Burgers from the gas station on the beach | NACS

Kanwar Singh and his brother Ajay purchased a gas station in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, in 2012. The Sunoco gas station on the coast near Wilmington was an average gas station for five years until the Singh brothers added a food service operation in 2017.

“We were playing around with ideas of what direction we could go. Since we were on the beach, we wanted to appeal to the masses and do a simple concept. My brother Ajay said, ‘Let’s do burgers, Philly cheesesteaks and hot dogs,'” Kanwar recalled. “We built the kitchen from scratch and had to redesign a small part of the store.”

Less than a year later, after a devastating storm ripped off one of the store’s canopies, that burger concept became the store’s best—and only—offer, transforming the gas station into the Island Burgers & Bites restaurant, which now has a line that wraps around the block.

A stormy change

In September 2018, Hurricane Florence hit the North Carolina coast. The large and slow-moving Category 1 hurricane brought record-breaking rainfall and flooding across the eastern part of the state, and 100-mph winds destroyed buildings – including one of the Singh brothers’ porches. “We took the porch off and just ran gas without a porch for a year,” Singh said.

But the store’s food concept was becoming increasingly successful, and parking became an issue as customers flocked to Island Burgers & Bites. So instead of replacing the canopy, “we removed the fuel. We had two canopies with gasoline and a small above-ground diesel tank. We covered the fuel dispensers and added a large outdoor patio overlooking the marina,” Singh explained.

For the small site, the gain was huge. “By removing the fuel covers, the entire site was completely exposed. It was a bold and risky decision, but we are happy to take risks,” he said.

To learn more about Island Burgers & Bites, visit the August 2024 Issue of NACS Magazine.