The seafood boil: It’s messy. It’s fun. And it’s a whole lot of good eatin’. That’s what Cape Fear Boil Company aims to provide customers, and it’s proven to be a recipe for success.

Cape Fear Boil Company offers customizable Lowcountry-style boils featuring shrimp, andouille sausage, corn, potatoes and more in to-go pots and for catered events and in-home feasts. To make the meals even better, they are served with a side of entertaining repartee from the restaurant’s staff.  

“The seafood boils provide a convenient dining option for out-of-towners,” said Ty Graham, who founded the restaurant. “They can enjoy great seafood in the comfort of a nice home they’ve spent a lot of money to rent without having to wait at a restaurant or incurring large bar bills. Plus, our guys interact with everyone and put on a memorable meal that you don’t get at another dining establishment. It’s more of an experience than a typical meal at a restaurant.” 

Cape Fear Boil Company started as a side hustle. Graham made seafood boils for his family and friends in his apartment kitchen. Soon, though, there was such a demand for his seafood boils that Graham decided to make his sideline a real business. In 2012, Cape Fear Boil Company was born.

Though the concept was simple – the restaurant is little more than a kitchen and storefront – the work was not. Graham was essentially a one-man show. Mornings started early, as he had to do the day’s prep work as well as send out quotes and tend to all the other administrative work entailed in running a restaurant. Evenings were just as harried. Graham, with just one or two helpers, headed out to cater the night’s bookings. 

“I would stagger events, so I could cater one event in Carolina Beach at 5 and then another event in Kure Beach at 7:30,” he said. 

At the same time, Graham had to overcome the challenges of operating a seasonal restaurant. 

Topping the list is ensuring the restaurant has an adequate food supply, especially the tons of seafood it goes through every summer. Doing so can be complicated by the vagaries of the seafood industry. For example, last year Alaska officials shut down the state’s king crab season. As crab legs are one of Graham’s most popular items, it is imperative that he find alternative sources for his best-selling, all-you-can-eat crab legs.

Also, given the seasonal nature of Cape Fear Boil Company’s business, keeping a great employee roster can be tricky. But that, too, is essential to Graham’s success, he said. When scheduling a meal, Graham’s customers often request specific staff members to serve at their events.

“They hang out and share their local knowledge and have become part of the vacationer’s tradition,” Graham said.

Consequently, Graham said he goes out of his way to treat his staff well. He pays good wages and last winter even treated his entire 17-member crew to a week’s vacation in Puerto Rico. 

Like other restaurants, Cape Fear Boil Company has also been hit by supply chain issues and inflation. The cost of crab legs and lobster tails as well as the cost of buckets, which Graham can only use once, have all skyrocketed. And Graham has been forced to raise prices to meet his margins. 

Then there’s the mundane stuff upon which the restaurant turns, like implementing an accountability system to keep track of the equipment used in catering and ensuring communications stay open so last-minute changes in times, dates and locations for events don’t get lost. 

“I had to figure it out along the way,” Graham said. “It’s been a learning curve.”

If numbers are anything to go by, Graham has mastered the lessons of running a successful restaurant. Cape Fear Boil Company had a record high last year of 600 to 700 catered events and 1,000 to-go pots. Its customer base includes Wilmington’s beaches, the Wilmington metropolitan area, Brunswick County and its beaches and the area’s islands. Over the years it has become a go-to solution for wedding and birthday parties as well as vacationers’ dinners, according to Graham. Graham also works with local businesses, counting large corporations such as nCino among his clients.

New business is booming too. Although Graham still puts magnets and menus in vacation homes, now many of his customers learn about the restaurant from social media.

This month, Graham is embarking on a new venture. He’s opening a second restaurant in Oak Island, an area where he has done business for six years. The new venture was serendipitous, according to Graham. The opportunity and the right space became available, and he jumped. 

Having a restaurant situated on the island will give the restaurant an extra edge, Graham said. It can more easily become a dining option for Oak Island’s rapidly growing population and its many vacationers. 

“It will be great to have a footprint in that market and establish a name for ourselves,” Graham said. 

The Oak Island restaurant might be the first of multiple Cape Fear Boil Company locations along the North Carolina coast.   

However, even as Cape Fear Boil Company grows, Graham remains committed to the same low-key concept and the place where it all began. 

“We’ve created something special here,” he said. “We pride ourselves in being a quality organization that always provides good service, and within our community, that is well recognized.”