Business name: Sandbox Beach Grill

Address: 48 South Main Street

Owners: Todd Higgins

What is your business background? My background is long and varied. I had a career in finance and was an assistant vice president with Chase. Then I went back to school at Fordham University for law. Law school was a natural fit for how I thought. I practiced law at Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher in Washington. It’s strange for a 14-year-old high school drop out who ended up walking the storied halls of one of the best law firms in the nation. I then started my own appellate practice after three years, representing the underdogs in fights with larger corporations. My sweet spot is in execution. My strategy is to try and live an authentic life and do things that have purpose.

What is your business’ focus? It’s really about hospitality — making people happy and be excellent in execution. Our brand is built around the substance of happiness. We try to encourage having a little happiness in our lives now. We act with kindness and a sense of community and through that we bring happiness to the customers. There is no beach at the Sandbox Beach Grills, but we don’t need an actual beach to find our happy place.

What is something important to you that readers know about your business? That our dedication to being a happy place goes from the youngest to the oldest. There is wheelchair access. Our focus on children shows through in the open floor plan, which gives room for them to run around as well as a book shelf for them to take books and read from. We tried to design the experience for kids in a way that treats them with respect and is also good for parents. I have six kids, so it’s important that the kids eat at the same cadence as the adults. We have appetizers on our kids menu. We tried to think about the journey to happiness from the kids’ point of view. We serve kids their meal in a beach pail.

Do you have any upcoming events? Our Sandbox Sunsets will show our philosophy of kindness and gratitude. Once per week at sunset there will be a nice surprise for guests. We are also planning live music on our patio regularly.

Hours: Sunday 8 am to 10 pm, Monday through Saturday 8 am to 11 pm.

Website: sandboxbeachgrill.com

Phone: 203-304-9376

E-mail: info@sandboxbeachgrill.com