Fahey: Joe Loves Lobster Rolls to add Beaufort location, anticipates big Southeast expansion
Tony Herndon wants to be the McDonald's of lobster rolls.
"The idea is to dominate the Southeast," said Herndon, a New Jersey native who has operated Joe Loves Lobster Rolls in the Lowcountry since 2013. "I want to be the place where you go for lobsters and lobster rolls."
The goal, he said, is to have 20 restaurants in the next three years -- with potential locations as far away as Texas.
But Herndon is first expanding locally. A third Joe Loves Lobster Rolls restaurant is expected to open by December in Beaufort, in the former Burlap Cafe at 2001 Boundary St.
The Beaufort restaurant will be a lot like his other locations, with the same menus and outdoor covered seating ... but with a twist.
"It's a more upscale situation," Herndon said. "I'm working with a company to have fresh, wild-caught, sustainable seafood."
Additionally, Herndon hopes to add a deli counter with homemade pickles, pineapple colesaw, and lobster and fish offerings on display.
Oh, and the restaurant might have a new moniker.
"I may shorten it to 'Joe Loves,'" Herndon said. "The whole 'Joe Loves Lobster Rolls' thing gets complicated."
Most people, he said, end up calling it "Joe Loves," "Joe Lobster" or "Joe Rolls" (which has way too many awkward interpretations) as a result. Herndon initially named his business Joe Loves Lobster Rolls in honor of his cousin, Joe Love, a lobsterman who died in 2007 of pancreatic cancer.
Herndon started out by selling lobster rolls out of a custom-made food cart.
"I was licensed in Savannah, Hilton Head and Bluffton," Herndon said. "I'd go to all the farmers markets and festivals."
In 2013, it was the only mobile-cart food business in Bluffton. Herndon opened his first brick-and-mortar store in June 2014 on Okatie Highway in Ridgeland. In March, he opened a second location in Seacrest, Fla.
"In the Florida panhandle, there is nobody who is doing what we're doing," Herndon said. Some people there, he claims, haven't ever heard of a lobster roll. He plans to capitalize on that: A big part of his expansion plans include Florida locations such as The Villages and Orlando.
Herndon is currently scouting for locations in Savannah, Charleston and Richmond Hill, Ga. He's specifically seeking urban areas and affluent areas for future restaurants.
"The price of lobster is expensive, especially for fresh lobster, which is what I sell," he said. He says he's currently paying about $27 a pound for freshly caught lobster, and predicts that will surge to $30 a pound this winter.
Wherever his restaurants wind up, Herndon hopes to retain the original spirit of Joe Loves Lobster Rolls and its namesake.
"This is what I do. I've been in the restaurant business for 37 years," he said. "All I care about is bringing up north down south."
It probably wouldn't hurt if he had a lobster-roll empire, too.
Follow reporter Ashley Fahey at twitter.com/IPBG_Ashley.
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- Microbrewery to be added above future Fat Patties in Bluffton, November 3, 2014
- Bluffton adds upscale mobile food cart business to incubator, May 22, 2013
This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Fahey: Joe Loves Lobster Rolls to add Beaufort location, anticipates big Southeast expansion."