Perhaps its only fitting that the state where the first documented lobster roll was created will serve as a proving ground for a franchised eatery focused on the crustacean.

The first know Lobster Food Truck roll in culinary history was served in a Milford restaurant known as Perry’s in 1929, according to the “Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink.” Now, 89 years after that, Cousins Maine Lobster Food Truck opened its first franchised location in the New Haven area at the end of September.

The company, which got its start on the television series “Shark Tank,” has grown steadily since it opened its first food truck in Los Angeles in April 2012. But the growth has occurred in southern and western markets where the founders of the company admit that consumers have less discerning tastes for seafood than here in New England.

“We started in markets away from where we grew up in Maine because initially our product wasn’t accessible to people in those markets and it wasn’t as close to the quality that they would be getting in New England,” said Jim Tselikis, who co-founded the company. “But people here are very educated: They understand what good seafood tastes like and what it costs..” lobster Food Truck

Tselikis founded the business with his cousin, Sabin Lomac, and the help of a $55,000 loan secured on “Shark Tank.”

Lomac said part of the reason he and his cousin decided to award a franchise in southern Connecticut is the region’s “strong food truck culture.”

“If they didn’t have that, we weren’t going to go there,” Lomac said. The local franchisees are Yunus and Veena Shahul, whom Lomac descibed as wonderful, fantastic and kind people.”

Lomac and Tselikis declined to comment on the financial commitment franchisees are required to make, ranging from $146,000 to $360,000, plus an initial franchise fee of $38,500, according to information on the Franchise Mall website.

But moving into a market that is well schooled in what is good seafood and what is not comes at a price. There is more competition for diners’ disposable income.

National and large, regional seafood chains have had a tough time in the Connecticut market over the past two decades. Red Lobster, perhaps the nation’s best known seafood chain, has just four restaurants in Connecticut, including one in North Haven. lobster Food Truck

Tselikis said the process of selecting franchisees “is a pretty lengthy process.”

 

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