The Shark Tank deal that built Cousins Maine Lobster's empire

So that leads me into something I hear you guys constantly saying, which is scale.

Right now, you guys are in how many different states with some form of a brick and mortar or a truck?

38 states, far more cities, obviously.

We give out a lot of counties,

you

know, within the geography of a truck territory.

100 locations.

100 locations and in those states.

But we always say, you know, to your point, is like franchising is a hard thing.

You need to let people know you have a business that exists and then it whittles down to such a small percent of inquiries that will actually become a franchise.

There is no shot.

We would need millions of dollars to advertise that.

Do you advertise? Never would have had it.

Does Cousins Maine spend money on advertising? A

small amount on advertising lasts like a year and a half, letting people know that there are open markets still.

What's the percent of your gross annual revenue that's put into marketing?

One to two percent.

That's actually incredible.

And people, so basically your company markets itself, which is a beautiful thing.

And I want to ask you guys, lobster being such a volatile seafood that has its own marketplace, right? How do you guys plan to combat inflation and price changes with lobster without owning the actual water rights.

I know you don't farm.

It's all free caught, right? Fresh caught, wild caught, which I think is great because the other way is disgusting.

But my question is, would you guys do the same thing Don Voltaggio has done, which is maybe eat some of the internal potential profits.

Of course.

To keep your customers happy and giving them access to Cousin's Bain lobster rolls, even if it meant hurting your pockets.