The Phillips story began back in 1956 when Shirley and Brice Phillips came to Ocean City, Maryland. They opened a small crab carry-out shop to sell the surplus supply of crabs and crab meat from the family's seafood packing plant on Hooper's Island.
Over the next twelve years the Phillips quickly began to grow, adding a dining room a year to the original four-seat carry-out shack. In fact, demand was so great that the family opened a restaurant in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. With the success of the venture, the Phillips continued their expansion, opening restaurants throughout the Baltimore-Washington area, Florida, and most recently, in Annapolis, Maryland.

Today, after more than 45 years of growth, eight restaurants, two hotels and eight seafood packaging plants worldwide, the privately held company is among the most popular and largest grossing family restaurant chains in the country.