Kanwar Singh and his brother Ajay bought a gas station in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, in 2012. The Sunoco station on the coast near Wilmington was your average fill-up stop for five years, until the Singh brothers added foodservice in 2017.

“We played around with ideas for what direction to go in. Being on the beach, we wanted to cater to the masses and do a simple concept. My brother Ajay said, ‘Let’s do burgers, Philly cheesesteaks and hot dogs,’” recalled Kanwar. “We rebuilt the kitchen from scratch and had to redo a small section of the store.”

Just a short year later, after a devastating storm took out one of the store’s canopies, that burger concept would become the best—and only—thing the store offered, transforming the gas station into the Island Burgers & Bites restaurant that now has a line around the block.

A Stormy Change

In September 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall on the coast of North Carolina. The large and slow-moving Category 1 hurricane produced record-breaking rainfall and flooding across the eastern part of the state, and 100-mile-per-hour winds destroyed buildings—including one of the Singh brothers’ canopies. “We took the canopy down and just ran gas with no canopy for a year,” said Singh.

But the store’s food concept was becoming more successful, and parking had become an issue as customers flocked to Island Burgers & Bites. So instead of replacing the canopy, “We took the fuel out. We’d had two canopies with gas and a small diesel aboveground tank. We capped the fuel dispensers off and added a big outdoor deck that overlooks the marina,” Singh explained.

For the small site, the payoff was big. “Removing the fuel canopies totally opened up the whole site. It was a bold and risky decision, but we like to gamble,” he said.

The move did come with a cost. “Initially it slowed things down and we lost gas customers, many of whom were tourists filling up before leaving town,” said Singh. “But in the grand scheme of things we gained more customers—a lot more than we lost. We had about five parking spaces before, and now we have about 15.”

Removing the fuel canopies totally opened up the whole site.”

Carolina-Style Meals Worth the Wait

Tourists and beachgoers already pack Carolina Beach in the summer, and the line around the building at 111 Carl Winner Drive no doubt piques the curiosity of visitors.

“We typically have people waiting in line before we open. A lot of locals know that once we open, the wait times will be long. A lot of our blue-collar guys who have limited time for lunch know to come in early before we open to give us their orders,” said Singh.

What are they waiting for? Custom burgers and other classic fare like Philly cheesesteaks and loaded hot dogs.

“We have no premade burgers here, you build your own and everything is made-to-order,” said Singh. The grill offers single or double patties, cheese options and all the toppings are free, from basic condiments to chili and slaw. “Whatever the customer wants is what they get. We literally build this exactly how they like it,” he said, adding that the bacon cheeseburger is the number one menu item.

One of the reasons the bacon cheeseburger is so popular might be because the store’s bacon is special. “Our bacon is candied with a unique kick from spices, and we bake it each morning. We don’t do it on a flat top. We started out with that on the menu and it’s one of the things that sets us apart. People come in and ask for just bacon,” said Singh.

It’s also no surprise that Carolina-style is popular, meaning sandwiches are topped with mustard, beef chili, coleslaw and onion. “Slaw is popular down here. It’s a Carolina thing,” Singh explained.

If customers are not in the mood for a burger, the next choice is the Philly cheesesteak. “We’re from D.C. and we wanted to bring a good Philly here. We use thinly sliced ribeye and our buns are made in Philadelphia,” said Singh. The sandwich comes with Cheez Whiz, which many Pennsylvanians would argue is the authentic way to make a cheesesteak. “It gets into all the meat and the bread and mixes well,” Singh said.

The menu is fairly straightforward. “From the time we opened to now, we’ve made the menu smaller. We used to do chicken wings and gyros, but we got so busy. We wanted simple items and to do them well,” Singh explained.

The building is small and there are no walk-in coolers. “We run everything off one two-door freezer and a double-door fridge. We have three to four deliveries per week because we only order what we can store with that space. That’s how we keep things extremely fresh,” he said.

And keeping things simple means the brothers don’t serve breakfast at Island Burgers & Bites. While there is demand, the lunch and dinner rushes require significant prep time to keep everything fresh. “We already have staff coming in at 6 a.m. to roll patties, and all of our vegetables and ingredients are cut fresh that day,” said Singh. “We don’t want to add another product just to do it. If we don’t feel like we can put out an extremely good product, we’re not going to do it. It has to be up to our quality standards. And plus we’re on the beach, so in season breakfast is not a big thing.”

Beyond the Burgers

Singh said there are a lot of factors that draw customers to the location for meals. “It’s a little bit of everything. The food has to be great, and we have a great classic smash burger that’s good quality and fresh,” said Singh. “But we are also located in an old gas station building, which has a cool factor to it. It has that old-school convenience store vibe and people love that. They come to town and want to bring their friends to the old gas station.”

The store also isn’t “fancy,” said Singh, and caters to the beach crowd that makes up its core customer base.

“The way we operate is quick and friendly. People come in off the beach with no shoes. It plays into the old gas station feeling. We do no marketing and no ads, just rely on word of mouth.”

For now, there’s no plan for expansion—the focus is on operations and riding the wave of success in this Carolina beach town.