Crab cravings catapult Townsville business Marina Coffee towards iconic status

A recently opened Townsville business has cemented its status as an iconic NQ destination after celebrating the sale of its thousandth crab sanga.

Regular visitor Jossie Populin receives a prize after buying Maina Coffee's 1000th crab sandwich from the business' owner Ron Barker and manager Brydy Stanfield. Picture: Supplied.

North Queenslanders’ insatiable appetite for crab sangas has catapulted Townsville business Marina Coffee towards its goal of becoming an iconic destination to satisfy crustacean cravings.

Launched in July by owner Ron Barker at Shop 1, 26 Mariners Drive, the waterfront business celebrated the sale of its thousandth crab sandwich this week to regular visitor and breakwater peninsula resident Jossie Populin.

Mr Barker and shop manager Brydy Stanfield had excitedly been counting down the sandwiches until Ms Populin made the milestone purchase, and was subsequently awarded a $100 voucher and Club 48 Marina Coffee cap.

“I’ve been here quite a few times and mostly had crab sandwiches. They have a lot of crab in them and are so tasty,” Ms Populin said.

Marina Coffee's specialty, The Crab Sandwich, is becoming iconic. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Despite establishing the business as a coffee shop to bring together neighbours, boaties and more Townsville residents to the marina, Mr Barker was delighted to see their reputation grow as “the crab sandwich place”.

“It is very hard to fathom the sale of more than 10 crab sandwiches a day since we opened. We have wanted something like this for years but had to travel north or south to get it, now we have finally made it,” he said.

Marina Coffee has opened their doors at the Marina. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“We now plan to run regular competitions, our next being the 500th slice of a Greek slice called Galaktoboureko made locally.

“We’ve got terrific reviews about our coffee … but marina manager Scott Marshall says, ‘I just can’t believe the amount of people that have come here for the first time’.”

Anticipating a busy Summer trading period, Mr Barker said they would soon install a shade cloth along the length of the building so “we can put more bums on seats”.

Originally published as Crab cravings catapult Townsville business Marina Coffee towards iconic status