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Dating back to 1943, Golden Rule Seafood is a classic family-owned seafood market and comfort food restaurant, featuring a hidden tiki hut and outdoor garden replete with waterfalls and koi ponds.
This South Florida gem, located at 17505 S Dixie Hwy. in Palmetto Bay, first opened as a general store in the early 1940s where 12-year-old Benn Mullins began working as a bag boy. Two decades later, he assumed ownership of the current seafood market that has served the community for over 75 years later.
The current owners — Pamela Mullins, Benn’s daughter, and her husband, Walter Flores — have seen a lot of changes since they took over in the late 1990s. Most notably, the market expanded to include a restaurant in 2014 and outdoor dining in 2017.
Boasting an extensive family history, Golden Rule’s daily operations are run by Benn and LaVerne Mullins’ children and grandchildren, who also provide some of the local catch as commercial fishermen.
“We try to create an experience for our community,” said Courtney Reeder, the daughter of Mullins and Flores, who serves as the company’s operations director. “We try to provide quality seafood with very friendly service, a fun shopping experience for our market guests, and a relaxing experience in our restaurant where you’re able to enjoy an awesome meal with your friends and family.”
Golden Rule’s market and restaurant feature seafood from all over the world, with an emphasis on local catch. Several members of the family are commercial crabbers by trade, and they bring in live blue crabs from Biscayne Bay that are sold fresh in the market daily.
Other locally sourced seafood offerings include stone crabs, snapper, grouper, mackerel, mahi-mahi, and Key West pink shrimp. Mussels are sourced from New Zealand, salmon from Chile and the Faroe Islands, king crabs from Alaska, and Gulf oysters shucked fresh in-house.
Owning a business has not always been smooth sailing for the family, however. On July 4, 2022, Golden Rule Seafood suffered a fire that destroyed the Grande Tiki Hut portion of their dining area.
“It was very devastating,” Reeder said. “But we’ve been in business a very long time, so there have been many times where we have been presented with challenges. We have to come together, adapt, and figure out what the next step is and how we’re going to move forward.
“Thankfully, through the incredible support of our community, we were able to rebuild our Grand Tiki and add our Garden Tiki. [We are] thankful to so many people who came out to support us and sat anywhere and everywhere during that time while we were waiting to rebuild,” Reeder said.
In October 2022, the Grande Tiki had its official reopening.
As the restaurant approaches a decade in business, they look to bring in-house events back to their market. In the past, Golden Rule Seafood has hosted cooking demos and tasting events, but in recent years, they have held primarily off-site activities, apart from the usual weekend live music that occurs every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening.
“We are a family business,” Reeder said. “I feel like we all have different skills and strengths that we’re able to use to work together. I will say that almost all of us in my family have at some point in time worked here, and I’m very privileged that I get to continue working here with my family.”
For more information phone 305-235-0661.
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