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It’s an age-old saying that food is love.
Across the globe at any given time, people gather around kitchen tables and in restaurants to enjoy food, conversation and connection. The love of a meal often starts with finding locally sourced foods and continues into the kitchen where decades’ worth of recipes, often handed down on tattered papers, are followed to create a perfect concoction of deliciousness that stands the test of time and honors the generations gone before.
Beaman Hines, owner of four well-known Outer Banks restaurants and the full-service Carolina Catering Company, takes his role in creating meals with connection very seriously. On any given day, thousands belly up with their friends and loved ones in Hines’ eating establishments across the sandbar to enjoy fresh, local ingredients, creative dishes and the vibrant sights and sounds of people gathering to tell tales and enjoy great food.
Whether serving the famous eastern North Carolina-style pork barbecue at Sooey’s BBQ & Rib Shack (aptly named for the term used to call pigs), the always popular Pickle-Brined Chicken Sandwich at Sandtrap Tavern or the comfort food delight of Shrimp and Corn Chowder at Shipwrecks Taphouse, dishing out love through food is a sixth-generation Hines family affair. And from the looks of it, the family has no plans to change. Beaman’s daughter, Annaleigh, started bussing and waiting tables at Sooey’s and now assists with catering and social media marketing while pursuing her master’s degree at East Carolina University. His son, Beaman Jr., started working in Sooey’s a decade ago as a prep and dishwasher and is now the head cook and runs the front of the house.
“My son has many of my attributes but isn’t as hardcore as I was at his age on how things need to be done,” Beaman Sr. says with an endearing chuckle as he reminisces on his early days in the business. “Now I’m much more flexible with my chefs, and we work together.”
While Hines has high expectations of his employees, many of whom are friends and family who have been with him for years, his drive is deeply rooted in an unwavering commitment to serve.
“Making families happy year after year is what I love to do,” says Hines, who credits his insatiable work ethic to a long lineage of hard workers, including his Eastern Creek Indian roots that run centuries old on his maternal side of the family. Growing up in Stumpy Point, Hines watched his grandparents run their store and restaurant. During those formative years, he developed his commitment to treating people like he wants to be treated, with respect and kindness.
Not surprisingly, it was also alongside family where Hines was bitten with the entrepreneurial bug. He started his own commercial fishing operation at age 10 when his parents gave him a 12’ locally built skiff for Christmas. He set crab pots and gillnets, sold his catch and helped his father and grandfather in commercial fishing. He remains part owner of a commercial fishing business with his father and brother, who provide fresh seafood for all the restaurants, including the labor-intensive harvesting of soft-shell crabs in the spring.
With great humility, Hines credits his dedicated team of employees – all of whom share his passion for serving quality food and creating memorable experiences for customers – as the key ingredients to his success.
Greg Wynn, the seasoned and fun-spirited chef who manages Sooey’s year-round location in Corolla, has been with Hines the longest, more than 21 years. Already well into a 12-plus-hour workday that started at 6 a.m., Wynn eagerly shares that Hines is the best boss he’s ever had.
“He listens to people, works with us and tells it like it is,” Wynn says. “I’m 64 now and plan to be here when I’m 75.” And that’s music to the customers who flood both the Corolla and Nags Head Sooey’s locations that are legendary for slow-cooked eastern North Carolina-style barbecue and brisket with all the fixings.
Hines’ success as an entrepreneur in these challenging business times is admirable and undeniable. And, thankfully, so is his loyalty and kindness to others. When asked what lessons he learned as a young boy that still hold true today, he says without hesitation, “Respect for others. Looking out for our community and serving people, especially those less fortunate.”
And providing jobs in the community, which keeps him as motivated today as it did when he started out more than two decades ago. And by any family’s standards, that’s a recipe made of equal parts love and care.
(252) 491-8100
8627 Caratoke Highway, Harbinger
simplysouthernkitchen.com
Nags Head | (252) 449-6465 | 3919 S. Virginia Dare Trail
Corolla| (252) 453-4423 | 807 Ocean Trail
sooeysbbq.com
(252) 261-7800
4020 N. Croatan Highway, Kitty Hawk
shipwrecksobx.com
(252) 261-2243
300 W. Eckner Street, Kitty Hawk
sandtraptavern.com
About the Author Dianne Beard
Dianne Beard is a freelance writer, intuitive mindfulness teacher, workshop facilitator and speaker who is passionate about the positive shifts people make when they slow down and access their innate wisdom. She is thrilled to call the Outer Banks her home and spends her free time exploring its endless gems on foot, bike, kayak, SUP or whatever gets her up close and personal with nature. Find her online at dibeard.com.
