Meet Jean Walker | Owner of Beach Genie

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jean Walker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jean, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
We came up with the idea for Beach Genie during Covid. All the hotels, restaurants and fun things to do were shut down. The beach was a respite for people, allowing them the ability to safely enjoy the outdoors. Beach Genie allows guests to enjoy a beach day without the hassle of packing and unpacking everything needed for a beach day, and allows them to do it in luxury. Rather than flimsy, cheap beach chairs, we set people up on the beach in handcrafted oak and fabric chairs and umbrellas that provide superior sun protection. For visitors who arrive without any beach gear, Beach Genie allows them to enjoy a beach day for the same cost as buying inexpensive beach gear and then throwing it away at the end of their trip.

We arrive prior to your reservation and set up everything for you. When you arrive, all you need to do is sit back and relax. When you are done, you just leave. We take everything down, clean and sanitize it and reuse it for the next guest.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
What really sets Beach Genie apart is our commitment to a high quality beach experience. First, we are permitted on every beach where we operate. Most beach experience companies don’t have permitting, which places their events in danger of being shut down by local authorities. When a client books with Beach Genie, they are confident that their event is legally allowed.

Second, we spent a lot of time considering our equipment needs and sources. We wanted a very high quality product, made in the United States when possible. We were so excited to find the highest quality production was actually happening in the United States. Our beach chairs are sourced from North Carolina. Our umbrellas are manufactured in New Jersey. Our cabanas are from Colorado. Even our smaller items such as coolers and paddleball sets are made in the USA. And we love using our Sand Cloud beach sheets, made right here in San Diego.

Finally, we wanted a sustainable beach day experience. Many times, visitors arrive without beach gear and purchase inexpensive equipment, only to trash it, or worse, leave it on the beach. Beach Genie ensures that all our equipment is picked up, cleaned and sanitized between uses. Our sand toys are even “beach rescues” picked up by our friends during daily beach clean ups. The toys are perfectly good, but left on the beach, where they will end up in the ocean. We take the toys, clean and sanitize them and then rent them to guests, ensuring they don’t end up purchasing more plastic toys and we collect them at the end of the day to make sure they get the use they deserve.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We obviously love the outdoors and the ocean. We would likely bring them on a whale/dolphin watching trip with Oceanside Coastal Expeditions or, for a larger group, Oceanside Adventures.

We love to recommend local restaurants to guests and only recommend our personal favorites such as Daily News Cafe in Carlsbad, Beach Break Cafe in Oceanside, and Swami’s Cafe. For lunch, we always recommend Board and Brew, Pronto’s Gourmet, and Stratford at the Harbor. For dinner, we love Pizza Port, Fresco Trattoria, Miller’s Table and Wrench and Rodent.

Le Papagayo has fantastic food, drinks and live music. And we would definitely hit Camp Store in Carlsbad for sunset.

For the best Bloody Mary around, we take friends to Tony’s Bar and Grill in Oceanside Harbor. For a fun daytime drink, we love all of the local breweries in North County and urban wineries, such as Carruth.

And for nighttime fun, we love hitting a live music show at Belly Up.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would love to recognize the community who allowed our business to survive and flourish during the pandemic. Our friends who showed up for our photoshoot and acted as “models” for our website. The parents at our children’s school who booked us for birthday parties and anniversaries just so we could get out brand out on the beach. And the local resorts who trusted us to safely handle bonfires and beach events for their guests while many people were worried about being together.

Website: www.thebeachgenie.com

Instagram: @the_beach_genie_

Facebook: @thebeachgenie

Yelp: The Beach Genie

Image Credits
The professional photos are all taken by Shari Anne Photography