New Sharky's Beach Bite 'fulfills a life-long dream'

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By Brian Ward

Hampton Beachcomber, June 27, 2013

[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Beachcomber and Seacoast Online.]

Matt Olga and Mark Pelletier of Sharky's Beach Bite
Matt Olga and Mark Pelletier are the owners of Sharky's Beach Bite
on F Street. [Brian Ward Photo]

 HAMPTON BEACH — What do you get when a builder and a chef decide to start a business? You get Sharky's Beach Bite, a new restaurant down on F Street. The restaurants co-owners, Mark Pelletier and Matt Olga, said that opening Sharky's was a lifelong dream.

Pelletier and Olga have known each other since they were kids living down in Peabody, Mass. They had worked together before at other restuarants where Olga was the chef and Pelletier ran entertainment. When they decided to open up their own restaurant, they thought Hampton Beach was the perfect place to set up shop.

"Mark [Pelletier] showed it to me and it's an area with a lot of people," Olga said. "It's a fun atmosphere being near the beach."

Olga is the head chef at Sharky's and since it opened he has put in 120 hours a week. Even though he's put in so much work, Olga says he still enjoys it.

"I basically have to, to stand so many hours," Olga said. "It's a labor of love."

This is Olga and Pelletier's first time owning and operating a restaurant, though Olga has been cooking for himself and for others for most of his life, receiving a formal education in cooking after leaving art school. Olga says his clam chowder is the best on the beach.

"Personally I love the compliments about the food, I get instant gratification from that and the people," Olga said.

Mark Pelletier runs the business side of Sharky's and says he is extremely proud of the food that Sharky's makes, particularly their Beach Bite burger and their barbecue sauce.

"I was a [certified] Kansas City Barbecue Association judge," Pelletier said. "We have the best barbecue sauce I've ever tasted; our pulled pork sandwich is nothing short of amazing."

Pelletier is currently trying to get an entertainment license so they can start bringing in live performances. Until then Pelletier says that the two of them are working hard to keep up the quality at Sharky's.

"I absolutely love [running] it and he's [Olga] is amazing as a chef, he really is." Pelletier said, "Everything is good at Sharky's."

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