Storms can't shake family ties at High Tides at Snack Jack, a fixture in Flagler Beach
FLAGLER BEACH — Nearly 80 years of history is spread across a tabletop at a quiet corner booth at High Tides at Snack Jack, where owner Gail Holt surveys the stack of newspaper and magazine clippings in search of the right words to describe the appeal of the restaurant that first opened its doors in 1947.
“It’s still the essence of Old Florida,” she said. “A lot of corporations try to make things Old Florida, but this IS Old Florida, just like stepping back in time into Key West.”
Opened as an old-school surfer hangout, Snack Jack has proudly and successfully resisted evolution in the decades since.
Perched atop the dunes on a narrow strip of land between State Road A1A and the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area, it’s a blink-and-you-miss-it beachfront shanty that touts “good vibes” and “surfside eats & drinks.”
Out front, the gravel parking lot is valet only, the better to make strategic use of the limited space, but diners also can self-park in a few available spots on a side street across A1A.
Inside, the décor reflects the vibe. Look up and there’s an antique longboard and cooler hanging from the ceiling, where dozens of antique license plates cover every inch of available space. Walls are adorned with historic photos, driftwood art and bleached shark jaws.
Signs offer beachy wisdom or warnings, ranging from “Children left unattended will be sold as chum” to the upbeat “Let the sea set you free.”
Past a narrow doorway, ocean breezes waft through open windows across the dozen or so tables arranged in a tight row along the oceanfront.
It's a combination of attributes that has attracted surfers, seafood lovers, beachgoers and others for decades. The long list of fans includes celebrities that range from motorcycle daredevil Robbie Knievel, who once executed an epic 200-yard burnout in front of the restaurant, to Florida Georgia Line country star and Volusia County native Brian Kelley.
The latter filmed scenes for his 2021 "Florida Boy Forever" music video at Snack Jack.
The restaurant's breathtaking view, along with its “21st-century menu items,” helped Snack Jack place fifth in Southern Living’s list of the Top 15 Best Seafood Dives in Florida this past fall. Another longtime Volusia-Flagler restaurant, JB’s Fish Camp in New Smyrna Beach, topped the rankings.
In case you missed it: Two Volusia-Flagler restaurants make Southern Living’s Best Seafood Dives in Florida
It was Snack Jack’s idyllic location that inspired Holt and business partner Karol Mowery to buy the restaurant in 1992, becoming only the fourth owners in its long history.
Through the years, Holt, 63, has emerged as the day-to-day force behind its operation, she said, working with longtime general manager Ted Bancroft, who also started in 1992.
“It was originally a fruit stand, this is what I was told,” Holt said of the eatery’s formative years, unearthing a faded picture of the original owners, Charlotte and Bill Richter. “I love this photo.”
‘Never a bad day at work’
For the crew of longtime employees as well as the restaurant’s devoted patrons, both groups that span multiple generations, the old pictures are akin to a family album. As Holt and Bancroft recount the history, they summon a steady stream of crew members across the room to make introductions.
Each has a story.
“This is really like no other place I’ve ever worked,” said Nicole Hein, a front-of-house manager, a relative newcomer with 11 years of service. “We’re all like a family, and when you have customers coming into the restaurant for 20 or 30 years, they become family, as well.”
That feeling is echoed by longtime customer Al Sosa, 77, of Ormond-by-the-Sea.
“We’ve been going there close to 25 years, sometimes two or three times a week,” he said, adding that his go-to menu items are crab legs, shrimp or a bowl of clam chowder “that’s the best around.”
But the food is only part of the place’s appeal, he said.
“The people are great. The waiters and waitresses are like our kids, like our second family.”
The connection to the place is so strong that Bancroft, 67, recalls hearing from a concerned customer at one point because a favorite old photo on the wall had been moved to a different spot. “That’s an example of what the things inside this building mean to people,” he said.
For some crew members, the family connection has become more literal.
Another manager, Jennifer Mancuso, was pregnant with her son when she started at the restaurant 27 years ago. “Now, he works here with me sometimes,” she said.
The secret to such longevity?
“Obviously, you can’t stay in a job for 27 years without good employers,” she said, nodding across the table at her bosses. “It’s not a lot of us, but what has been created in this space attracts like-minded people. There’s never a bad day at work.”
Despite pounding from storms, Snack Jack endures
Even amid that positive mindset, Snack Jack has faced its share of challenges through the years, primarily from a string of hurricanes that have repeatedly threatened to wash it into the ocean.
Over the decades, the restaurant has become a familiar backdrop for live shots during hurricane coverage by local TV news reporters.
There have been too many storms for Holt to offer a full chronological list (“I’ve learned how to not remember so many of the bad things”), but a few stand out.
“(Hurricane) Charley was bad,” part of a series of five hurricanes that made landfall in Florida in 2004, she said. “Matthew (in 2016) was bad.” The latter ripped away huge chunks of State Road A1A that limited access to the restaurant.
But the back-to-back punches from Tropical Storms Ian and Nicole, in September and November of 2022, rivaled anything that came before, she said.
“It was so tough because we got hit by Ian, but we got it repaired and we were feeling pretty good,” Holt said. “Then, what? About three weeks later, Nicole came along and wiped out everything we had done.”
After the second storm, the restaurant’s dumpster was spotted seven miles south, floating in the ocean off Ormond Beach, Bancroft said.
“Somebody posted a picture of it on the Internet,” he said, “so we went down there, put it on a trailer and hauled it back ourselves.”
The restaurant was closed for four months for repairs and restoration after sand washed away from beneath the building leading to additional plumbing and electrical repairs.
“It was a horrible eight months,” Bancroft said, “but here we sit to tell about it, fortunately.”
At Snack Jack, adversity 'made us stronger'
For Snack Jack’s 28 employees, it was the second time in recent years that they were unexpectedly thrown out of work, including a two-month stint when the restaurant closed its doors in the face of occupancy restrictions during the early days of COVID in March 2020.
All but one of them returned, Holt said.
“That’s the thing that always amazes us,” she said. “The staff, they all come back. It’s really unheard of in our industry.”
Holt points through a window to a single word etched into the wall along the outside patio.
“Gratitude,” she said. “That word on the wall captures my feelings. To go through what we’ve gone through and to continue to do what we do, we’re all very grateful.
“With adversity, it either makes you or breaks you. For our group here, it made us stronger.”
Timeline: 1947
When High Tides at Snack Jack opened its doors in 1947, here’s a snapshot of what else was happening in the world:
Military personnel allegedly recovered debris from a “flying disc” in what became known as the Roswell UFO Incident in New Mexico.
U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall announced the “Marshall Plan” to help Europe recover from the devastation of World War II.
The United Nations voted in favor of the creation of an Independent Jewish State of Israel.
Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers becoming the first Black player in Major League Baseball.
Edwin Land demonstrated the Polaroid Land Camera, taking the first instant photo with the camera at a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
United States Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier.
A research team at Bell Laboratories invented the transistor.
If you go
WHAT: High Tides at Snack Jack
WHERE: 2805 S. Ocean Shore Blvd., Flagler Beach
HOURS: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Tuesday, closed Wednesday and Thursday
CALL: 386-439-3344
ONLINE: snackjacks.com
Made Just Right: About this series
The Daytona Beach News-Journal is spotlighting area businesses that have been around long enough to be an important part of our collective history. If you are the owner of a business that has been in operation for at least 25 years, or if you want to nominate a business for recognition, please contact reporter Jim Abbott at jim.abbott@news-jrnl.com Be sure to include your name, phone number and a little bit about the history of the business.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High Tides at Snack Jack endures for nearly 80 years in Flagler Beach
