Lobster – what would summer be without it!
It’s summer in Maine, and for many, that means lobster! The lobster industry supports a wide range of innovative businesses, quite a few of which MTI has supported. For this month, we chose to focus on Luke’s Lobster – a company that has managed to take the simple delicacy of a Maine lobster roll and scale it nationally and globally, all the while pushing innovative and thoughtful practices along our coastline.
Founder Luke Holden, whose father Jeff Holden held the first lobster processing license in the state of Maine, hails from Cape Elizabeth. One day while working in New York’s financial district, a longing for home and a failed search for a Maine-style lobster roll in the city, led to the founding of Luke’s Lobster. Today, Luke’s Lobster works directly with Maine’s fishermen to support its processing plant, restaurant group (including a flagship shack in Portland) and branded grocery offerings.
In 2013, the Luke’s team opened its own seafood purchasing and production business in Saco, Maine. This made Luke’s truly vertically integrated, buying direct from fishermen they know and trust and handling their seafood throughout the dock to plate journey. In 2018, Luke’s expanded into branded grocery, launching its flash-frozen lobster meat, tails, and seafood meals in grocery stores around the country. And in 2020, when restaurants were closing and markets for sustainable seafood vanishing, Luke’s launched its online market, to bring seafood direct from Maine to doorsteps around the country. Luke’s now has shack locations in ten US states, Japan, and Singapore, and continues to grow and spread its mission through new shacks, new grocery partners, and new online products. As it grows, Luke’s deepens its commitment to its core values, and keeps its small family business mindset, with a commitment to putting stakeholders above profits, as evidenced by its Certified B Corp status.
Over the years, MTI has been proud to provide funding and support to Luke’s as it has grown and flourished into a global Maine brand.