Spring Break
Enjoy down home meals at Bubba's Seafood
George McCray/Contributing Writer
Issue date: 5/27/07 Section: Business
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This venture led to the opening of a Bubba's Seafood Carryout in 1992 that operated for six years on Brentwood Road in Northeast D.C. "I always had a dream to be a business owner in the food industry," Barnes said.
In April 1998, the final piece of the life-long dream came to realization with the opening of Bubba's Muscogee Seafood at 1544 Rhode Island Ave., NE. Bubba's brought a sit-down restaurant to Ward 5, where people can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Bubba offers a soul food buffet featuring chicken, fish, ribs, steak and chitterlings. On Fridays there is an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet featuring Alaskan king crab legs as the main entrée.
Barnes said the key to success has been the support of family, which includes his wife of 43 years, Mariah Barnes, a retired science teacher. She noted that running a full-service restaurant has been a learning process.
"We have gone from two employees at the carryout to 14 employees here. In 1992, when we started the carryout, we did not know if we were going to have a business that customers wanted," she said.
It also was a trying time for the new owners who said everything was chaotic and hectic. "We worked five days a week sometimes doing 16 hour days selling seafood with only two employees," Barnes recalled.
"We did not know what to expect, but by the end of that first month everything smoothed out and it has basically been smooth sailing since."
The first carryout sale was a trout sandwich and is shown on the restaurants' wall of fame. That customer still supports the restaurant today.
Bubba's sister, Mary Lee, who used to make the carry out's favorite item of crab cakes, has been there from the opening day with support and a helping hand in the day to day affairs.
Lee says that customers kept asking for expansion after the carry out got up and running smoothly.
While acknowledging that entrepreneurship requires many grueling hours, Barnes says what he enjoys most is providing jobs for younger teens.
In addition to introducing them to the world of being responsible employees, the couple also makes sure their young employees grades are in line so that they can continue working.
After 16 years, patrons are still responding favorably to Bubba's, and Barnes knows that their hard work has not gone in vain.
"The hard work has been rewarding for Bubba's and the community has enabled us to flourished these years," Barnes said as he beamed with pride.
"It seems that many who come here tell someone else about it. We appreciate the community's support."
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