Those who wait in long lines to get a lobster roll or fish and chips along the Connecticut coastline in the summer may envision that after a busy season, the seafood shack owners pack up and spend the winter in Florida relaxing on the beach.

But that is not the case.

They're working to pay the mortgage or year-round rent on a place only open for six or seven months of the year, and the profit margins on restaurants are notoriously thin to begin with.

The Day talked to the owners of popular seasonal spots in Norwich, Mystic and New London — which plan to open in April — to hear what they're up to in the winter.

While many of us may merely be dreaming of a far-off summer, for them the reality is already hitting, as they hire staff, complete their ServSafe recertification, replace equipment and do renovations, plan events and work on advertising.

Johnny's Clam Shack, Norwich

Johnny Oliveira opened Johnny's Clam Shack in September 2017. In the winter months, "I try not to think about the seasonal restaurant," he said with a laugh, "because it's so demanding. When May starts and the holiday weekend — the Memorial Weekend — opens, it's non-stop, vicious, furious."

He is on active duty in the U.S. Navy, so he's still working day to day on shore duty. Winter just means that he's working from about 7:30 a.m. to 4 or 4:30 p.m., he said, rather than 80 or 90 hours a week in the summer. But he plans to retire from active duty in 2021.

This winter, Oliveira partnered with U-Haul to use his 184 Main St. lot for rentals. In the summer, he will move the U-Hauls to the back and have someone else handle them while he transitions to the restaurant.

Oliveira said he and his wife and three kids "try and enjoy Disney (World) at least once every couple years and say, 'This is a gift from Johnny's Clam Shack for putting up with all the chaos.'"

"I always thought that the seasonal business was like, they come in, they make a million dollars in profits, and then they fly to Florida for the winter, and (they have) six months (of) vacation and six months actually working, and that's not true," Oliveira said.

He added that customers don't see the behind-the-scenes work that happens for an extra three to four months on either end of the season, between hiring and firing, staying up to date on food-handling certifications, and replacing equipment.

But a desire to help the Norwich community and bolster tourism keeps him going.

He was renting the property before he bought it in December 2018, a switch that resulted in much higher payments to cover the mortgage and taxes.

"You really have to be on top of your game as far as budgeting and balancing your books, because if you don't plan for the off-season, as far as putting money away, then you're going to run out of money before you open for the following season," he said. "It's scary."

Sea Swirl, Mystic

While Ryan Devlin-Perry does not own but rents the building for Sea Swirl, the 30 Williams Ave. spot he has operated for nine of the shack's 35 years, the financial planning is similar to what Oliveira described.

"Everything that we make in the summer we keep in the account and use it to pay bills in the winter, and kind of hit the reset button in the spring," Devlin-Perry said, adding that "usually it kind of works out where we're down to our last couple thousand dollars right when we open."

This off-season, he took a job with the New London-based Renshaw Plumbing, Heating & Cooling and works full-time as a plumber. But it gives him flexibility he doesn't have during the summer, and more time to hang out with his kids, snowboard and work on his small family farm.

He has started preparing for the summer, between looking at a new point-of-sale system, doing some renovations and hiring employees.

"Every year it's like starting a new business," he said, since employing mostly high school- and college-aged workers means there is a lot of employee turnover.

In the summer, Devlin-Perry said, he averages 10 to 12 hours of work a day at Sea Swirl, seven days a week. He feels like he has to be there, though he's working on changing that attitude.

When he started operating Sea Swirl, he "thought it would be great to have six months off in the winter," but that hasn't been the reality.

"It's grueling," he said. "I feel like I just barely held on to my sanity."

Captain Scott's Lobster Dock, New London

The first thing Sue Tierney of Captain Scott's Lobster Dock says, when asked about what she does in the winter, is: "There's nothing glamorous on my end. Literally I have three young kids in elementary school, so I just get to do more mom stuff."

Her husband, meanwhile, is a mason and works on his own in the winter.

Tierney did note that her brother Tom Eshenfelder, who also owns Captain's Closet Wine & Spirits on Montauk Avenue, was in Florida for a few weeks. The third owner is Peter Eshenfelder, but Tierney said as a commercial fisherman, he's not as involved in the operations of the restaurant.

Tierney said that during the winter, she still goes to the office a couple of times a week and has bills to pay, and she recently went to a Connecticut Restaurant Association event detailing changes to laws that impact restaurants.

She said February was the time she started trying to get events planned for the food truck, line up live music, and figure out which employees are coming back.

This will be the family's 25th year running the restaurant, but she isn't sure yet what recognizing the anniversary will entail.

She's not there as many hours during the summer as she used to be. "We have a lot of family pitching in, and it's better now," she said.

e.moser@theday.com