2020 Future 10: Stephanie McMullan
Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce and South Brunswick Magazine recognize Brunswick County’s young professionals and future leaders.
STEPHANIE MCMULLAN
OWNER, WING & FISH COMPANY AND OCEAN ISLE FISH COMPANY | AGE: 38
When Stephanie McMullan isn’t serving patrons at her downtown Shallotte restaurant, Wing & Fish Company, she’s managing her other restaurant, Ocean Isle Fish Company, and other commercial properties along with her husband, Barrett, through their business, McMullan Properties. And if that’s not enough to keep busy, McMullan volunteers with Meals on Wheels, Union Elementary PTO, swim meets and the Oyster Festival. Oh yeah, and she and husband have three young children who have their own schedules.
On managing her full schedule, McMullan says her life “is a bit like Tetris,” a video game in which players try to strategically create order out of chaos. For that reason, she is a strict time manager.
“I know what time I have to leave my house to get to the first restaurant and then to the second restaurant,” McMullan says. “I’ve almost got it mastered.”
McMullan became a restaurateur by chance. She and her husband own the building where the failed Carolina Wing Company restaurant once lived. Not ones to shy away from a challenge, the McMullans acquired and took over the restaurant in April of 2013. The couple renamed it Wing & Fish Company and nursed it back to life; it is a thriving restaurant today.
For the past seven years, McMullan has been a part of every aspect of her businesses. She manages the books for both restaurants, oversees staffing and checks in on customers. She enjoys the human resources aspect the most. “I love being with people,” she says. “I enjoy working with our staff, cutting up with them, even dancing with them in the kitchen!” says McMullan.
McMullan’s Future 10 recognition confirms her choice to move to Brunswick County in 2005 when she accepted a teaching job.
“Brunswick County is a special place,” she says. “I lived in Atlanta, but a small town like this where everybody knows everybody, it’s just so fresh here.”
She is humbled by her nomination and wants to share the credit. “I hate being singled out,” she says. “I surround myself with such good people, and that’s how we’ve been so successful. I almost hate to take the spotlight away from them, so I guess this is actually for them.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.