The history of Shell’s began in 1985 when Swiss Gourmet Chef John Christen and his wife Deb saw the need for a seafood restaurant that focused primarily on quality, service, and value instead of a fancy atmosphere and high prices.

They owned a piece of property that had been an old pizza parlor, so with very little capital, a lot of ideas and the support of their family they began to fulfill their dream.

The original remodeling of the restaurant was done with repurposing what equipment was left behind, and the guests began autographing and stapling dollar bills to the walls for décor. There were cheap picnic tables with tablecloths for the larger parties; and quite often, smaller parties of strangers would share these large tables to avoid the characteristically long lines. When thinking of the name, all that came to mind was the how everything they served had a shell of some kind; thus, the name “Shell’s” was born!