North Carolina couple Rob and Rana Brown, have always enjoyed traveling. Throughout their travels, they always made sure to explore the food scene in the places they visited.
After coming home to Charlotte from a visit to Atlanta, Rob began to crave crab legs. Outside of buying them from the grocery store or going to a Chinese buffet, he realized his options were slim.
“I told my wife, I wanted to get a trailer and start selling single crab legs and seafood plates,” Rob told Travel Noire.
Around December 2015, the Brown’s begin to put the plan in motion. The couple came up with the name of their business, Mr. 3’s Crab Pot, which was inspired by their son. They purchased their trailer and began testing out the business around Charlotte.
“I then began setting up and my church to sell the plates and they did really well, so we decided to search for a permanent location,” Rob said.
Not only did the couple find their first location, they also made the investment to own their own commercial real estate versus leasing. Now, 4 years later they Brown’s are the proud owners of three locations around Charlotte and the surrounding area.
“Many people would complain that our Charlotte location was in “the hood” and that it wasn’t the best area to set up in,” Rana Brown said. “But we knew that this same area would soon become a prime location in Charlotte and business is doing well for us.”
Mr. 3’s Crab Pot is one of North Carolina’s best crab pot spots. The couple created their own garlic butter sauce from their home kitchen before introducing it into their seafood spots.
The best-sellers are the seafood platter (jumbo crab leg, shrimp, corn, potatoes, and sausage) and the lobster tail dinner (lobster tail, shrimp, corn, potato, and sausage).
The couple is truly setting an example when it comes to business ownership, so much so that other business owners have started to reach out to them for advice.
To help bring up others after them, the couple created their Crabs out the Barrel Program. This mentoring program teaches aspiring business owners the in’s and out’s of starting a business from the proper paperwork to file and how to market to their target audience.
“We even bring the businesses into our locations and let them set up to test out what it’s like to run a business before they fully jump into it on their own,” Rob said.
To learn more about Mr. 3’s Crab Pot and the couple’s Crabs in a Barrel Program, you can check out their website: www.mr3scrabpot.com. You can also find them on Instagram at @mr3scrabpot.
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