Something Worth Fighting For: Monica Smith on Miss Gina’s Shrimp Stand in Beaufort

Reprinted from Tradewinds Magazine, 2022 by B. Garrity-Blake. Photo courtesy of Monica Smith

It’s a sure sign that the shrimp are running when cars and trucks are lined up at Miss Gina’s roadside stand a mile or so outside of Beaufort on Highway 70 East. People are there to fill their coolers with fresh, wild caught shrimp.

Miss Gina’s shrimp stand consists of a tiny building called “Cam’s Shack,” right next to a weighing station and cooler, all bedecked with signs and flags.

“Our nine-year old son Cameron loves working the stand,” Monica Smith said. “He gives people ice, takes their money.” Monica sells shrimp that her husband, Thomas Smith, and father-in-law, Allen Smith, harvest in Core Sound, Pamlico Sound, Adams Creek, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The family business has grown in popularity since the roadside stand was started in the mid 2000s. “Thomas and his father had been selling to the fish house, but because of the flood of imported shrimp at that time, the price for domestic shrimp fell dramatically,” Monica reflected. “They knew they had to do something different.”

The Smith family decided to try selling the shrimp directly to customers to get a better price.

“My mother-in-law, Miss Gina, set up in the front yard with a cooler full of shrimp and a little sign. Allen said he was going to mow the grass, and he’d check on her in a couple of hours. Before he knew it, she was done. She had sold out!”

Miss Gina’s shrimp was born that day. The shrimp shack sits in front of a family compound. “Our yards are connected,” Monica explained, allowing them to provide a circular driveway for customers to drive through.

“We serve people near and far,” said Monica. “Some drive up in beat up trucks, others in Mercedes. We have people who make the trip from Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and upstate North Carolina, specifically to buy shrimp!”

The Smith family rarely buys shrimp from other fishermen, nor do they ship their shrimp.

“This is shrimp from our boats, and it leaves right out of the driveway,” Monica said. “We call out-of-town customers the night before and tell them yes or no, we have your shrimp. Some drive for hours to pick it up that next day.”

Monica calculates that their product has been eaten and enjoyed in 30 or so states across the United States. They cater to plenty of local people too and try to keep their prices affordable.

“I have one lady who has done business with us for ten years,” Monica said. “Every couple of weeks she buys just five or ten dollars’ worth of shrimp no matter what the cost per pound. And that’s fine – we don’t set a minimum on the amount you can buy.”

Monica Smith has found great success in using social media to reach out to customers.

“Facebook is an enormous platform for us,” she said. “We currently have twelve thousand followers!” Each morning she fields hundreds of texts, emails, and phone messages.

“When we expect a big week and we need customers here, we’ll sponsor online giveaways. We’ll have ‘guess the weight’ contests, or I’ll randomly pick a couple people who agree to tag a friend and share our post – they win 10 pounds of shrimp, and we bring in new customers.”  

Harvesting can be unpredictable, so it’s not easy having just the right amount of shrimp to sell at Miss Gina’s shrimp stand. But the Smith family has worked out a system.

“We sell 95% of everything we catch,” Monica said. “When we have an especially large harvest, we’ll sell to the fish house. Most days we catch just what we need for our customers and sell out. When we sell out, I’ll refer customers to other seafood venues and help them – we’re all in this together.”

Monica’s husband Thomas began shrimping in Core Sound off Marshallberg when he was 12. He grew up fishing with his father on the 30’ Miss Gina and the 27’ Miss Gina II; his father now fishes the 34’ Cameron T, and Thomas fishes his new pride and joy: the 50’ Della John.

“Thomas bought the Della John from Bentley Brooks and his family. The boat was their baby – they built it, they worked it, they named it after their family. When they were finally ready to sell, they got multiple offers. But they picked us because they knew it would be taken care of and a family was going to run it. She wouldn’t rot at the dock.”

What’s it like to run a family fishing business? “Hard,” Monica reflected. “Rewarding.”

She quit her job as a nurse to manage shrimp sales, a career choice she does not regret. “Cam and I went shrimping with Thomas regularly until we had Connor last year. It’s hard to go shrimping with a baby, but maybe next year.” Monica said she values the seafood business because it allows her to be with her children. “And we have a lot of family support.”  

When schools went virtual due to Covid-19, Cameron logged in to class from the fishing grounds. “Cam would get on Google Meet and the other students would say, ‘What are you doing? You’re on a shrimp boat!’”

Their son expressed interest in having the Della John join the Crystal Coast Christmas flotilla, a floating night parade where boats decorated in lights navigate down Beaufort’s Taylor’s Creek. “Thomas and I said, you know what, Cam? Let’s do it!”  

Monica went to the local hardware store to buy lights for the boat. “The clerk said, ‘Are you kidding? The flotilla’s tonight. People decorate their boats for weeks in advance!’ I said if I had a boat sitting at the dock, I’d do the same. But ours was catching shrimp this very morning!”

They invited Bentley Brooks and his family to join them on the Della John. “We cooked shrimp burgers and had the best time. Our son and his friend must have yelled Merry Christmas 300 times! We had people on the shore hollering ‘We love Miss Gina’s!’” The Della John was the only working shrimp boat to join the yachts and sailboats in the Crystal Coast Flotilla.

Monica emphasized the importance of reaching out and forming new relationships with people to help them understand commercial fishing and seafood.  

“We get customers who have never seen a shrimp with the head on! Or they can’t believe the shrimp is brown, not pink. We teach them to pinch the heads off, how to freeze them, how to cook them. They learn the difference between a brown shrimp and a green tail. They can’t believe how good they taste. We invite them to post their favorite recipes.”  

 The Smiths also educate folks about the challenges of getting seafood to their plate.  

“We put the word out about the recent proposals to close all those areas to shrimping,” she said. “We explained why the closures would be devastating. We had people calling us to learn more, asking ‘Don’t you think you should give a little?’ We’d explain how much the industry has already given – working with scientists, upgrading gear, fish and turtle excluder devices, net and head rope lengths, area and time restrictions – our customers learned a lot!”

TV-12 News did an interview with Monica at the shrimp stand about the proposed closures.

“You could see our phone number in the background. We got a ton of calls and new supporters from that TV piece. It was the talk of the stand! Lots of people said they submitted comments online in support of local seafood. A newcomer to Beaufort offered to take off work and attend the public hearing. She told me, ‘This is something worth fighting for!’”

Monica Smith reflected on the role family fishing businesses serve in the community.

“We’re feeding people by providing fresh, wild caught shrimp to our customers. We take a lot of pride in this. We just love it.”