Seward fish and chips restaurant seeks the city's first seasonal tourism liquor license

A planned fish and chips restaurant on Seward's Third Avenue is asking the state for the city's first seasonal tourism liquor license, which would let it serve beer and wine from May through October. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is scheduled to take up the request Tuesday.

Seward is allowed two population-based restaurant liquor licenses, a number capped by its population of about 2,224, and none are available, according to a staff memo to the board. The tourism license is counted by visitors instead, and it's available only in communities of 40,000 or fewer that get more than 4,000 visitors a year.

The state allows one for every 1,500 visitors a day, found by dividing a town's yearly visitor count by 182. Licensing Examiner Shawn Kowalski ran Seward's roughly 140,700 cruise passengers in 2025 through that formula and got about 773 a day, roughly half the threshold. That rounds up to one license.

The 2025 count was down 36% from 220,200 passengers in 2024, according to a statewide visitor report prepared for the Alaska Travel Industry Association and included in the board's packet. Whatever count the board accepts will apply to any other application for this license in Seward this year, the memo said.

John and Stephanie Higgins each own half of The Garage Seward LLC, which applied for the license at 801 Third Ave. The application also lists an owner's financial interest in Firebrand BBQ, which has its own liquor license.

They say theirs would be the only dedicated fish and chips restaurant in town. A draft menu lists halibut, rockfish and cod, a crab boil with Kodiak tanner crab and reindeer sausage, and beer from Stoney Creek Brew House. The restaurant plans to be open 11 am to 8 pm daily, with occasional live music.

State law requires the restaurant's food sales to at least match its alcohol sales each year. The license costs $1,250 every two years.