This kiosk and others like it are the brainchild of Linda Bean. The 68-year-old granddaughter of the late L.L. Bean is building a vertically integrated seafood business. Her hope is that Maine-branded lobster will help turn around the state’s lobster industry, which has been faced with a declining value for its catch. “My particular enthusiasm is for the lobster roll,’’ says Bean. “We hope to expand across the country in places where there is a lot of pedestrian shopping traffic.’’
In addition to the seasonal kiosk in Freeport, Bean plans to open a year-round restaurant across the street and another kiosk in Delray Beach, Fla., this summer. She has licensed a stand to Tim and Hilary Miller of Hingham, who opened a beachfront location on Nantasket Beach in Hull at the end of May. The couple want to open more kiosks between Boston and Cape Cod.
The Maine lobster industry has been in a slump that predates the recession. In 2008, Maine commercial lobstermen caught 67 million pounds of the crustaceans valued at $236 million (that’s an average of $3.50 a pound), according to 2009 Department of Marine Resources data, but the catch fell $50 million from the previous year. Now, in light of the global recession, the Maine lobster industry is bracing for more tough times - especially as lobster prices have reportedly fallen to that of bologna.
That hasn’t stopped Linda Bean. Over the last two years, Bean has bought wharves, infrastructure for a processing plant in Maine, and rolled out a line of branded live lobsters whose claw bands state their exact wharf of origin. She’s also sending out something she calls a Lobster Mobile to state and county fairs. Recently, one project in Portland was to create a Guinness World Record for the longest lobster roll (it was 61 feet).
