Courtesy photo.

Tyler is getting a Shell Shack, a Carrollton-based seafood restaurant that focuses on king crab, snow crab, shrimp and even crawfish in season. The restaurant is expected to open in January 2018.

The city of Tyler approved a building permit for a 40,000 square foot restaurant at 7918 S. Broadway Ave. That’s just north of Cumberland Road.

“Shell Shack is a one-of-a-kind seafood restaurant experience in the casual dining segment specializing in proprietary infused seasoned crab and seafood of all shapes and sizes,” the company’s website says. “The Shell Shack family strives to better our customer experience each and every day through operational excellence. We believe our seafood loving customers are the reason the Shell Shack brand grew 100 percent in 2016 and we anticipate doubling our locations in 2017.”

There are four locations already, all in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Tyler location will be the first franchise location.

“We’re working with a group of developers and we’re very excited,” said Jon Glaser, with the Shell Shack corporation. “It’s a three-store deal, with Tyler opening first, and potential restaurants in Longview and Texarkana.”

What sets Shell Shack apart from other crab shack-type restaurants is its menu, Glaser said.

“A couple of friends of mine came up with this concept about six years ago, and we spent a lot of time getting the spices right,” he said. “We’re different in that we actually infused the seafood with the spices. Customers choose their level of heat, and which particular spices they want, and we cook to order.”

The restaurant will be open for lunch, and will have a happy hour.

“And our kitchen will be open late,” said Glaser. “Also, this will be the first ground-up restaurant in the chain. The others are second-generation sites remodeled into Shell Shacks. So a lot of forethought is going into this one. We’ll have a great patio facing Broadway.”

The menu isn’t extensive, Glaser said.

“We don’t try to be everything to everybody,” he said. “We focus on what we’re good at – quality seafood.”