South Alabama’s food and drink scene keeps expanding this summer, with a farm-to-table delivery service opening its first storefront, a longtime Mobile seafood market settling into a bigger space, and Fairhope’s hometown brewery rolling out a new seasonal beer. The developments are the latest in a steady stream of small-business expansions along the Eastern Shore, in midtown Mobile and across the bay, reflecting how the region’s appetite for locally produced goods has matured into a real driver of the coastal economy. Each of the three ventures, taken on its own, is a small story. Taken together, they show how a network of independent operators is steadily reshaping what residents and visitors can find within a short drive of home.
Chasing Fresh, the farm-to-table delivery operation started by young entrepreneur Chase Corte, has grown enough to add a second pickup option for customers. The service built its following on weekly deliveries of locally sourced produce and goods ordered through Facebook, and demand has now outpaced what a single delivery day can handle. To keep up, Chasing Fresh has opened a market location at 19176 Highway 181 in Fairhope, just north of County Road 44, where customers can pick up their orders in person. The new site sits along one of the busiest commercial stretches on the Eastern Shore, putting the operation within easy reach of customers coming from Daphne, Foley and the rest of south Baldwin County as well as regulars in Fairhope.
For now, the market is open Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., though organizers say daily hours could be coming soon as the operation continues to grow. The ordering process remains the same for shoppers: place a Facebook order by Tuesday to receive the standard Wednesday delivery, or use the new Friday pickup window at the market instead. Anyone with questions can call (251) 550-9600 for details on ordering and pickup times. The arrangement keeps the existing delivery model intact while giving customers who live closer to the shop a chance to skip the routing and grab their orders directly.
Mudbugs Relocates Across the Parking Lot
Across the bay in Mobile, Mudbugs has moved into a new home. The seafood market, a favorite stop for locals craving po-boys and snow cones, relocated across the parking lot at the corner of Dauphin Island Parkway and Government Street. The new space gives customers something the old location lacked: a proper place to sit down and enjoy a meal on-site rather than taking it to go. Regulars are encouraged to stop in for lunch and pick up fresh redfish on the way out — the staff will clean it on request, and seasoned customers know to ask that the backbone be left in for extra flavor.
The corner where Mudbugs operates has long been a south Mobile landmark, sitting at the meeting point of two of the city’s busiest thoroughfares and within easy driving distance of the Dauphin Island Parkway corridor’s residential neighborhoods. The market’s old stand was tight on seating and tight on parking, both of which limited how long customers could linger. The new footprint reverses that, putting a few more tables inside and giving the staff room to keep the line moving during peak lunch hours. For anyone driving toward the Isle Dauphine bridge, the sight of a crowded Mudbugs parking lot on a Saturday afternoon remains a familiar signal that summer is in full swing on the Alabama coast.
Not far down the Causeway, Lap’s on the Causeway is settling into its own rhythm after opening as one of the bayfront area’s newest restaurants. The venue has quickly become a fixture for both locals and weekenders driving between Mobile and the Eastern Shore, with a menu designed to highlight Gulf seafood and casual coastal fare. The Causeway, which carries U.S. Highway 90 across the upper part of Mobile Bay, has historically been lined with seafood restaurants, marinas and tackle shops. Lap’s arrival adds another option to a stretch that draws steady traffic from commuters, anglers and tourists year-round.
Fairhope Brewing Rolls Out a New IPA
Fairhope Brewing Co., the craft brewery that has helped define the Eastern Shore’s beer scene since opening its taproom in downtown Fairhope, has announced a new seasonal IPA. The release continues a tradition the brewery built over several years of rotating limited-edition drafts alongside its flagship lineup. The new beer is available on tap at the brewery’s scoop shop and pub, and is also being distributed to a handful of bars and bottle shops throughout Baldwin and Mobile counties. Fairhope Brewing, founded by a group of homebrewers who wanted to put a hometown brewery on the map, has expanded its production capacity in stages and now supplies draft beer to a growing list of accounts along the Gulf Coast.
The brewery has become a regular stop for visitors walking the streets around the Fairhope Pier and the city’s downtown bluff park, especially during weekend evenings and outdoor events. Seasonal IPAs have been a mainstay of the brewery’s rotation, typically with two or three styles pouring at any given time alongside year-round offerings. The new IPA joins that lineup and is expected to be available through the end of the summer season, with the brewery already teasing fall-themed releases to follow.
What It Means for Local Shoppers
Together, the three openings illustrate how small operators continue to shape the local food economy. From a young entrepreneur’s Facebook-driven produce delivery service, to a family-run seafood counter that has anchored a Mobile intersection for years, to a hometown brewery pouring seasonal IPAs for visitors and regulars alike, the region’s independent food and drink scene is quietly adding jobs, tax base and reasons for residents to spend their dollars close to home. For consumers, the practical impact is straightforward: more options for buying directly from Alabama farmers and fishermen, more chances to sit down and eat at neighborhood spots that used to be takeout-only, and more local beer on tap within a short drive. Each of those developments also pulls more dollars back into Baldwin and Mobile counties at a moment when many coastal restaurants and small retailers are still rebuilding traffic and revenue after a difficult stretch.
For longtime residents, the changes are modest but noticeable. A familiar produce delivery service becomes easier to use, a beloved seafood shack gets a facelift, and a hometown brewery adds another beer to its tap wall. None of that will change the look of Highway 181, Dauphin Island Parkway or the Causeway, but together they offer a reminder that the local food scene is still moving forward one storefront, one parking lot and one tap handle at a time.
Each of the three businesses also illustrates a different way of growing. Chasing Fresh scaled by adding a pickup location alongside its existing delivery route, letting customers who live closer to the store skip the routing schedule and grab their orders directly. That kind of dual model — delivery plus a physical storefront — has become more common along the Eastern Shore as online-first businesses look for ways to deepen their footprint without abandoning the flexibility that made them popular in the first place.
Mudbugs, by contrast, grew by moving across a parking lot. The market was already a fixture at the corner of Dauphin Island Parkway and Government Street, but its old stand was tight on seating and parking. The new location addresses both problems, and by adding room to sit down, the business is also able to serve a wider range of customers — from regulars who used to order at the counter and leave, to families who now have a place to spread out for a meal before heading to the coast or back into midtown.
Fairhope Brewing is following the more familiar path of a craft brewery: release a new seasonal, push it through the taproom and a handful of accounts, and keep rotating the lineup as fall approaches. For a town that has become a destination for visitors who wander between the pier, the bluff and Magnolia Avenue, the brewery’s seasonal IPAs are part of the broader draw that makes Fairhope feel like more than just another Baldwin County suburb. The combination of all three of these moves — delivery plus storefront, in-place expansion, and seasonal product rotation — shows how small operators across the coast are finding their own ways to keep moving forward. For shoppers, that translates into more ways to buy local, more places to sit down with a meal, and more reasons to plan an evening around a short drive to the next town over. The cumulative effect is a regional food scene that feels increasingly self-confident, with each new opening adding another reason for residents and visitors to keep their spending close to home.