel and I came in around the same time, about a year and a half, a year and some change. And I can't attest to like the early, early days of seabear as much as I can say that I think I was a part of this

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SPEAKER_01 13:09

kind tying tying into the four coursemen. We had taken a trip to uh California, and we did a trip up the coastline, and we went to a spot called the Marshall Store.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

Good point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

And we just like sat there and ate oysters and like just dominated this meal. And like there was not, I mean, you know, 75 degree day sitting on the on Tamales Bay on like a reclaimed bench,

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SPEAKER_01 13:38

eating as many fresh oysters and Dungeness Crab cocktails that are we could act actually fit in our mouths. And you know, I I can't say I can't attest to this whether or not this was one of the reasons why an oyster bar end up ended up happening in Patrick's mind, but I feel like that moment for me was very monumental and like, holy cow, this is an awesome thing that's happening out here. Like oysters, holy cow, they don't exist, you know. You could get them maybe a la carte at five and ten at the at the time, but like there wasn't a lot of promotion behind it. And you know, I'd like to I'd like to think that the trip that we took as the four courseman was kind of a segue into Patrick coming up with this idea and being like, man, why don't we do something like this in town where like you know we have this option for this super sustainable seafood?

SPEAKER_04 14:26

Yeah, no, that's great.

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SPEAKER_04 14:28

I I honestly hadn't thought about it like that before, but a lovier than that. Uh that was a great trip. And just yeah, you know, being close to like the food source you're enjoying is pretty amazing, you know. People ask, you know, what what's the best oyster? It's like, well, what's the closest oyster? What's the freshest oyster? What's uh what's right on right now, you know. It's an active search to find the best oyster because there's always gonna be a better one the next day if you're closer to the farm or fresher to the uh harvest date.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Huh? What do you remember about those days? Oh man. I mean, uh to Noah's point, I I do remember the early days of seaber because I was sitting at bar one drinking the grony slushies uh for a year before I came and joined in. Patrick and I had worked at the national together, had helped open the national together back in 07, and then he stayed along. I came and went through some New York years, but uh I think I was working at the university too, and then sort of along and along started talking to Patrick about coming in and and helping with bar and service and kind of just building the program, building the fan base. And with Noah's help, we I think that's what what we brought to the table is a little just a little extra peer help and energy. I mean, they were doing a great job with food already. Place looked beautiful, but we we we brought some more vibes.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Yeah, I mean you you talk about you talk to anybody who owns a restaurant, and you know, the first year is gonna be up and down, you know. And I think when people hear that, they think, oh, business was good or business was bad. It's like, no, up and down means like every single aspect could be better, and you can't pay attention to it until somebody shows up that helps in a way that you never knew they could help. So, you know, these two guys showed up and and created a spot for each of themselves in Seabare that was just like better than it could ever be, you know. Restaurants are hard work. Um, and and having close friends who you've known and worked with is a huge positive.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Shell to Shore is a community built by friends, neighbors, and partners across the state of Georgia. A

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SPEAKER_00 16:37

partner to save our legacy ourselves, a nonprofit dedicated to Geechee culture and land reclamation on Zappalo Island, educating the next generation of environmental stewards, taking community-based action against climate change, surely a way to get your shell to our shore.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

Yeah. Well, one of the pieces of this combo, that sounds right.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

That sound bite is perfect.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

You know, I mean, seabear also happened in in on the early side of a context of a lot of other sustainable restaurants, oyster restaurants in Georgia, not in Athens. And so curious how you guys see how Seabear has developed and become a part of like uh those other restaurants that we know our friends run, Kimball House or uh when when Chris went down to Husk or Miller Union with Steven and Sustainability, Oyster South. It was a nonprofit that kind of came out of all that.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Broches now and stuff, you know, just I mean, I can I can start talking about you know early restaurants and early oyster culture in Atlanta and Athens, you know, because Noah brought up uh five and ten was the only place that we could go get singles, you know, single raw oysters, and they did a great job and it was wonderful. Um when seabeers first got first started being talked about, we went to the Optimist, you know. Um Adam Evans was kicking ass, you know. It was it was his early days, you know. Now he's done so much great stuff. He's in uh Birmingham with an automatic seafood, and you know, like total badass. And it was like, okay, cool, he's got this thing going, it's great, people love these oysters. And at the same time, you know, the Kimball House guys were, you know, I think they were all brick store boys. Um, they were like, let's do a spot here. And it was like interesting, you know, like a lot was going on in the oyster world, and it wasn't about the sustainability that we have now, it was about like we love this, we want to get better at it. And I remember being at the first um Oyster South symposium. I don't even know if it officially at the symposium yet, but it was kind of just like a bunch of us hanging out in Kimball House, and the Murder Point Oyster guys were talking to us about like how they got things going through through uh um whatever the university was Bill Walton down at Auburn, yeah. Exactly, through Bill Walton in Auburn, Auburn, yeah. So, you know, Dauphin Island and all that area, you know, they were kind of like, hey guys, like this is what we've been doing in Alabama, and as new restaurant owners, you know, Kimball House opened a little bit before six months, seven months before Seabayar, maybe maybe a little more, but um, you know, they were just as excited about like what is up with the Georgia oyster scene, how can we like get involved? And obviously, you know, they've gotten involved in a very, very strong way, which is amazing. Um, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

What about oysters? What about so all the you guys are bringing in oysters all the time now? We're seeing way more out of the south, but everywhere. You know, we just talked about restaurants that you knew were excited about and are doing new things. What oysters are you excited about and farmers that are doing new things and cool things?

SPEAKER_01 19:35

I mean I could go on for days about which oysters I think are doing great things, but right now I'm gonna focus on the fact that I think that the Georgia oysters and the South Carolina oysters are really coming onto the scene pretty hard. Uh, you know, the May River guys, Patrick and I.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Austin and Andrew, their May Rivers are just absolutely delicious right now. I'm both in South Carolina, pretty much Georgia. Yeah. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

They're putting out oysters that, you know, they have a terroir and a they have all they have everything you're looking for. It's the right size, it's the right consistency, it's plump, it's got minerality, it's got the right brine. It's like, you know, when you taste an oyster for the first time, a lot of people are like, oh, well, it's just salty. But like if you eat enough of them, you start to realize like there are some like some differences in the oysters, and you start to kind of like identify them as you eat more oysters, and you know, as a Georgia oyster bar, Georgia oysters are like, you know, I'm here for it. Like, bring it on. I want to if I could if we could sell Georgia oysters, if we could, you know, seabear consistently has six varieties of oysters on the the board at all times. And if three of those were Georgia oysters, I would rep it every day that we could. I mean, it's just, you know, a lot of that has to go into sustainability, you know. You got to think about it. Like, yes, oysters, like Patrick was mentioning earlier, obviously they're sustainable, but when you're bringing them in from Canada, from Texas, from wherever you're bringing them, Washington State, like what's the carbon footprint of that single oyster? Because they're heavy, they're they're they're shell, you know. You're you shuck a shell, and you know, the the weight of the shell itself is far more than what's inside of it. So the more that we can keep local and travel less and have a smaller carbon footprint, the better.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

But that being said, especially when flavor-wise they can compete with like a lot of people. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

So when local is so good, you know, and I I I don't want to jump ahead in this conversation because I have a feeling we're gonna get there eventually. But whatever Georgia is doing with oysters is the opposite of what we should be doing, because we are so far behind every other state. And I'm like, bring it on. We want oysters, we want. everything and there's there's so much I feel like y'all can probably attest to this more because you're way more involved on that that side of things than we are but what are we doing like why are why don't we have why aren't there 25 oyster farms on the coast of Georgia to pick from when Alabama sorry go dogs Alabama has you know 10 that you can choose from South Carolina has inlets North Carolina Florida I mean Florida has more oyster farms and there's this rumor that you can't eat oysters when months at N and R and they're still crushing us. I'm like what is you know also that rumor's not true but side tangent here. I'm just I get heated when we talk about Georgian oysters because I hate bureaucratic bullshit and I'm sorry for the French. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

You know one of the things we we hear at these conferences symposiums is that in Georgia maybe there's not enough demand to to float more oyster farms.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Yeah coming from guys that own oyster bars or coming from guys that just sit in an office all day and like point fingers at people because that's who I want to talk to.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

Yeah I mean you if if you want a culture to happen you have to like be part of creating it. You know you can't be like the one who says no let's stop doing this. You have to be the one who says great let's give it a shot because obviously all the states around us have given it a shot and it's working pretty well um for you know South Carolina North Carolina Florida and you know that's all the stuff that's like right here. Not to mention the rest of the states in the southeast that are doing great work with oysters. I mean we had great oysters from Texas the other day and people were like oh Galveston blah blah blah it sounds this way this way this you know like oil blah blah but it's like no like there's clean rivers going into the ocean and we're working on both sides of it you know we want clean water to come through so we can farm oysters in clean salty water.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Also not to interrupt but have you like this tying into like my uh interest in nature growing up like spent a lot of time on the Georgia coast went to I probably went to Saplow Island or Cabrera more specifically more times than uh I eat I had eaten oysters by the time I went to college we have a giant coastline giant I mean I think I I don't know the stat and I don't want to rifle off something I'm not a hundred percent sure of but our marshlands are vast and our potential for oyster farming is just out of control. I feel like this is a total Wagner but I feel like we're using about two percent of what we could be using in terms of oyster farming.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Yeah I mean our intertidals are intertidal coastways are beautiful and yeah I mean you know like I think Georgia's done a great job with their hundred miles and we got people that are actively caring about our coast right now and it's just tying the two in together you know oyster farming is caring about the coast and you know any other type of like coastal restoration any other type of like watershed restoration is oyster restoration you know it's about helping it all the whole system at once and and oyster farming and I mean honestly it'd be though is right it'd be awesome to have more farmers in Georgia because the flavor profile is going to change right now we have a few and we're we're not they're they're close together they're not like right next to each other all the time but the flavors are different you know you never know how different the flavor is going to be an oyster and

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SPEAKER_04 25:23

we have a lot more room to cover yeah and and you know specifically the terroir that's the potential untapped terroir in Georgia coastline alone is like I'm excited to taste you know yeah we have several oysters coming out of the you know like the Bull River the Bull River area and then you've got the Macintosh guys down in Harrisneck but you know geographically in the state those areas are pretty close together you know to see some places to see some oyster farms popping up south of south of Jekyll uh St.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Mary's like down by the coast of Florida like it would be interesting to see those different I mean we have huge tides I mean Georgia has eight foot to ten foot tidal swells and whenever you have big tides your oysters are just getting flushed with new minerals new water like it's just like every time the tide comes in and out they're just getting like new water to filter new minerals new everything and it's like what are we doing?

SPEAKER_04 26:18

Yeah I mean we've barely played with like a river versus like full salt you know like we're talking about like brackish waters right now where like Bull River and and down in Harris Neck but like I mean if you got the money and you can take these out to like full ocean salt what how salty would that be in Georgia you know dude I how wild would that East Coast oyster be?

SPEAKER_01 26:37

I would love to taste that oyster I mean it it it's wild.

SPEAKER_04 26:40

We have so much room to like grow this industry um and just really like like no said make different miroir tastes happen.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Shell DeShore is grateful for the Berkeley Hynan Environmental Foundation working toward a better environment through the spirit and legacy of Berkeley Hynan. Burke cared deeply about the environment and people and he did all he could in life to help both. He was part of the very first crew of Shell ToShore interns and his loving spirit created an energy that holds our internship program together today. The intern program is made possible thanks to unwavering support from the Berkeley Hynan Environmental Foundation and further support from the UGA Odom School of Ecology, Wilson Center for the Humanities, Office of Sustainability, and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. More information on the Berkeley Hynan Environmental Foundation can be found at heinenfoundation.org and on Instagram at Instagram.com forward slash Berkeleyhynan E F. If you or someone you know wants to become a Shell to shore intern, please send an email and resume to N-H-E-Y-N-E-N at UGA dotedu.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Yeah is this a podcast on how Georgia can do better about making oysters or is this about shell to shore sorry tangent obviously two guys that have owned an oyster bar for a long time sold I don't know a million plus oysters in the span of 10 or 11 years have a pretty good like hand on like what's going on in this is what we want.

SPEAKER_05 28:15

Seems like a a good point to you know what one of the reasons we're here is because Seabear is one of all of our favorite restaurants in different ways uh another reason we're here is that Seabare is the mothership connection for Shelter Shore in terms of the place where you know Shelter Shore was born out of uh lots of things I think to say about that and wondering from y'all's perspective how do you feel about Seabear's role in helping launch Shelter Shore uh I feel great about it.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Honestly like working with Shelter Shore has been awesome because

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SPEAKER_04 28:54

you know it was a lot of times it was sitting around being like why are these things going in the dump? What can we do? What can we do? We've had people take them to make their driveways on Pulaski Street here. We've had people take them to make art we've taken them to you know like grind up for chicken feed um but ultimately like that's great for a small community in Athens that's like gonna help us do these shells but the volume we're creating needed another outlet and something that like we said like I said earlier you know like shellfish is not just sustainable it's proactive you know so you eat shellfish you create new product that can help restore reefs you know it's it's a it's a whole different wild world when it comes to what oysters can do. So obviously we were stoked you know I mean Tyler was working with us Hunt was working with us Noah was working with us we were all kind of like at this moment we were just like we got to do better than this and on you know unfortunately COVID freed up a lot of time for a lot of people and that's when I think you know Tyler and Hunt really like took some time to be like well shit let's really focus and like figure out what this step is because you know Noah and I were there every day just you know trying to keep the business alive and you know they they had they had they had time to help out with some things that we honestly like in a weird way wanted to happen for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

But it you know a hard time to start a nonprofit when you're a restaurant during COVID. But that being said watching thousands and thousands of pounds of oyster shells just get put into plastic bags and taken to your local dumping that the shells are full of minerals and calcium and essentially what the ocean thrives on from a cyclical point naturally like oysters die they turn into sand they become substrate for more oysters you know whatever it may be you know it it just made sense to send them back to the coastline well you know at that at that time you know you wanted a little hope you know you wanted like to work on something that felt good and you know like COVID didn't make a lot of people feel really good all the time so like actually seeing that somebody's starting a project that like wanted to like help was pretty fucking positive honestly well and you know related to that what do you what do you guys like about what Shelter Shore's been doing kind of since it got going or like what's what's most exciting to you about Shelter Shore now and we're just we're just coming off a shell fest and the future of restoration we're putting some stuff in the water what you know what's exciting to you bringing people together putting shell in the water question. You know I think personally for me at this exact time of life not and I'm not trying to drive this into a a a political situation but I feel like right now more than ever our sciences and our environment are in dire need of whatever help they can get and unfortunately at like the cheapest price they can get it. And so for me right now you know in hindsight I'm like I'm really glad that we're recycling these shells to go back to the coast to create substrate or you know erosion control for some of these islands that are you know we're battling global warming we're battling you know development we're battling all these things that are just eroding and slowly killing our shorelines some of it natural albeit most of it not for the most part um pollution I should have mentioned that like you know oysters are filtering I think I don't know Patrick can maybe help me with this statistic but I think it's 50 gallons of water a day per oyster if you think about that per oyster filtering whatever we as humans put into their environment and they filter it out. So you know for me right now what shell to shore means to me is just like hope. You know it's like this vision of the future that we're gonna leave our shorelines better than what was left to us or at least do our part to make sure that we're trying to make an effort to make it what it can be or what it should be.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Yeah yeah no I mean Shelter Shore has been wonderful to work with um it's honestly like it's not a really hard thing for our staff to deal with you know like they're really happy to be involved in recycling um our staff has been like oh that's all I need to do like can I be involved more I was like yeah volunteer with the boys like they'll have they'd be happy to have you you know but it's been really nice to like work with this organization who makes it easy to promote all the stuff you want to promote you know I mean like Noah just said there's so many great things that are happening with Oyster Shell and it's it's it's not a hard process you know um the shell can do more than we can all we got to do is just move it you know like we get it to the right place and it's gonna do its thing it's gonna attract its you know community it's gonna attract its environment it's gonna help the erosion it's gonna help all these things um unfortunately it just it isn't a isn't a shellfish that can move on its own so uh we gotta we gotta get it back there um I don't know shell of shore's been really fun you know you guys are great friends and the whole community seems like they're really intrigued about it um I think that the interest level after you know being around from day one or pre-day one to wherever we are now almost four or five years I think has been a huge change and I think that's symptomatic of the fact that the oyster industry has made a huge change in 10 years and it's really really about you know connecting everyone and connecting all the points not just like we're we're one here we're one here it really is you know like we wanted to be more than just selling oysters we wanted to recycle you know we wanted to give back and it's it's a way to really try to like you know put your put your mouth where your money is or put your money where your mouth is whatever you want to say but it's like cool I'm eating oysters I'm helping things you know

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SPEAKER_04 34:59

I don't know I love show I mean in addition to what Patrick was saying just to elaborate just a hair on relationships I mean showed a shore for seabear has done marvelous things in terms of connecting the farmers oh absolutely to the distributors to the restaurateurs to the customers it it's it's acted as like a cohesive element that just brings everyone together which just makes everything better about it because there's a story to tell like you can sit down and you can talk about hey man this shell came from here they're going to they're going to do this in this area and it's just you know it's just that that that that dialogue that you want to hear about when it when you're talking about food. Which is well I mean we just did a we just did shell fest it was outstanding I think we had 20 oyster farms represented 15 of which were shucking their own oysters and

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SPEAKER_04 35:51

just like watching those guys do their thing together and just realizing like their job is so wild and so hard and wonderful and then we're just kind of like this whole other world and I'm trying to like buy oysters and like recycle oyster shells and hell like the farmers are still trying to do that too but like it's a big world out there with oysters and it's like really intriguing nonstop every time I meet folks every time like Shell DeShore gets an event I just find some way to be like man y'all are the best you know like you guys are so fun. It's great to just talk to you about like how real your work is and like how much everyone actually cares about the fact that this work is not only delicious but has an impact to our future.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Yeah for sure and and you know it's I I only thought of this right after you said that but the the connection point between people that run restaurants chefs whatever you want to call us restaurateurs and oyster farmers is real because the amount of work that goes into each one of those processes is insane. And it's something hold on we got a pause for a Pulaski Street train coming through here to the music.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

Yeah cue the music for all you guys listening live yeah for all y'all listening live but the point being is that like there's a commonality there's respect between and a bond that forms between oyster farmers and restaurateurists because we both I think respect how difficult the life can be you know and how how honestly how risky it is like they're both risky industries you know oyster farmers are dealing with you know environmental I don't know environmental things such as global warming hurricanes you know they're battling the elements to get out there every day freezing temperatures like you know whatever nature can throw at you it certainly is going to and on the flip side of that restaurants are dealing with you know whatever it may be at the time tariffs or you know regulations you guys have hinted at this and Bill Walton came up earlier and I've I've gotten where I'm thinking I'm calling Bill the the godfather of the southern oyster you know like he just kind of started all of this and one of the things he mentioned recently to us uh through like kind of a research project really about branding and marketing is the idea of the of shell upcycling because he's working with all these oyster farmers from Virginia to the Gulf right to Texas about how they're growing oysters what's working for

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SPEAKER_03 38:38

them what's not and he's like you know what you guys should be getting a lot to the farmers a lot of credit because you are creating millions of new oyster shells that did not exist before so you're not just recycling oysters that grow wild and need to go back on the wild reefs. You are creating a whole new resource that and he wants to call it upcycling is sort of the the branding name he's given and happened to me recently in one of these symposiums where Bill was there that somebody asked me about seabear and they said do you so like what percentage of the oysters that you serve are like aquacultured and you know create new shell? And I was like oh all of them just about 99% and she was just blown away you know this is still a question that I'm sure you guys hear in the restaurant.

SPEAKER_04 39:20

No that's that's wild because you know I remember being at the same at the oyster south symposium when Bill Walton was talking about upcycling and giving a a round of applause to the oyster farmers for like hey just because you guys are you know like think your farm's hard or you know your farm's hard and you know that like you're trying to have a demand for your product you're also creating something that can actually like be productive you know so it was really cool to hear Bill talk about um upcycling because we really are we're creating a lime there not we exactly I'm just selling them but uh the oyster farmers are creating a you know post-market product that is nothing but sustainable and helpful so I think it was really cool to to hear Bill's Bill say things along those lines and kind of like he is the godfather of the Southern oyster yeah we should just keep following Bill. Yeah yeah I mean Bill Bill has helped I think more people than anyone maybe I mean he probably he'd probably say something about somebody else who'd helped someone more because he's just a great person. Um loved taking his uh he was part of the uh little class that Nick and I did did an online course uh out of Florida just kind of seeing what it

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SPEAKER_04 40:29

would take to be an oyster farmer you know and he's nothing but smart and resourceful and very willing to share and promote this industry.

SPEAKER_05 40:42

So a second ago you said that recycling the shells is not that hard and you know you were the first restaurant now that we work with 27 restaurants in the state of Georgia but there are a lot of restaurants we're not working with and a lot of restaurants have different kinds of complaints or

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SPEAKER_05 41:00

you know issues barriers and from your perspective we're wondering like advice that you have for other restaurants that you know we're trying to bring in to make it as easy as possible.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

For sure for sure that's a tough one because that's uh my my initial thought is get over it and make it happen. I mean it you know if for every change in a restaurant it requires a little bit of effort on your end and it's always going to but if you're in it for the right reasons then you're gonna do things for the right cause and you know for Patrick and I personally at Seabear like yes we we pay we're essentially paying people every on a busy shift to run shells to our shell recycling just like disposal container in the back you know once an hour. And we ask them to do that and they're more than happy to do it. And when they're gone then we have to shuck oysters because they're the ones that are shucking oysters so we're doing it now. But like you make a little bit of a sacrifice for the future of the industry. And is is kind of the way that I see it. I'm like it's really not that hard. Yeah shell to shore has they're very accommodating you guys give us bins you give us everything we need you provide the infrastructure literally all you have to do is put a separate little bin aside to throw your shells into and try and separate the trash because that's what I was going to say is like the the immediate little breakdown at Seabear is uh we have two guys shucking oysters on the weekends you know we have one guy shucking oysters during the week um each trash can has a 18 quart cambro that's sitting on half of it so obviously the top shell from the oyster shuckers go right into the cambro on the oyster shucking line every plate that comes back to the dish pit has another cambro it sitting in a trash can and we take all the bottom shell that comes from the customer that goes right into that.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

The amount of like crossover contamination has really not been hard. You know like like people are pulling lemons and throwing them in the trash and then the shells go in. You know it's like it's kind of shockingly to me like not a step that's added a lot of work to

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SPEAKER_04 43:14

you know separating your dishes every as as you work as anyone who's worked in a restaurant knows you have to separate things when they go to the dish bed or when they when you're when they're clean if they go to like the back bar. You know like there's there's always a part of working in a restaurant which is separating clean and dirty you know so like this is kind of like okay cool like it's not that big of a step we're asking you

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SPEAKER_04 43:34

know like shove these shells here and shove all the you know a couture somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Also I feel like the the modern day consumer if you will is much more eco conscious. And so for us we get a lot of like bonus points for teaming up with shell shore because we're doing something that brings us positive publicity and And if you're in the restaurant industry and you say no to publicity, I'm sorry, you're an idiot. Like, take the publicity, do the minimal effort it requires to put some shells into a tank that they pick up every week and move on with the cell with yourself. And just use their social media platforms and use everything that they give you in order to make it better for your restaurant. I mean, it's it's a win-win situation. You're doing something positive for the environment, you're not sending anything to the landfill, and you can tell your customers that you're partnered with Shell DeShore who's gonna promote you on their social platforms and like boost you. Like in this day and age, it's hard to get free advertising and it's essentially free advertising.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

Yeah, I mean, you know, we're we're not young kids, we're older bros in this day and age, but one thing I see is that, you know, people just care about the full circle and like being involved in the full buying, selling, giving back cycle of oysters, and having Shell Shore be involved is kind of just like, I mean, it's the stuff we talked about as kids, like trying to get to. And I feel like this generation is especially like has their eye out for businesses that are willing to like give a little bit, give a little bit back.

SPEAKER_06 45:20

Good stuff, guys.

SPEAKER_03 45:22

Is it you guys feel good? Excellent stuff. Real ego boosting conversation here.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Good talk, good talk, bros. Is it the uh is it the point in the conversation where we ask you guys questions? Are we flipping?

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Not yet, not yet. We got one more, we got one more question. Yeah, we'll we maybe we can guide their question a little bit by talking about the future. Yeah, you know, future we started with you guys individually and how you came together and what seabar's done and with the launch of Shell to Shore and we're five years rolling. What are you guys excited about in the future of oysters, restaurants, restoration, etc.?

SPEAKER_01 46:04

Uh personally we might go on, we might go on a little bit. Yeah, we have to do it.

SPEAKER_04 46:08

It just could be a long-winded answer, and I'll let I'll I mean I'll just try to say something quick um to start with. But um seeing what has happened in the past 10 years with seabear, with the southern oyster culture, um, with um how sustainability has changed, with watching, you know, the Chesapeake Bay 10 years ago being like the first bay that has, you know, really like resustained their oyster harvest, resustained their whole area. Um, I I I think I'm just excited to be a player in the game right now. You know, like I'm excited to like keep the restaurant open so that I know that like we're promoting oyster culture, that we have shelled to go back. Um in the future, I'd love to see just the fact that in 10 years the South has made a big change. And any state that like thinks they might be behind the times or can't do it, like could make a change too. Um there's there's a there's a responsibility for everyone outside of just the coast, you know. It's about eating oysters wherever you are, it's about cleaning your waterways, it's about making sure your whole stream system, your whole watershed is gonna feed healthier water to the coast. Um I think education is a huge focal point, and that's kind of both the restaurant's responsibility and Shell to Shores, you know, to like talk to people, let them know like this is a fun way to be involved. I don't know. I'm excited, I'm excited for it.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

I mean I don't know. It's I'm I'm really just excited in the future to see what Shell to Shore does with our shells. That's a great point. I want to see I want to go to Saplo, I want to go to Cabretta, these are barrier islands off the coast of Georgia. I want to go see like how the efforts that we've made in the last five years are are being used for the betterment of you know this whole idea. Because, you know, and and and not to throw daggers across the table here at my boys, but you know, we haven't seen a lot of I don't know what what what what we haven't seen a lot of progress in the terms of like what's the shell being used for. And this isn't this this probably goes back to what I was touching on earlier. This probably has little to do with shell to shore as an organization and more to do as Georgia as just being asshat backwards and not allowing good things to happen on our coastline. I mean, there is a it is a win-win situation when you start taking shells that are recycled and put them back into the ocean. There is zero negative effect to what we're trying to do. And I feel like Shell to Shore as an organization, oyster farmers as a as an entity have been hitting roadblocks upon roadblocks upon roadblocks. And I'm sick of it. I'm like, I'm ready for things to start happening. And in the future, what I want to see, I want to see good things happening from the shells that everyone is taking this effort to recycle. I mean, and that's the realest shit that I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_04 49:30

I think Noah's completely right. Um, it's uh it feels like we're just a little behind the times, and we have every state around us that are willing to do these things that we're just either not willing to try or scared to put out in the world. Um, but you know, this isn't a new industry, like it's been happening in a very wonderful way for way over 10 years, which is only the time. Seabreat's only been around for 10 years, and we're just getting into like 10 years worth of this history that's happened forever and ever. You know, it's like, come on, y'all. We can we can do better than this. We can stop getting it tied up and we can start getting people's actual like science and quality data involved in what's gonna happen with our oysters. And like I said, everyone around us is doing it. My boys in Bluffton, South Carolina, the Minnie Mays, the May River guys, Andrew and Austin, they're great dudes. They're literally like a mile or three above Georgia.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

From Savannah Harbor, right?

SPEAKER_04 50:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

I mean, they're they're you know, they're right there, and it's like, how can we not be discussing with yeah, well, well, why aren't we as Georgia not talking with other states that our border our coastline, Florida, South Carolina, you know, Alabama? Why aren't we using the research that they've already spent the money on and using that towards our benefit? I mean, it is it is insane. I mean, and I know that you guys probably can't say this because it's bullshit. Let's make it happen. Like, now is the time. It's not gonna get any better than this. Like, we have to jump on this right now, use the shell, eat more oysters, stop eating as much beef, eat sustainable. Done.

SPEAKER_04 51:20

Yeah, dude. Eat like a fish, right, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 51:22

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 51:23

Eat like fish, a book we've we've all been passing around. Um it's an amazing research. Bryn Smith, that's right. Yeah, we should have. Shout out to Brent Smith. Excited for the future, excited for things to change, honestly. Because exactly what Noah just said, we're not beh just behind the times. We're being stubborn about being behind the times. We are being stubborn about like trying to find it our own way when it's already happened around us, and there is a way forward that's faster than what's happening right now.

SPEAKER_03 51:55

Well, and Nick, you know, maybe in response to that, probably by the time this airs, we'll have better news than we do currently. But you were on Sablow last weekend, two weekends ago. That's true. Yeah. Um, and we're very, very currently awaiting any day.

SPEAKER_05 52:11

Any day now, we're gonna get the Army Corps permit that's gonna allow us to put the shell in, and we are completely staged to do so, so we will have very good news soon.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

What who are the organizations that have been holding it up or dragging their feet or just not making it happen for three years? Like, what why is it taking so long to get something into the to the water? I can tell you. Like, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't, I that that seems very like accusing. I should not say that in that tone, but I'm like, what's the whole like why is it taking so long?

SPEAKER_03 53:32

I mean, I think we all knew we are what we what we didn't know when we started was what it was all gonna take to make it happen, right? We knew we could kind of work with restaurants to start collecting shell. We knew there was a use for the shell. We knew that wild oyster farmers on the Georgia coast and elsewhere were putting shell back in the water as part of a public process. But as you mentioned earlier, we started during COVID and we also started right at the time that Georgia's aquaculture laws kind of were hitting. They were passed in 2019-2020, but then COVID came, and so the implementation got further delayed because of that. And so the two things that it requires are our funding, which we didn't quite have. It requires a little bit of money and planning and engineering and hydrologists and plans and permits through the state, Department of Natural Resources, which also works with the federal government Army of Corps of Engineers. Same people that permit the aquaculture process, permit the restoration process. COVID times, especially on the federal level, a lot of people weren't at work. It was hard it was hard to find people in the office to get, for example, Tybee Oyster, get their permits across the board. Um, there's a lot of wild oyster farmers who have cults that they would like to be deploying that haven't been able to deploy for a couple of years. We we've had this conversation too. So but there's also just been the funding and and getting the plans together on our end and and figuring out how exactly can we do it. And NOAA, the national, not you NOAA, but the National OC Atmospheric Administration has uh has finally you know funded something that is so far made it through Doge's grip, yeah, that is allowing us to make this happen. And it's a three-year process. This is the first summer has to happen. The other thing is timing has to happen between March and September when the wild spat is setting.

SPEAKER_07 55:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:29

And we had to get out there and test that last year to figure out where to do it, to put our plans and designs and permits together for this summer. So it really is like a we didn't know in the beginning how many years in advance you had to freaking plan to make some shit happen. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

I think some of the stuff Hunt just said is exactly like what I want to hear in the next podcast is like what it took to get to where you guys are as far as putting seed and shell in the ocean. I think that's gonna be a huge podcast. And and it doesn't have to be like that you've done it already. It's just like letting people know where it is. Um, like talking to, you know, I think Brock is one of the main guys you guys work with.

SPEAKER_07 56:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 56:06

Um, and just like hearing him talk about, you know, like here we are, you know, like this is what it takes. You know, this is five years in from one recycling program to what it actually takes to like work, you know. So it's like what it reminds me of is like every day there's a reason to give a shit about something because it's gonna take five years for it to be implemented, you know, like reminding people that like things take time is never is never a bad idea in my mind.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

It was five years in a series before we were humming.

SPEAKER_04 56:35

Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. It takes time, it takes time to hum.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

Yep. I had a an old friend that used to ask me repeatedly, what's your five-year plan? I had no idea, you know, but you know, in Heights', I wish I did.

SPEAKER_04 56:50

Now the five-year plan is to uh get oyster shells and keep watching them grow.

SPEAKER_03 56:54

Well, and I think you're right, Patty, because I think the what what we need for all the shit that's happening politically and climate-wise is like exponential growth on all this. Yeah. And so to be able to take what took us five years and replicate that so people could so we could knock it out in one or two would be what that could do for our coast, for the southeast, for the salt marsh.

SPEAKER_04 57:16

You know, let's let's let me let it be said, you know, Shuttle Shore is is an amazing entity, and I think that it's wild to see that looking at Shuttle Shore's work and then slowly digging into the internet of what other states have done, especially states around us, it's pretty amazing. Like, y'all are killing it, but you guys ain't the first one, and you ain't gonna be the last one. So, like watching what's happening in different through different universities and sometimes through different oyster farmer collectives, and sometimes, you know, South Carolina, uh the Ghost Coast guys have a one small collective great work, you know. We're down in Florida, and uh just one little community of shell recycling that was slightly linked to Florida State, had one had one little you know, tourist city like covered in in shell recycling. So it's like we're like we're we're part of a community, you know. It's not just not just us, it's just it's about like wholeheartedly giving a shit.

SPEAKER_01 58:13

Yeah, yeah. You know, I think independently of that the challenges that you guys face as an organization, shell to shore, is that a lot of these places that we're talking about are on the coastline, and it doesn't require much effort to get your shell to the recycling center or you know, wherever the the landing zone may be. But you know, we're three, four hundred, five hundred miles inland, and so there is a logistic element to it that is different, and I think maybe that's gonna be a barrier that you guys are just gonna have to break through with some of these restaurant partners is like, hey, like if you can sell it here fresh, you can get rid of it dead, you know, like you can send it back to the coast. Like it's there's no time frame on once you crack that oyster and it's eaten to the point where it gets from the trash or recycling to the coast. Like, you got what, I think six months before you can legally put it back in the water. Like, you know, breaking that barrier of, I think, inland is like the hardest thing because people are just not accustomed to it. They don't see the ocean every day, they don't see the erosion, they don't see all these things that are affecting us, but like focusing on those things inland, I think will help you gain partners for shore-to-shore recycling.

SPEAKER_04 59:35

To to add to the the next podcast, what Noah just said about like what it takes to like get an oyster to the coast just to wait, you know, like why? I mean, I don't know if people know we have to clean off and dry out debris and potential pathogens from other environments. You know, we're recycling not just oysters from Georgia, we're recycling oysters that are being sold from both coasts all down the Atlantic seaboard. And it's about them taking a moment to like, you know, kind of dry out and clean themselves up of possible pathogens. Like it's a big world, and uh there's there's a lot of like little steps that I think are for me is into the science side of it are very interesting. It's like why do we have to like collect them here and rest them here and then we get them and then we bag them? You know, there's a there's a huge like process podcast I think you guys would be killing it on.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:28

Yeah, Nick, would you like to dry out and rid yourself of certain pathogens?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:32

I would. I'd very much like to do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:35

It's called the sauna, it's right behind us. Speaking of which, this podcast has been brought to you by the native bird species of Pulaski Street.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:46

The frog pond is quiet tonight, but we're grateful for your time. Yeah, grateful for your investment in this endeavor. You guys are dying about us. We wouldn't have been able to get where we are without y'all. I think that's very important to say. 100%. Thanks, man. And uh we look forward to to seeing how all this unfolds with with y'all.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:07

Yeah, let's check back in about what's happened.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:24

This shellcast was produced, edited, and engineered by McKendrick Beardon, featuring music by Chris Astria, Virginica, and the shellcasters, copy by Mary Margaret Cozart, and visual art by Michelle Dross and Tyler Leslie. Special thanks to Jordan Cutz for early organization of audio files and editing episode 10 list. See y'all at the shore.