AMOB on the Pier, 200 Bridge Street, Bradenton Beach.

The Anna Maria Oyster Bar makes its first entry into the world of counter service with AMOB on the Pier, a new restaurant in Bradenton Beach with seating for 158 customers and the fourth business location run by the Manatee County company. Tim Bingham, who has run Anna Maria Oyster Bar’s Ellenton location for seven years, will serve as manager partner at AMOB on the Pier. We spoke with him about the new restaurant concept and its potential future.

What was the thinking behind this new restaurant? First off, we love being back on the island. It’s where our roots are. This is our fourth location. We are a counter service restaurant, so we don’t have servers. Customers will just come up to the cash registers. Then you sit where you like and we will bring the food out to you. You can get your own condiments and soda. It’s a new concept for us, and we are really excited to do it. It has a lot of the same menu as Anna Maria Oyster Bar, but we are a little bit smaller, and that’s why the menu is abbreviated. We had to downsize it to fit into our menu here. 

Do you expect to see this concept expanded to other new locations in the future? Obviously we always want to grow. We are not sure yet, but we think it will do very well or we wouldn’t have opened it in the first place. If we do as well as expected, then of course. We are always looking for new opportunities.

Will customers see a change at the traditional sit-down locations for Anna Maria Oyster Bar? Absolutely not. We’re not changing anything. We are doing great at the other three locations. 

AMOB on the Pier, 200 Bridge Street, Bradenton Beach.