How Topsail Steamer Is Making Waves In The Seafood Market Through Take-Home Experiential Dining

While customers are looking for unique dining experiences, the traditional restaurant model faces even more pressure from high overhead costs, high employee turnover and aggressive competition. Premium experiences like a steakhouse or coastal seafood boil often come with high restaurant markups and lengthy waits. Topsail Steamer, a take-home seafood boil brand based in North Carolina, bridges this gap with its unique solution: experiential offsite dining.

"Where the consumer is looking for and willing to spend their dollars post-COVID is in experiential offsite dining, and that's what we are," said Danielle Mahon, CEO and founder of Topsail Steamer. "While it's quality seafood and a wonderful taste experience, we give you the brown paper, you're cooking it in the pot we give you, and you're pouring it out on the table."

With 12 locations open and sales up 11% across all stores, according to Mahon, Topsail Steamer is having a strong 2026, proving its concept. The model has several advantages. There is little need for large real estate footprints, expensive proprietary technology or large labor teams to execute. There is no dine-in, and inventory is minimal and used quickly, so storage and waste are rarely issues.

Experiential dining concept

As a new concept compared to traditional restaurants, the main focus for Mahon and the team behind Topsail Steamer is explaining the concept.

“Because we're not a pizza shop or a familiar name, you have to go out and educate the customer on exactly what we are and when they would be purchasing and utilizing our product,” said Mahon. “We stress that you want to make sure that you have the money and the time to invest in that local marketing.”

As a top priority, Mahon emphasized explaining the concept as a key part of the franchise development plan. In 2024, she appeared on "Shark Tank," where she explained the experience from beginning to end, including the "pick your pot"-style menu, ticket pricing expectations and why she chose the franchise model as a vehicle for expansion.

Franchise development plan

"Most of our franchisees for the first few years were customers. They experienced it, loved it and wanted to be a part of it and grow it themselves."

Mahon joined 1851 Franchise Publisher Nick Powills on a recent episode of the "Meet the Franchise" podcast, where they discussed the unit economics of the business, the unique industry of take-home experiential dining, and the future of Topsail Steamer in franchising.

• Current locations: 12
• Sales increase: 11% across all stores
• Key advantages of the model:
• Little need for large real estate footprints
• No expensive proprietary technology
• No large labor teams to execute
• No dine-in
• Minimal and quickly used inventory, reducing storage and waste issues

In an interview with Nick Powills, Mahon discussed the business's performance and future plans.

• Current number of franchisees: 8
• Number of franchisees with multiple locations: 2
• Goal for 2027: Opening three stores successfully
• Key indicators of success:
• Franchisees continuing to scale
• Successful return rate for customers, with the goal of having them come in four times a year

Powills also asked Mahon about the investment required to start a Topsail Steamer franchise.

• Initial investment: $242,000 to $398,000
• Key factors contributing to the lower investment:
• The business doesn't cook anything
• It can operate in a very small footprint
• It moves through its inventory quickly, reducing storage needs