The blue-and-red flashing "open" sign is only the first level of welcoming Southern hospitality.
When you include a line that has been forming for hours, family atmosphere and the invitingly haunting smell of fresh-boiled crab, you have a true Southern eating experience.
The Crab Shack "cuts across the grain with seafood and soul food," said Marcus Brinson, manager of the Crab Shack.
The 600-square-foot building with more than 40 years of history now houses the Crab Shack's mostly original equipment. It is equipment that has helped make food for Gainesville's local population six days a week since 2009.
After 38 years of maintenance service with UF, Charles Gordon recently retired but still keeps busy as the head crab boiler at the shack he grew up knowing as a burger joint.
Gordon gets to the Crab Shack, 104 NE Waldo Road, early every morning to boil the crab with care.
The sauce that goes on everything from the shrimp to the crab is "a trade secret - patent pending," Brinson said.
Brinson, co-owner Ernest Hale and Ragen Howard, the "official taste-tester," are all members of the University Police. Their affiliation has led the Crab Shack to become a popular attraction among officers on days off.
The passion of the Crab Shack is in serving quality seafood and soul food.
LaShundra Coley, dubbed the "brains of the operation," is known among patrons of the Crab Shack as "Ms. Dee." She and Hale grew up together and are now engaged.
Ms. Dee said the Crab Shack has fresh vegetables and a weekly supply of fresh crab from Cedar Key almost all the time. None of the food is processed, and it all comes "straight out of mama's kitchen," according to Coley.
Originally, the shack served only seafood, but Coley said she brought soul food into the restaurant as well. The most notable addition to the menu was the oxtails, which the Crab Shack specifically requests in fork-sized pieces to make their customers' lives a little easier.
In addition to its increasing popularity among Gainesville's local population, the Crab Shack has gained some national acclaim as well. It was one of 50 restaurants chosen by President Barack Obama to be a pre-voting and registration spot in Florida. The Crab Shack helped more than 300 people register to vote.
Only family works in the restaurant, with the exception of Gordon, who has known Coley and Hale his whole life. Coley said the shack has a supremely family-based feel to it, with everyone coming even closer together as they serve patrons in a non-air-conditioned shack.
"We keep the laughter and love going, no matter how hot it gets," she said with a smile.
At times there are three generations working in the shack at once. Coley's 61-year-old mother joins Coley's daughter on occasion, and Coley's daughter has worked at the shack nearly every weekend for two years.
Coley said one of the best parts of working at the Crab Shack is meeting all kinds of people. They all come up to the window, and you never really know what they're going through that day, Coley said.
"All people need is a smile to change whatever that situation might be," she said.
Ndidi Madu, a regular at the Crab Shack and a power forward for the UF women's basketball team, said Coley and Hale are more than just restaurant owners to her. She went as far as to call them "mother and father figures," saying she can talk to them about anything.
"It's more than food - it's family," Madu said. "They take care of me."
Madu said the Crab Shack is a popular spot for the women's basketball team, but she makes a point to eat there about once a week. Her favorite dish is those fork-sized oxtails.
Madu isn't alone; people stop by the shack for dinner at 8 p.m. most nights, eager for some richly spiced crab. Solid lines are known to form as early as 10 a.m. on days when the shack opens for lunch at noon.
Coley said the biggest reason she works so hard is not for the monetary gain the Crab Shack provides, but for the "appreciation from people."
"You wouldn't know there was a recession going on," Coley said. "Crab Shack doesn't stop."
Marcus Brinson and LaShundra Coley pose for a picture inside the Crab Shack. Brinson, the manager of the restaurant at 104 NE Waldo Road, is holding a tub of fresh crabs that Crab Shack serves to local
customers every day. The restaurant is known for its family-first atmosphere, with only direct family and family friends working at the shack. That family-based dynamic has led to a constant stream of regular customers. "You wouldn't know there was a recession going on," Coley said. "Crab Shack doesn't stop."
