He never expected this: The rise of a seafood star in Wilmington, N.C.
Wilmington, N.C., is a coastal city with a rich seafood tradition. But for some residents, like 29-year-old Quincy Rhodes, seafood wasn't a central part of their upbringing. Rhodes grew up occasionally eating shrimp, while favorites like ribs took center stage. Fishing wasn't a regular family activity either. And Rhodes thought he’d grow up to be a football coach or aerospace engineer instead of a fishmonger and seafood market manager.
Today, Rhodes is a key figure at the city’s popular Seaview Crab Company, which operates seven locations in and around Wilmington and inland North Carolina. Starting as support staff, doing whatever tasks came his way, Rhodes quickly rose through the ranks, demonstrating a knack for multitasking and problem-solving.
It's hard to pin a title on Rhodes’ multifaceted role, encompassing retail management, kitchen support, staff mentoring, fishmongering and, what he considers the most important part of his job, customer service.
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This story is part of NC Catch’s “Recognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry” project. North Carolina’s Black seafood business community has partnered with researchers in this historic project conceived by NC Catch to build understanding of the vital role African Americans and people of color play in the state’s seafood industry. Narratives, video and oral histories tell the stories of Black fishers, wholesalers, chefs and others working in seafood. A N.C. Sea Grant 2024 Community Collaborative Research Grant has helped fund the project.
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"You see every walk of life in the seafood market," Rhodes says, noting the mix of families and individuals from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. He’s passionate about making the market a welcoming space for all.
Rhodes approaches customer service with genuine care, building connections and creating a sense of community. His calm demeanor, honed from days as a high school football team MVP and his experiences navigating life's challenges, allows him to handle stressful situations with grace.
Rhodes shared his story of personal growth with NC Catch’s “Recognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry” project team. He's not only expanded his own culinary horizons but also introduced countless customers to the diverse world of seafood. While Rhodes’ goals may lead him in different directions, his time at Seaview has instilled in him an entrepreneurial spirit and a deep appreciation for the power of community.
The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
Your career goals as a kid had nothing to do with seafood.
I had a couple things in mind I wanted to do, but I was just a kid. Life hit me a little bit harder than I thought, but I wanted to either be a professional athlete or I wanted to study aerospace at one time. Then I was either going to go into some type of coaching or something later down the road, because I played AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), and I was always, "I'll probably be an AAU coach one day." But I didn't think I would be a fishmonger.
Was seafood available when you were growing up? Was it a part of your life?
Mainly just crabs and fried fish. I've always eaten fried fish. My family likes spots and stuff like that. I wasn't crazy about seafood. I mean, I loved shrimp. My mom would make fried shrimp, but I didn't know if it was fresh or frozen. I didn’t really care either. My thing was soul food or ribs or something like that.
Where did your family get seafood?
It was either at the fish market or they got some frozen product out of the grocery store and whatnot. If it was crabs, it was definitely from the fish market. I'd go there sometimes, but you know, as a kid, you don't like that smell…I didn't grow up on grouper or nothing like that, mahi, and all this good stuff I know now, but I knew about spots and whiting. I always loved whiting because it had less bones than spots.
But not as much as you loved shrimp?
I always love my mom's fried shrimp…She would make her own batter. It would look kind of like reddish, like a creamy, reddish color. And, you know, she would just fry them up. I would make my own little fried shrimp sandwiches. White bread, ketchup, maybe American cheese. Even though I can probably go get a fancier shrimp sandwich, I will still eat that same sandwich to this day and be happy…I wasn't too big on fish at first. I think it'd grown on me as I got older, because I started using hot sauce more. Hot sauce and fish is the best combination in the world.
How often was seafood on the table growing up?
Out of the month, I would say probably like two times, minimum, two times. Now that I've been working here, my family eats seafood a lot, probably like three, four times a month, maybe twice a week, if that, or maybe twice every two weeks. It depends on how the times are; if the budget's good, then they'll eat (seafood) two times a week. Because my cousins, they love crabs, so when your cousin works at a seafood market, one of the biggest ones in town, it's like, ‘Oh yeah, I'll go get some crabs, man.’
Tell us about your journey at Seaview Crab Company.
One of my managers here was one of my best friends from high school, and I was just working a couple jobs. I think I was at McDonald's at the time, and he just hit me up through a DM on Facebook, a direct message, and we're just catching up. And he was like, ‘Hey, man, what are you doing?’ I was telling him I was working. I told him how much I was getting paid. He's like, ‘I'll give you this right now. Come work with me.’ And I was like, ‘OK!’
I didn't really know that much about cutting fish or seafood. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I just knew I had a buddy, a good friend of mine, take care of me and make sure I was good. And little did I know when I came here there was a few more buddies I went to high school with who were already working here. It just worked out. I started learning about seafood from there. And I learned a lot.
What were your initial duties compared to what you do now?
I was just on the floor, making sure customer service is my number one priority, and doing whatever they asked me to do. Bagging up crabs, bagging up shrimp, probably on the register here and there, but I didn't have any major responsibilities.
Then my senior leader, at the time, he was on his way out of here, but I didn't know it. So, he was teaching me everything he knew, teaching me the ins and outs of this business, as far as on the retail side. How to treat customers, how to keep them happy. What type of shrimp is this? What's a prawn? What's fresh? How do you know if it's fresh? Types of crabs we have with jimmy, sooks - female crabs, the oyster season, when it starts, when it ends, what kind of oysters we have? The types of oysters, if they're salty or not. There's a bunch of stuff. Learning all the different species of fish.
And I kind of grew within the company, and then, somehow, I became a manager, just working my tail off, showing up, doing what they told me to do, making sure I pushed the button, the buck stops with me. And seven years later, I'm still keeping the buck forward.
What’s a work day or week like for you at Seaview?
As far as retail, I'll always be a shift manager. But I'm also working the kitchen counter. I help with the kitchen, taking orders there and I help manage retail. If there's another retail manager on the floor, like a primary leader, I'm like an overseer. So, I might work the kitchen counter, but I still oversee retail a little bit if they need my help, and if I can maneuver over there, I will. And then I might work at our stand at Biggers Market on Market Street.
So, I'm one of those senior leaders. If there's a problem in this building, I probably can help, for sure, as far as customer service, but for the most part I just try to keep things flowing around here. I got an award for being calm in the eye of the storm. I like the pressure, you know, pressure make diamonds. I like taking on a lot more than I can chew.
You’re also a fishmonger here at Seaview.
At first, I was just packing the fish for our stands a long time ago. And then I would help them (wholesale guys) cut fish a little bit, just small, like spots and stuff. But as I grew into retail, that's when I learned how to cut everything. My first fish I cut was a flounder, and that was probably the hardest thing to understand when you're first starting out, because it's a flat fish. You're not sawing, you're not using the knife to go down. Once I got the rhythm down, I could pretty much cut just about any fish.
What's the biggest or the most challenging fish you've ever had to work with?
Tuna! Tuna has four quarters, so you have to cut it into sections. It has a backbone, but it's so thin. And then when you're cutting off the quarter there's a hump that you have to go around to make sure you get a clean cut. Still to this day, I'm glad I don't have to cut it on the daily, but I still — if it's just me in the shop, I know how to cut it, but it just takes me longer than I would for any other fish.
You're in the seafood market just about every day. What is the breakdown of customers?
Families, all types of Hispanics, all types of Black people. Like, you might have some African Americans or Africans. We've hired Africans, Hispanics, whites. Here, I think we do a great job welcoming all types of people. I don't know who you see more of, because everybody eats (seafood). We're in a predominantly Black area (midtown Wilmington on Marstellar), so I guess you would see more Black people, generally, here. In Carolina Beach, I would say more white people, for sure, because it's just the demographic out there. For here (midtown), it's probably more Blacks, more Hispanics and then you got a good percentage of white people too… I think it's a beautiful thing.
You talked about growing up mostly eating shrimp, whiting and spots. Have you been able to introduce the African American community to different seafoods?
I'm pretty sure we definitely put some customers on different types of fish other than spots and whiting and croakers and stuff like that. A lot of people probably have tried it, because we like to cut up, like tuna and grouper and Mahi and the little bites or scraps. It might be like some filets that might not look as sellable on the counter, so we'll cut it up in the little bites, and we'll tell people to try those and make tacos with them and stuff like that. A lot of people, we've turned them on to some stuff, especially like crawfish.
Have you ever faced any challenges as a person of color working in the seafood industry?
Yeah, for sure. I've been called some stuff before, but it's not many. It's been very few occasions, very few occasions. I've been called words. But it happens, I guess. But it doesn't really affect me. It just sucks that, that's just the era we're in still, after all this time. There's always gonna be a few, but I don't care. I got many friends of all races.
I think we've been programmed, or it's been so much propaganda going on throughout the years of history that we think it's a Black and white thing, when really it's just a people thing. That just takes time. It's gonna take more time. I understand it, but it's gonna take time for everyone to understand…All races have to get over it at some point and try to move forward. There's no point in looking back. So, you got to move forward and in between the cracks some way we could probably fix some stuff, but to help certain people get over it.
I try to stay positive within the darkness.
What was it from your personal experience that shaped you into this professional who can multitask, cover many skill sets and not stress?
I think I've always been like this. When I played football, I was one of the best players on my team, if not the best player. But we weren't the best team around. I was just doing numbers at the time on the football field, but I wasn't like the vocal leader. I was just chill. I just led by example. People just kind of gravitated towards me to be the leader of the team. People wanted to play hard for me, because I was going the hardest…I think I've just always been nice, chill, calm, cool, collected. I don't want to freak out. I don't take life too seriously as much as I should, or I don't think you should, because it's life. (Seaview is) like being at home, it's a job, but I've been here so long, and I'm so cool with everyone. So, it's like coming to work with my friends.
How do you keep your staff on an even keel, especially on busy days or when somebody's just not in the groove?
We all check on each other, make sure we're good. And if someone needs to take a break or they need to go home, then we'll let them go home. But we all make sure that we're all on the same page as far as how we're feeling and what needs to be done and what's expected for the task, for each day. If it's a busy day, then we all need to make sure every display is filled at all times, and we're refilling, and we're communicating. And we have fun, but we're not goofing around too much.
Do you use that intuition with customers too?
When you see a customer, you pretty much ask them how they're doing. Pretty much welcome them in first and just, if it's not a customer you know, you kind of keep it brief. I know a lot of customers coming in, so I kind of chat it up with a lot of them, just casual conversation. Some people just make my day. I might be having a bad day, and they be like, ‘You OK?’ And then we might talk, and then next thing you know, I'm happy. Vice versa.
Pretty much, I just try to build some type of community with the customers. Not just taking your money. It's not all about money. I really genuinely care about how you are feeling today. Even if it's a mad customer, we try to keep them at a mild temp. Even if they're coming off aggressive, we try to get back on that good side, ‘OK, OK, sorry, we got to this point. But how can we get back?’ Because people are human at the end of the day, we're not robots. Somebody's gonna get mad. Somebody's gonna be overly happy.
It sounds like you deal with challenges you’ve faced as a person of color like you work with the staff and customers here: listen, hear what people are saying and move forward.
Yeah, because it's 24 hours in a day, and when you start breaking stuff down, an argument is only going to be one, one and a half minutes, maybe two minutes tops before something bad happens, whether it's physical or, I don't know, it could be verbal abuse or something, where it's hatred involved. Why let that one minute ruin (your day). Why go that far for two minutes when you could de-escalate the situation and move on with the rest of your day, because you got another 23 hours and some minutes left.
Growing up Black, a lot of situations where I have friends, childhood friends, where I grew up, they died, or something happened, all those situations were in a matter of one to two minutes, and it changed lives on both sides of situations. I look at life in certain cases, like certain stuff is just not even worth it. It’s not because something bad can really happen. Not death. But I could lose my job from blanking out on a racist person, you know, or vice versa, like, so they could probably hurt me or something, and all that was in the span of two minutes, something that could be detrimental for years.
You’re kind of a guy of all trades here at Seaview Crab Company. What's your favorite part of the job?
Watching people grow within the company that probably didn't start off too well or was a little bit nervous, or didn't think they were going to be that good. And then they end up being spectacular. Just helping someone succeed, because it's a job, you know, and everyone's trying to figure out their lives.
Seaview’s owners are commercial fishers who harvest crabs for the company. Do you ever fish with them or fish on your own.
I don't really care to do all that stuff…I like being around the people, I think that's like, my bread and butter…I grew up around here, so, I just feel like I could help the community gravitate even more towards Seaview just being in here. The people I've grown up with, the kids I've grown up with, are grown now. So, I'm seeing them come in with their families. I kind of just want to grow with the people.
At Seaview the dining area is tiny, so strangers invite each other to sit at their tables. And they seem to become fast friends. The staff is always watching and quick to engage in conversation too. It feels like a true community hub.
Everyone's human, so like, you might wake up and not want to go to your job, but when it's a job that you know as soon as you walk in, there's gonna be somebody there, whether it's your coworker or a customer. I had this one mail lady, I’d see her every day, you know? She got a different route, or something. Now, she comes in as a customer. I saw her one day and I was like, ‘I ain't seen you in so long!’ So, it's stuff like that…just brightens your day, because we have that community touch. It feels like you come into a secret club, like getting paid for it.
What's your favorite seafood these days? Shrimp, of course, but what else?
As far as fish, I made this American red snapper, and I did like a teriyaki glaze with it, and it was one of the best things I've ever made. I could go for grilled mahi with any type of rice and some sauce. But I'm still gravitating towards eating fish. I might eat a flounder sandwich or something like that, but I'm just a shrimp guy when it comes to seafood. I love shrimp. If I ever had to change my diet, I already know what fish I'm gonna eat. It's gonna be snapper, cobia, Mahi, probably speckled trout, striped bass, maybe flounder.
What are your long-term goals? Will you stay in the seafood industry?
Right now, I'm here. I got some things I'm trying to work on right now…trying to see what I can do with video games and streaming, because that's kind of like the thing right now, to see if I could turn my hobby into another lucrative situation.
I don't like to box myself in. Now that I learned some business etiquette around here, I want to use my skills on something of my own one day.
Do you think that your work at Seaview gave you your entrepreneurial spirit, your drive?
Definitely contributed a lot to it, for sure, I would say. Because it made me visualize how, if I have my own company, how I would treat everyone from the top to the bottom. You know, there is no top, there is no bottom, all one. So, they definitely sparked something in me.
For sure, I want my own something one day. Because why not? It's cool. And then you can grab people to help you, and if they can branch off to do their own stuff, that's the beauty of it. I've seen it done here. We have had many people that moved on and done different things, beautiful things, but I guarantee they would say Seaview helped them get to where they are now.
Journalist Liz Biro interviewed Quincy Rhodes in 2024 and wrote this piece in 2025 for the NC Catch African Americans in North Carolina Seafood project.
