Sabu JR Shake was born and raised in Monterey, California. He is the fourth son of Isabella Shake and the late Sabu Shake, Sr., and brother to Benji, Chris, Angelo, Tene, and his late brother David. He is a devout Catholic and proud father of five children and three grandchildren. Sabu attended Monterey and Carmel schools and graduated from Monterey High School.
With over 50 years of experience in the hospitality business, Sabu began working at the family restaurant, Old Fisherman’s Grotto, at the age of fourteen in the kitchen alongside his Dad and brothers. He worked his way up to Maitre’d, cashier, manager and learned all aspects of the restaurant business, marketing, financial management and is currently the CFO of the Restaurant Pacific Group, Fish Hopper Monterey, and Fish Hopper Kona Hawaii.
In 1995, Sabu and his brother Chris opened The Fishhopper restaurant on the historic Cannery Row. With the enormous success of this restaurant, they soon purchased in 2006 an oceanfront property in Kona, Hawaii and opened The Fishhopper restaurant in Kona, along with other commercial and rental properties, employing over four hundred employees. In November of 2024, the Restaurant Business Magazine named the Fish Hopper one of the top 100 independent restaurants in the nation in revenue, ranking #85.
Sabu is currently a member of the Compari Club, The Paisano Club, The Sheriff’s Advisory Council, and a past member of the Chaines des Rotisseurs, past Board Member of the Boys & Girls Club, the California Restaurant Association, the Monterey Commercial Properties Association and Fisherman’s Wharf Association.
Sabu was awarded the M. Temple Elliott Award from The Salvation Army – Monterey Peninsula Corps and The Others Award-the highest national award given to a civilian by The Salvation Army. In addition, in 2015 the Paisano Club named Sabu the “Paisano of the Year” and he was also inducted into the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame and the Italian Heritage Society.
Sabu has served as a volunteer in many local fundraisers and charitable events along with supporting through the Fish Hopper Restaurants in Monterey and Kona Hawaii to over three hundred non-profits each year, charities and events by donations, sponsorships and financial support that directly benefit our homeless community.
In 2007, he organized a dinner and live auction event entitled “Sabu’s Safari” to raise additional funds to benefit The Salvation Army – Monterey Peninsula Corps in conjunction with the annual Christmas Fundraiser done in memory of Sabu Shake Sr. The first Sabu’s Safari was attended by over 250 guests and was a tremendous success and just hosted its 15th year. To date over seven million dollars has been raised for the benefit of The Salvation Army – Monterey Corps. As a result of his efforts and his brother Chris, The Salvation Army renamed their Sand City Good Samaritan Center to the Sabu Shake Sr. Good Samaritan Center. “it’s a great honor” said Sabu JR Shake. “It is a great way to remember what our Dad did for all those years”.
In addition, the City of Sand City honored the Shake Family by renaming the street parallel to the Sabu Shake Sr. Good Samaritan Center to its new name “Shake Avenue”.
In 2012, Sabu initiated a Salvation Army Turkey Drive Challenge. He reached out to friends, business colleagues and vendors for donations to purchase turkeys or hams for people in need during the holidays. This is now an annual “Turkey Drive” that provides the funds to purchase nearly 2000 turkey and hams each year. To date, $400,000 has been raised. Sabu also hosted an annual Holiday Toy Drive at his home that generated thousands of toys for families and children during Christmas.
In addition, when tragedy strikes our community such as the recent fires, he is the first one to volunteer to provide and organize food and beverages for the firefighters and crews working on the fires.
In November 2014, he initiated and hosted the first ever Red Kettle Kickoff for The Salvation Army at The Fishhopper Restaurant in Kona, Hawaii. It was a tremendous success, which continues to this day bringing in necessary funds to benefit the people who are in need in the Kona homeless community.
During the recent Covid Pandemic when businesses were ordered to close, Sabu along with his brother Chris were so concerned about their employees’ health and financial welfare that they decided to feed their employees and their family one meal each day along with groceries throughout the entire time the restaurants were closed. In addition, they fed the waterfront homeless community and all the people that reside in the transitional housing units at The Salvation Army.
In 2023, Sabu along with his brother Chris became Co-Chairs of The Salvation Army’s annual Red Kettle Kickoff held at the Inn at Spanish Bay raising over $220,000 last year.
Sabu’s fundraising efforts for The Salvation Army has inspired so many people in our community with the Sabu’s Safari event as the premier fundraising model for many other organizations that have brought so much awareness for people who want to donate.
