It's only been about a month since the Cousins Maine Lobster food truck started roaming the streets of Nashville, but local franchisees Craig Betts and Quinn Raines have already made an impact on the local rolling food scene. Betts and Raines discovered the Cousins Maine Lobster company the way that many of us did, by watching an episode of ABC's Shark Tank where founders (and real-life cousins) Sabin Lomac and Jim Tselikis cut a deal with investor Barbara Corcoran to grow their burgeoning lobster-roll business.
Corcoran's $55,000 investment in 2012 has already turned out to be one of the top 12 Shark Tank deals of all time as the company has expanded to almost a dozen trucks across the country and a bricks-and-mortar location in West Hollywood. Betts and Raines, both Murfreesboro residents, decided to jump from their careers in insurance and health care to buy in to the Middle Tennessee franchise of Cousins — a sizable investment that included a tricked-out custom food truck, training and back-end support and access to the Cousins' network of New England lobster fisherman who ensure the quality of their product and negotiate pricing that can be more stable in the face of the notoriously up-and-down pricing of the lobster market.
Craig Betts of Cousins Maine Lobster truck
While those stable prices are still pretty high at $14.95 for their standard lobster roll, when you consider that the quarter-pound of mixed lobster tail, claw and knuckle meat is the equivalent of purchasing a whole 1.5-pound lobster, it's pretty appropriate pricing, especially this far from the cold Atlantic harvest grounds. Served on a toasted New England split roll, the sandwich can be ordered in two varieties: traditional New England chilled with a touch of mayo or Connecticut-style, warmed with butter and lemon.
You can also order your lobster as part of a three-taco plate or cooked into a quesadilla. Purists can simply order a 4- to 5-ounce lobster tail with butter if they're not looking for any extra accouterments. Shrimp tacos and lobster tots round out the main menu, along with some excellent lobster bisque and New England clam chowder. For dessert, Cousins serves a traditional Maine specialty, the whoopee pie: two slabs of chocolate cake/cookies surrounding a swath of creamy filling.
The Nashville truck is franchisee No. 11 for the chain, and they seem to really have nailed down their procedures. The pies and all the meat are shipped directly from New England, and Betts claims his lobster may even be fresher and higher-quality than some restaurants in Boston get, since the company negotiates for their pick of the meat before the fishing boats even dock.
While you might be able to buy a lobster roll a little cheaper from a McDonald's in Bangor, odds are that McD's roll is actually loaded with filler and Langostino lobster meat.
Since lobster cannot be farmed, it's guaranteed to be 100 percent organic by default, a claim that Betts makes proudly. He says he knows $14.95 is a lot to pay for a sandwich, but he points out: "You don't eat a bowl of lobster, just like you don't eat a bowl of caviar. This is a treat. We just do all the work for you."
Judging by the lines I saw queueing up at the Cousins Maine Lobster truck at a recent "Street Food Thursday" event downtown on Deaderick Street, plenty of folks seem to be happy to treat themselves to lobster.
