Venice Beach may be the shark’s tooth capital of the world, but there’s a new kid in town—and it’s capitalizing on the abundance of Florida’s inland fossils.
Relic Reef opened in Myakka City at the beginning of this month, and owner Sam Harkin, 33, says he’s been slammed with customers since day one. It’s located within Dakin Natural Soils, a 1,200-acre commercial soil lot that sells fill dirt for construction sites. Dakin Dairy’s Jerry Dakin owns the land and leases 10 acres, which have already been dug out, to Harkin and his wife Courtney, who’s Dakin’s cousin.
“Jerry started digging this land out about seven or eight years ago,” Harkin says. “Last year, my wife and I started going down into the pit to find teeth. I thought, ‘Man, this could be a really great business for other shark tooth hunters to come out.’”…