Cousins Maine Lobster's 12th franchise location to open in Nashville in April
PHOTO CREDIT: Cousins Maine Lobster
Cousins Maine Lobster's co-owners Sabin Lomac (L) and Jim Tselikis (R), with new Nashville co-operator and franchisee Craig Betts.
Cousins Maine Lobster, which gained notoriety with a $55,000 investment on ABC’s Shark Tank in October 2012, plans to open a franchise in Nashville, Tenn., in April, one of the company’s co-owners confirmed.
“We have 18 trucks throughout the United States in 11 cities,” Jim Tselikis, co-owner of the food truck company with his cousin Sabin Lomac, told Mainebiz. “Nashville will be our twelfth location.” The company also has a restaurant in West Hollywood.
The franchisees in Nashville are co-owners and co-operators Craig Betts, a former insurance broker, and Quinn Raines, who was in the medical business. Tselikis said they are a good choice to run the new truck because of their combination of business and customer experience.
Tselikis said he and his cousin chose Nashville because its music scene, events and potential for catering make for a target-rich market in which to sell their lobster products.
“They can cover a 30-to-45-mile radius,” he said, adding that the Nashville franchisee could have sales of about $400,000 to $500,000 in its first year of operation. Tselikis said the existing trucks average anywhere from $400,000 to $800,000 in annual sales.
Betts, an Oregon native according to his Twitter profile, told the Nashville Business Journal that, “It’s going to be a unique product to this market, it’s hard to find quality seafood here.”
The Cousins’ cousins made a name for themselves when New York real estate magnate Barbara Corcoran offered them $55,000 for 15% of their company on Shark Tank in 2012. Tselikis says the company has not raised more money since then.
The two men and Corcoran still have weekly meetings by Skype or phone.
Tselikis credits Corcoran with giving them good advice on business, product packaging and other matters, plus “huge exposure and marketing.”
In October, the cousins brought all of their franchisees to Portland to see where the lobster they are selling comes from. The meeting was filmed and will appear as an update on the Jan. 8 airing of Shark Tank. In addition, on Jan. 21 the Shark Tank spinoff Beyond the Tank will run a 12-to-15-minute segment on the company.
Separately, the company plans to set up a second LLC in Maine this week, Tselikis said. The existing Cousins Maine Lobster LLC, handles online business. The new Cousins Maine Lobster Franchise LLC will cover the franchise business.
Tselikis said Cousins Maine Lobster, which has about 40 employees, just a handful of whom are in Portland, will have $10 million in revenue this year and is profitable.
Next up? With requests for new locations in the United States and abroad, Tselikis said western Canada is the most likely next location, though nothing is firmed up yet.
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