Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Luke Holden grew up in Maine, working on lobster boats and in his father's lobster processing plant. But his parents pushed him to find a more stable career, so after college, he moved to New York and got a job in finance. One of the things he missed most about home was lobster rolls, so he decided to open his own lobster shack as a side project. Luke posted an ad on Craigslist looking for help, and linked up with Ben Conniff, a history major with a passion for food but no restaurant experience. Ben and Luke opened a 200-square-foot take-out restaurant in the East Village in 2009. Ten years later, Luke's Lobster has over 500 employees, and more than 40 locations in the U.S. and in Asia. This show was recorded live at the Back Bay Events Center in Boston. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:30.0	Why did you feel like you had to open it within 30 days of getting into that location?
0:35.0	I mean, that's all you're doing.
0:37.0	Drywall, you're building it out, you're like, but why the rush?
0:41.0	We needed to get open. We were at that point in time, things were tight.
0:46.0	You needed cash flow, yes.
0:48.0	I'll give you one specific example.
0:50.0	Two days before we open, Ben texts and said, hey, can I go down to the bar or eat a bite of some trash cans?
0:56.0	And I said, no.
0:58.0	There's no money in the bank account.
1:00.0	From NPR is how I built this.
1:06.0	A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.
1:12.0	I'm Guy Razz and on today's show,
1:19.0	how homesickness and an ad on Craigslist led two guys to build a single lobster shack in New York
1:25.0	and turn it into an international brand, Luke's Lobster.
1:35.0	If starting a business is supposed to be about solving a problem,
1:39.0	then many of you probably deal with a version of this problem almost every day.
	...

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