CHARLEVOIX — Charlevoix resident Suzy Brown is a bookkeeper with a hospitality background, but in the summer of 2020, she decided to try a seafood boil.
“I was doing a birthday boil at my house for family and friends,” she said. “They needed a place to eat.”
Brown said this was a good way to “feed a lot of people” during COVID-19 dining restrictions. In 2020, she said, she and others were not allowed to visit their summer homes in northern Michigan. She started the boils downstate and when restrictions were lifted, continued them up north.
She said word spread on social media and within about a week, she was able to start Suzy’s Seafood Boils. Though she is based in Charlevoix, Brown serves all of northern Michigan and has some clients downstate.
“We bring the boil to you,” Brown said. “I’m an at-home chef. I really love doing my seafood boils.”
Brown prepares the meal on site and then dumps the pot out on a plastic-covered table at the guests’ chosen dining time. Shrimp, corn, sausage, potatoes and onions are cooked together. The shrimp is deveined, so the shell comes off, she said.