Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Murphy.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started working in a kitchen at the age of 16. After culinary school, I had a chance to work at some of the top restaurants and resorts in the country. I moved to Atlanta in 2006 to work as a Sous Chef in a seafood restaurant and worked my way up to the Executive Chef position. After honing my craft at that level, I wanted to branch out and start my own company or restaurant. After thinking long and hard, I realized there was a need for specialty catering. We decided to find something unique that we could bring to the Atlanta area. We started our catering company specializing in seafood with a passed oyster service. Our servers basically have a full oyster bar around their waist, they walk around and open oysters on demand. We’ve now expanded our catering menu offering anything from Luaus to 5-course dinners. For the Luaus we go all out, from the whole roasted pig to a Luau dancer. Next spring, we’re adding a food truck called “A Little Nauti.” This is going to expand our reach to special events and movie sets. The menu for A Little Nauti will offer anything from Char-grilled oysters to a crab cake grilled cheese. There will also be plenty of non-seafood items and even vegetarian options.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting a business is one of the hardest things anyone can do, especially in the catering industry. You have to keep knocking on the doors until they open. It wasn’t easy in the beginning but, we’ve been lucky to have a chance to show off what we can do at some of the top events and locations in the Atlanta area. I’m not sure we would still be going if it wasn’t for all the support we’ve received from family and friends.
Please tell us about Oysters Co.
Oysters Co is a mobile catering company, we specialize in custom menus and onsite cooking, also a mobile raw bar service. What separates us is the interactive culinary experience we offer with our menus. Our interactive options include, A Chef cooking full menus onsite, Char-grilled oyster action station, passed oyster service, Nautical Oyster Bar, and a Food Truck/mobile kitchen (coming next spring).
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to do it all over again, I would’ve waited till I hit the lottery. All kidding aside, I’ve learned that having a niche is great but, you also have to offer a wide verity of services that can fit into any occasion. We started out with just our raw bar services in order to practice our execution but learned we needed to offer more items in order to reach a wider range of customers. Whatever menu our clients ask for or dream up, we’ll make it happen. Most of our menus on our website came from one of those special requests.
Pricing:
- Raw Bar/Passed Oyster Service $6 – $25 per person
- Interactive Full Menus $29 – $60 per person.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.oystersco.com
- Phone: 6782945894
- Email: cmurphy@oystersco.com
- Instagram: @OystersCo
- Facebook: @OystersCo
- Other: http://www.oystersco.com/menu/
Image Credit:
Kaytee Ruth Photography
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