LOBSTER HAS BEEN part of my life since I was a little boy. I can still remember the first time I tasted it, on a family road trip to the east coast of Canada. We had loaded up the car and set out on our journey, from my hometown of Midland, Ontario, to Wolfville, Nova Scotia, to see a family friend. At every pit stop, we visited roadside shacks that served bright red lobsters—and people were eating them with their hands! I could barely believe my eyes. People eating with their hands? When you’re nine years old, anything you can eat with your hands is a dream come true! Since that magical moment, I’ve been hooked, and every year after that for my birthday I would ask, without fail, for a bib, hot butter, and a lobster the size of my body.
When I was 13 years old, I got my first job—working as a busboy at Casey’s Restaurant, the hotspot in my hometown at the time. At age 14, I was promoted to kitchen prep, and fell in love with it right away. I continued to work in kitchens throughout high school, cooking and learning about all different types of food, but it was my job at The BoatWorks when I was 16 that stands out the most. The BoatWorks sat right on the water and was the busiest place in town. It was there that I got my first chance to cook and work with seafood. I vividly remember the first day the chef put me on the raw bar. The regular oyster shucker hadn’t shown up for his shift, and I was to be his replacement. It was trial by fire, and I was forced to learn how to shuck 800 oysters on the spot … I still have all my fingers today, so I think we can say the shift was a success!
For the next few years, I worked in the kitchens of many great restaurants, learning from many amazing people, all stoking the fire in my belly to one day start my own place. I was always told that “you have two ears and one mouth for a reason.” I took that lesson to heart, and I would listen carefully and learn about all things seafood and lobster whenever possible. When I was in university, my lucky roommates would often be treated to a home-cooked Sunday meal (Grizzy and Spano, you remember, right?). We could always find a spot in our nonexistent student budget for some lobster tails, some crab legs, and a 12-pack of beer. I was never intimated by the prospect of cooking lobster. I just loved experimenting with it, and if I was lucky enough to spot one on a restaurant menu, it was a given that I would order it.
Many years later, in 2011, I was working in a suit-and-tie day job in Toronto when I had a life-changing lobster experience. My girlfriend, Dana, and I had been invited to our friends Darcy and Jen’s wedding in Miramichi, New Brunswick. While there, we had the good fortune to experience Maritime hospitality at its finest. Maritimers are wonderful, hard-working people who would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it—if you have ever been out east, I’m sure you know what I mean. Many of them make their living from the sea, and lobsters and seafood are just everywhere! It was as if the lobsters were inviting me to eat them from every storefront, and I happily accepted their invitation! In New Brunswick, lobsters are available everywhere—in dive bars and restaurants, and straight from the dock. You can even buy live lobsters at the airport and have them packed while you wait for your flight! And it was while I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight that I started to think more about lobster. I got to thinking about the perceptions that people have about lobster and wondering why this delicious crustacean that I love so much isn’t more readily available to everyone.… And suddenly a lightbulb went on inside my head.
I decided right there and then that I would bring lobster to the people! No matter how far from the ocean they lived. From that point on I made it my mission to:
1) Make lobster more accessible for everyone
2) Challenge the way we cook lobster and create new ways to prepare and serve it
3) Take any pretentiousness away from lobster.
When I got back from New Brunswick, I knew I had to put my mission into action. But where to start? I had previously heard of a cool new concept called the Toronto Underground Market (TUM), a food market for budding chefs and food-entrepreneurs, and in September 2011, I decided to pay it a visit. Entrepreneurial food markets are not anything new, but this one stood out from the crowd: excellent vendors, perfect venue, amazing musical acts, and a great list of local libations (craft beers and premium tequila). TUM then tossed in 2,000 food lovers and had itself a serious jam! As I walked through the venue, I was in awe of the great passion and energy radiating from every vendor. It absolutely blew me away, and I knew I had to be a part of it.
I went home immediately and started what felt like a “Jerry Maguire” 14-hour writing binge. One week and 30 pages of chicken scratch later, the idea for Rock Lobster Food Co. was born. This pseudo-business plan/hybrid mission statement outlined every single detail, from the name of the company (“rock” as in rock ’n’ roll and “lobster,” of course, as the star of the menu—thank you, DC, for your help on that one) to the brand colors, staff uniforms, marketing plan, logo, and menu.
On March 8, 2012, I launched the first ever Rock Lobster pop-up event. Some of my friends worked at a prominent hotel in downtown Toronto and kindly let me host the launch there. Preparing for it was, to be completely honest, the scariest thing I have ever done. I took roughly $2,500 of my savings and bought some starter cooking equipment, then created basic signage and cool staff shirts, and built a table (with employee #2, my boy Matty C) in the basement of my condo parking lot. This amount of money may not seem like a large investment for many, but I tell you, it was for me.
When the day of the event was upon us, I rallied employee #1, Dana, and a few close friends to help set up the location. I had seen the social media interest that other companies had generated using Twitter and Facebook, so I started a little social media effort of my own, promoting the event in hopes of attracting some customers. The doors opened at 5 p.m., and by 6 p.m. there was a line down the street. Between all the social media foodies and people who just happened to be passing by, we sold 350 lobster rolls in a few short hours. It was crazy! It was the beginning! Rock Lobster Food Co. had officially arrived.
The Rock Lobster concept quickly took off. Many more pop-up events followed, as well as my first TUM vendor experience—I remember fist-pumping the air when I got the email accepting us for the April 2012 event! In the early days, we would prep for an event until 6 a.m., and most times be up and ready to go at the event site only a few hours later. I learned quickly that the art of the pop-up was being able to travel to showcase and sell your food and concept to as many food lovers as possible. We quickly gained a strong media following, which got more people behind the idea of making lobster and seafood more readily available to Canadians. My small team and I developed a very strong fan base, and as our fan base and media following grew, so did our opportunities. In early September 2012, I was lucky enough to be introduced to my current business partners—Darryl Fine and Alan Thomson, who have 60 plus years of restaurant and bar experience between them—and joined forces with them to take Rock Lobster to the next level.
On December 1, 2012, we opened our first Rock Lobster Food Co. restaurant in the heart of Ossington village in Toronto. Ossington was the perfect place for us to take Rock Lobster to the next level—and our neighbors welcomed us with open arms. You will even see a recipe in this book by Rocco, the chef and co-owner of Pizza Libretto, who added a “welcome to the neighborhood” Rock Lobster Pizza special to his menu for us one night! And, even better, they sold out early in the evening. I truly appreciated his gesture—it was a real sign of great friendship and good things to come.
On July 16, 2013, after just seven months of packing the house nightly in Ossington, we opened our second Rock Lobster location. You might think I’m crazy (and sometimes I’d agree), but we were turning away more guests than we could have possibly imagined, and a second location meant more lobster for more people! At our second location on Queen Street West in Toronto, we have been able to add an amazing back patio that instantly makes you feel like you’re at a cottage in Nova Scotia or Maine. I have also been able to create an in-house fresh seafood market, where guests can walk in off the street and purchase many different kinds of fresh seafood daily. Or, after a meal, our guests can order the same products they just enjoyed in the restaurant to take home with them. I’m still amazed that people can take home our Matty’s Seafood product line, which includes fresh and frozen seafood, bisques, chowders, and more, to enjoy with their friends and family.
What an incredible ride it’s been: I’ve gone from scribbling an idea on paper to having a small pop-up/catering company with a three-foot food stall to being the proud chef and owner of two award-winning Rock Lobster restaurants, hosting countless sell-out events, and even cooking for the Queen of Cooking herself, Martha Stewart! We have been nominated for Best New Restaurant, won Best Caesar (Canada’s national cocktail), been named one of the Top 5 Restaurants in Toronto, and, of course, won Best Lobster Roll in Toronto. Our company has gone from 1 employee to over 80 in just a few years! I am having the time of my life, because I had a goal, followed my mission, and always work with the best people around. I would like to dedicate this book to my family, friends, our loyal fans, and anyone who has taken a leap of faith to follow their heart, passion, and dreams.
So, what’s next for Rock Lobster Food Co.? Well, no rest for the wicked, that’s for sure. If you remember, my initial goal was to bring lobster to the masses, and I won’t stop until I’ve done that. This cookbook brings me one giant step closer to my goal.
Join the Crustacean Nation!
Matt Dean Pettit
