Tag Archives: Angie’s Lobster
At Mackerel Cove wharf, Arizona-based lobster chain learns as it grows
There, an upstart fast food company called Angie’s Lobster offers rolls filled with a quarter-pound of New England’s favorite crustacean that’s served warm and buttered, chilled, grilled or fried. Add in a drink, fries and their trademark sauce and the total comes to — wait for it — $9.99. Is there a catch? Yep, in more ways than one. It all begins with Harpswell lobster boats and a historic wharf nestled into Mackerel Cove on Bailey Island. In the summer of 2022, Angie’s bought a long-standing family lobster pound there and established the first link in a supply chain that is bringing Vacationland lobster to Arizona drive-thru diners at eye-poppingly low prices. Tony Christofellis, who founded the company and named it for his late mother, says business is good and getting better. He says buying the Bailey Island wharf was “the coolest thing we’ve ever done.” Photos, >>click to read<< 08:10
Arizona Is Home To America’s First Drive-Thru Lobster Chain
If you had to list places where you would expect to find inexpensive seafood, you’d probably think of areas near the sea. Cities along the Gulf Coast are notorious for shrimp and fish dishes and, of course, New England is known for clam chowder and lobster. Given this knowledge, it might shock you to learn that the first American drive-through restaurant specializing in lobster is not located anywhere along the East Coast, but rather in one of the driest parts of the country: Tempe, Arizona. According to ABC, the owners of Angie’s Lobster, Tony and Roushan Christofellis, say they keep prices down by “buying in bulk.” While the meat being served through the drive-through is in fact sourced from Maine and eastern Canada, much of it comes from lobster which is “visually unappealing,” meaning it may have cracked shells or missing claws, making it cheaper but equally tasty to the lobster available in grocery stores or restaurants. >click to read< 11:27
Arizona lobster roll chain buys processing plant and wharf in Maine
A growing Arizona restaurant chain is snapping up pieces of Maine’s lobster industry, buying a Bailey Island wharf and now a Richmond lobster processor, so that it can keep selling cheap lobster rolls at its drive-thru locations. Angie’s Lobster bought a processing plant from Shucks Maine Lobster last month, adding to the family-owned wharf in Harpswell it purchased in late July to source lobster for the company. Angie’s officials would not say what they paid for either purchase. Representatives of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association did not return messages Wednesday evening requesting interviews about the sale. >click to read< 10:03
