Most of us could guess that owning and running a restaurant would be challenging, and that owning and operating two restaurants even more so. Laney Vallancey, who with her husband, Jeff Vallancey, first re-opened a North Myrtle Beach seafood staple, Rockefellers Raw Bar some 20 years ago, later created and opened Brisket in 2016. The couple had been partners together both in their lives and in their entrepreneurial adventures, but when Jeff died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2018, Laney was left with a big question, should she stay at the helm of these busy restaurants or sell?

Against the advice of some, Vallancey buckled down, enlisted even more help of her grown children, son Shane Whitehead and daughter Shana Mitchell, and she put her faith in the staff she first helped hire to keep both businesses flourishing. In the wake of her husband’s passing and the grief that followed, the work has given her purpose and plenty to keep her days occupied. So much so, we wondered just what it might take to keep two very different style restaurants committed to quality and consistency, one focused on seafood the other on slow-smoked Texas style BBQ. Turns out it takes leadership, vision, hard work, and a team dedicated to keeping the dream of the Vallanceys alive.

Here's a taste of her day as owner/operator.

10:00 a.m.

I met Vallancey at her longtime North Myrtle Beach home, one she shared with her husband until his passing. Single, she’s kept company by many friends, her children from a previous marriage, grandchildren, and her Golden Retriever, Scarlet. Vallancey was already at her desk, her workday having started hours earlier. The sunroom was loaded with cases of Rockefellers tee-shirts ready to be sorted, folded and labeled with the help of granddaughter, 11-year-old Harper.

“I just do my thing,” says Vallancey, sitting at her home office desk, her second cup of coffee long since finished. She’s humble, bright, smiling, lovely and spirited. She seems to care deeply about her family and the businesses in her care. “I start each day here at the desk, looking at sales from the previous day, checking emails, paying bills, some ordering, that kind of stuff—and working on permitting. That’s my big project at the moment.”

She’s been working with the City of North Myrtle Beach for a re-approval of the outdoor space at Brisket for dining and entertainment. It had been a welcome addition to the restaurant and the neighborhood during the Pandemic when indoor dining was taboo, but use of the area has since been restricted by the city, lying dormant, like the very sands of a Texas desert the space was designed to emulate.

“The neighbors would show up on their golf carts, we had a portable outdoor bar, beautiful shade trees, picnic tables…it was wonderful. My son and his friend built this little stage for the bands. Everybody loved it, but since indoor Covid restrictions ended, we are having to jump through a lot of [regulatory] hoops to get it back, but we will!”

This ‘get’r done’ spirit seems pervasive in Vallancey, who understands that details matter and that owning and operating a successful restaurant (or two), or any business, requires leadership, hard work and perseverance.

10:55 a.m.

Our first stop was Rockefellers Raw Bar, an iconic North Myrtle Beach favorite for some three decades, though the Vallanceys reopened it 20 years ago. It was the home of the original Oscar’s, before Oscar’s relocated further south. Rockefellers is famous for its juicy, succulent Oysters Rockefeller (naturally) and its steam kettles where seafood combos are cooked to order by the bartenders in plain sight of their customers.

We parked out back so she could inspect the parking lot. It had been re-sealed and new stripes painted. “That wasn’t cheap,” she remarks, “but it had to be done.”

Through the back door of the kitchen and just before lunch Vallancey introduced me to a few of her daytime staff: bartenders, kitchen manager and prep cooks—most of whom have been working there for many years, some for more than two decades.

“Mike Priddy is my front-of-house manager at Rockefellers,” she says “He doesn’t even like to be called “manager,” but he came with the business from the previous owners and has been there for 24 years. He knows everything there is to know and does all the liquor orders and handles anything and everything that might come up.”

Vallancey seemed happy to discuss her life and the businesses she loves so much over lunch, which included perfectly seared Asian tuna, oysters Rockefeller, a steam kettle with shrimp and scallops over al dente angel hair pasta, and good crusty bread.

Though Vallancey has called North Myrtle Beach home for many years, in her childhood she lived in several different places. A military kid—her father was a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Airforce—as a young adult she settled near Lake Norman and the Charlotte, N.C., area where she worked in retail. In 1992 as a young, single, divorced mother with two small kids and needing a change, she and her children moved to the Grand Strand at the urging of a girlfriend.

“My friend had gotten a job at Dick’s Last Resort (Barefoot Landing) and got me in the door. I wanted to start as a server, but I didn’t have any experience, so they hired me as a hostess.

That didn’t last too long because I very quickly memorized the menu and was [re-hired as a server] immediately. I eventually moved into sales and marketing. I hadn’t done that kind of work before, either, but I knew I could figure it out, and I did. I met Jeff when he was the general manager there.”

A romance ensued and the couple were married in 1998. Several years after the marriage the larger-than-life Jeff Vallancey—he was an imposing 6-feet-7-inches tall—left Dick’s to reopen Rockefellers, purchasing it from the previous owners, and he and Laney poured their lives, savings and good credit into the venture.

11:35 a.m.

With Rockefellers’ doors now open, lunch patrons began to filter in, most taking seats at the tables, ready for happy hour customers who will show up later. During our lunch, a minor cooler problem was noted behind the bar and Vallancey called kitchen manager Andreas Lemus-Guerra to investigate, and he immediately appeared and set to work correcting the issue.

“Andreas was first a busboy at Dick’s,” she says proudly, “so I’ve known him since he was a young teenager.” They shared an obvious respect for each other and genuine friendship that transcended a typical boss/employee relationship. This seemed to be the case with all of her employees.

As often happens after major turning points in a person’s life, such as a wedding, starting a new business, or the death of a loved one, Vallancey takes joy and comfort in the sweet memories and is eager to share her stories.

“I remember the day we put the key in the door of Rockefellers for the first time as new owners,” she says. “We were nervous, had huge loans, and it was up to us to make it work. Jeff said—‘Okay, we’re going to turn this bar that sells food into a restaurant that has a bar’ and that’s what we did. We expanded the menu and did what we could to make it the best we could.” The couple rebuilt the Rockefellers’ brand, gaining new customers and finding real satisfaction in owning their own business. But something was missing.

12:17 p.m.

“Jeff grew up in Texas and knew the ins-and -outs of BBQ and really longed for a BBQ restaurant,” says Vallancey. “He smoked brisket, and just about anything else, at home all the time,” she recalls, “and he really knew the restaurant business. In Dallas he’d done everything from flipping eggs, burgers, all of it from the ground up. He really wanted a Texas-style (dry rub with sauces on the side) BBQ restaurant, and at the time there weren’t any in the area, so the next thing you know, we’re looking at properties. But owning a restaurant and running a restaurant were two different things. He didn’t love the paperwork involved and that’s kind of where I stepped up.” The two were a good match both in business and in life.

We take our leave of Rockefellers to visit Brisket, the slow-smoked Texas-style BBQ restaurant Jeff Vallancey dreamed of and ran with Laney for a few years before his passing.

Outside we inspected the smoker with its stacks of hickory logs piled high. The firebox burns hot and slow and sends heat and hickory smoke into the smoke chamber, accessible through the kitchen. Inside we meet Eric Rivera, who is carefully monitoring brisket, turkey legs, short ribs, kielbasa and more all bathing the glorious heat and smoky aroma that makes for impossibly tender and flavorful food.

In the dining room the staff is busy with a full house for lunch. Almost every seat at the bar is taken as are most of the tables. The inside is not large, which is why Vallancey is working hard to get the outside back up and running—it’s the only way to expand the business. Several customers drop in to pick up carry-out orders while we prepare for an onslaught of food for ourselves.

Behind the bar Amie Kieta slings drinks and takes orders, with piled-high blonde hair and sassy attitude to match. We don’t wait long for the food to arrive. My understanding of short ribs is shattered when I see the giant slab of meat coming towards us; a steak knife stabbed in its center is dwarfed by this giant rib. It’s currently listed on the menu at $31 but it could easily feed two-three people.

We sampled spareribs and brisket, too, along with sides of collards, slaw, hushpuppies and more. The house-made pecan pie a’ la mode finished the meal that couldn’t be finished. The giant short rib, however, was the real star of the show and had people gawking and snapping photos—it’s normally only available at dinner, but it pays to be seated with the owner.

1:22 p.m.

We pull ourselves away from the food, wrap up what couldn’t be consumed—it was the second lunch of the day for both of us—and head back to Vallancey’s home office.

Taking a moment to enjoy the deck outside her home covered in lush, tropical plant life, we finish our conversation and I promise to move on. A friend and neighbor, Tina, stops by and we accept Vallancey’s offer of a glass of wine, and continue our conversations.

“Today I’m looking at insurance,” says Vallancey. “With zero claims on my policy, my liquor liability insurance has doubled in the last year. It’s that way for everyone, and some places can’t handle the increase and close. It’s all part of operating a business—you’ve got to make it work.”

She will spend the rest of the afternoon making calls, checking in with her managers, doing payroll for some 32 employees between both properties, and addressing any issues that might come up.

“Most of my staff has been with us for so long that I don’t have to be there every second. If I need to get away for a few days, I can. I don’t travel as often as I’d like, though. I’d hoped to see Jeff’s family in Texas this summer but haven’t been able to go, yet.”

To what does Vallancey attribute the success of both restaurants?

“For starters, Jeff had the vision and the guts, and I can’t say enough about my staff. They’re the best. But also, everything is made from scratch. The meat and seafood are fresh and the best quality we can possibly find. The sides are from recipes that I raised my kids on.”

Still, there’s more to do. There’s always more to do. She will be using her green thumb to personally upgrade the landscaping at both restaurants, and she and Harper still have 10 boxes of shirts to fold.

Rockefellers Raw Bar I (rockefellerrawbar.com) is located at 3613 Hwy 17 S. in North Myrtle Beach and is open daily (closed on Tuesday) 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Brisket (brisketnmb.com) is located at 1501 Hwy 17 S, North Myrtle Beach and is open Tuesday-Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

In a postscript to this story, Vallancey confirmed just before going to press, that the City of North Myrtle Beach approved her request for outdoor dining and bar service at Brisket.