YouSaid · the spoken record

Luke Holden

lines on the record: 50
first: 2019-11-07
most recent: 2019-11-07
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Thanks so much for listening to this live episode of How I Built This. Our show was produced this week by Casey Herman with music composed by Rumtin Era Bluey. Our live events team includes Jessica Goldstein, Ali Prescott, Ellen Jorgensen, and Andy Huther. Thanks also to Julia Carney, Neva Grant, Sanaz Meshkantur, and Jeff Rogers. Our intern is Sequoya Carrillo. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to How I Built This.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lou Colton, Ben Conniff, co founders of Luke Lobster. From my live interview with Luke and Ben at the Back Bay Event Center in Boston. Today, Luke's lobster has well over 500 employees, and funnily enough, even though Luke's mom did her best to keep her children away from the lobster business, Luke's two brothers, Brian and Mike, and of course his dad, Jeff, are all equity partners and working at Luke's Lobster. And by the way, no one in the family has a commercial lobstering license anymore, but Luke and his brother Brian do have recreational licenses, and the family has a running competition every summer to see who can catch the most lobster.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Network can be friends. It doesn't have to be a powerful group of people. It can just be people that you know, people that you meet along the way.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If you were sitting in this audience 15 years ago watching guys like you, what do you wish you knew then that you know now? What would have been helpful for you to know about the journey you guys took?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Heard the show before, so you know I'm going to ask you this question How much of this success is because of the hard work you put in, your intelligence and skill, how much you think is just because you were lucky, Ben?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I understand the passion and the energy and the excitement, but you guys have now been doing this for closing in on 10 years. You could probably cash out, find a private equity people who will buy it out and take Luke's lobster, and you guys will have some money probably potentially that could sustain you for the rest of your lives. Is there anything about that that's attractive to you jumping off the hamster wheel and selling it?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. You guys did about $60 million in revenue last year. You'll probably do more this year. Sounds like an incredible amount of money. You've heard the show before and we've had people on the show who are fabulously wealthy because of the businesses that they started. It's not $60 million in your pockets. It's revenue, so you've got a tiny fraction of that. Do you either of you guys feel rich or wealthy at all, personally?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. I'm curious when it comes to your personal lives, Luke, you're married, you've got a kid, you've got another one on the way. Ben just got married like four days ago Are you guys able to kind of reel back a little bit and kind of relax, or are you working just as hard, just as crazy as you were in 2010?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm curious about sustainability, right? You know about this. There was a report in Maine from a group of scientists, and they basically predict that by 2050, the lobster yields in Maine are dramatically going to be reduced, like maybe by 50%. Do you guys think about this? Do you lose sleep over it? I mean, this is your product.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, what do you imagine? I mean, what will Luke Slock do? I mean, you've got now, I think, what almost 40 locations in the United States and even in Asia. It's amazing. I mean, this was like a side hustle in 2009. There are 40 of them. What's the vision? Like, I mean, thousands?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You guys were expanding Gut Your Production Facility. I mean, it's super impressive business. 2016, you went to private equity group and you took in outside investment for minority stake in the business. You know, we've had founders on the show who say, I'm so glad I never took outside capital because I control it. You know, Gary Erickson of Cliff Bar and others. And then there are others who say, oh, it was so great. This enabled us to do X, Y, and Z. Then there are others who say it was a mistake that I took it because now all these private equity people screwed up my company. You guys are doing really well with your own cash flow. Why did you decide to take outside money? Did you need it to scale the business?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When your dad had his processing facility, it was hard for him to make significant income from that. But you guys are in a better position because you've got the restaurants because you own the restaurants and you can just take that meat and supply your restaurants. And then even if you're not making a whole lot of money off lobster tails and what else do you sell that you don't use?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You decide to start your own production facility. We are going to bring in the lobsters, steam them, or cook them, break them apart, sell the, you know, do something with the tails because you don't need them. And get the knuckle meat and ship it off to the restaurants. You guys were going to do all of that.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alright, 2012, you're buying your lobster from your dad's processing plant, he decides he's just fed up with it. There are a bunch of regulatory challenges he's dealing with. He doesn't want to do it anymore. And so he kind of dumps it. He gets rid of it Guys don't have a processor anymore. So, what did you do? I mean, what did you turn to?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I mean, you open this, you eventually open the second store, and how long does it take you again, 30 days or something?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was six months ago. Restaurants, I think a lot of people don't know this, but restaurants have something called a grease trap. Restaurants have to trap and then dispose of their grease, right? So there was a grease trap there?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, you're going to quit your job. Yeah, no, but you decide I'm going to throw, I'm going to jump into this two feet. This side hustle is now my full-time hustle.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, alright, so you've got this story going, you're getting momentum, making money. So what was the conversation between you guys? Were you starting to say, all right, let's open another one?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But the problem is Kmart stools or nothing wrong with that. They could go in and have kind of a luxurious lunch or dinner.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Mean, I understand you were making a premium product or really high quality lobster roll, but this is really now the financial crisis is like in full swing, right? But 14 bucks, even though the price is great for lobstrol, people could get a burrito for five bucks. So why do you think it people were willing to spend that money?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, you hire all these people from Craigslist to work with you. I don't know. Were you nervous that you wouldn't be able to pay people? Because you were at this point, the $30,000 you burned through it, you're dependent on the cash flow. It's on you. All these people are like, all right, Luke, I believe in you. I'm going to come work here. Were you nervous about that?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So tell me, I mean, you were running the lobster shack, and at this point, did you have somebody working there during the day helping you out as well?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, this is the thing, lobster is not like, I don't know, Stacy's pita chips that's been on the show, right? Once you bring a lobster for processing, like the clock is ticking, right? Or it goes bad. And then you got to get it to your stores really quick. So how was it, was it coming in, refrigerated, frozen? How was it coming in?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And how, I mean, how are you figuring out logistics? Were you basically just kind of winging it? How much do we need today? And maybe we are not going to have enough. And how many roles do we need?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Let me come back in just a moment how Luke and Ben grew that one lobster shack into an international brand and how along the way in one very dark moment they both wound up encountering the worst smell that either of them had ever smelled, which by the way had nothing to do with lobster. Stay with us, I'm Guy Ros, and you're listening to how I built this from NPR. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This I'm Guy Raz. So it's 2009 and Luke and Ben have opened the first Luke Sobster in New York's East Village and they realized pretty quickly that they are a lot better at making lobster rolls than running the actual restaurant.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we know that your dad had a lobster processing plant. He basically would process lobsters for other people in Maine. So he was going, you were going to buy the lobster from his processing facility.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But why did you feel like you had to open it within 30 days of getting into that location? I mean, that's a, you're doing drywall, you're building it out, you're like, but why the rush?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was there any doubt about the name? Were you, I mean, Luke's lobster, it was going to be Luke's lobster from the beginning?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I mean $30,000. Okay, it's some working capital, but rent in New York, you gotta sign a multi year lease. I mean, how did you do that?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alright, so you guys decided to partner up. This is the part of the story that's even crazier it's September of 2009 and you decide we're gonna open this thing in October. First of all, how did you even find a place and get a lease and why were you in such a rush?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, he didn't. You sent him up alone to meet the parents. And did you want that to happen to get their take on him before you decided whether he was going to be the right partner?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, okay, and Ben, what was it about his business plan, his idea that appeal to Luke was so interesting and smart and enthusiastic about this, or were you really just desperate to get a job in the food industry at this point?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alright, let's get back to. I want to get back to you. You decide at a certain point, can't do this alone. So first of all, why did you decide that you needed a partner?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, I just want to pause for a moment because I know a lot of times we talk about these business stories as a sister, Eureka moment, but it's really more complicated than that because I have to imagine that over those two-year period or whatever it was where you were working at the finance firm in the back of your mind, you knew that you were going to start something or no. Was that the case?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So you start to, the gears in your head start to turn, and you're thinking there might be a lobster opportunity here because there was nothing like a main lobster shack anywhere near where you lived.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It. And you're doing this for a couple years Was there a point where you just started to get unhappy doing it or bored? Because it can be a grind, right?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's Totally get it. Alright, let's pause for a second. I want to go back to you, Luke. So you graduate from Georgetown, and you do exactly what you are meant to do. You go work in finance in New York City. Your parents are happy. They're really excited. You got health insurance, some stability. Is that more or less the scenario?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So that you didn't get an interview. So they're looking at your resume and they're like, this Yale graduate is not qualified to wash dishes in our restaurant.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Did you like it? Did you think, okay, this has legs? I think I can do this, I can be the next, I don't know, Craig Claiborne or something.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And did you move to New York after college? Okay, so you moved to New York thinking, I'll get into writing. And what you started to do was food writing, right?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you went off to college also to a good university went to Yale. You studied history. What did you think? I mean, did you think maybe I'll do something around history or writing like your dad? Was that where your sort of head was?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alright, so you go off to Georgetown. Let's put this on hold for a sec. I want to turn to you, Ben. You grew up, also New England, in Connecticut.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So as a kid, I mean, you knew how to around lobsterman. Did you, in your mind, think, you know, eventually I'm going to get out of here. I'm not going to do this lobster thing. I'm going to go out into the world and find something to do, or did you think, you know, this could be good. This could be my...”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Decade later, Luke's lobster has grown to more than 40 stores in the US and Asia. A few weeks ago, I sat down with Luke and Ben on stage at the Back Bay Event Center in Boston for a live how I built this. Luke described how he grew up around the lobster business. His dad ran a lobster processing facility, which can be an incredibly unpredictable business to be in.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was lobster, or more specifically lobster rolls. Luke grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine in a family of lobstermen, and after college he ended up working a job in finance in New York where he became incredibly homesick, and he started to think maybe he could solve that problem in New York by opening an authentic main style lobster shack. Luke knew about lobsters, how to catch them, how to process them, and source them, but he didn't know anything about how to run a restaurant, and so that's when he turned to Craigslist to find a partner who could help. And the person he found was Ben Conniff, a recent college graduate who also had zero knowledge about restaurants. In fact, Ben's degree was in history. But somehow, these two guys decided to see if they could make it work. They started with one tiny lobster shack in New York, and today, more than a day.”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Starting a business is supposed to be about solving a problem, then many of you probably deal with a version of this problem almost every day. You happen to live in a place far from where you grew up. Maybe you're there for a job or a partner or school, and every time you go out for food, let's say fried chicken or barbecue or a bagel, maybe you are that annoying person who always asks why can't they make barbecue or fried chicken or bagels like they do where I come from? And just to be clear, I can be that annoying person. I grew up in Los Angeles, and for most of my adult life I lived on the east coast, and no one ever wanted to go for tacos with me because I would always complain how they are better in LA. I have friends who will not eat smoked meat outside of Montreal or barbecue outside of South Carolina. And for Luke Holden”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm NPR. It's how I built this show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built. I'm Guy Rosen on today's show How Homesickness and an Ad on Craigslist led two guys to build a single lobster shack in New York and turn it into an international brand, Luke's Lobster”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And when you're ready to launch, you offer code built to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Loans issued by Celtic Bank and serviced by Stripe. All loans subject to credit approval. Why did you feel like you had to open it within 30 days of getting into that location? I mean, you're doing drywall. You're building it out. You're like, but why the rush?”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
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2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, one of my favorite parts of traveling is getting a feel for a neighborhood, the way locals do. A few summers ago, I was in Rome and stayed in an apartment I booked on Airbnb. It was tucked in a quiet neighborhood just outside the Roman forum. Every morning I'd walk to the corner cafe, grab an espresso, and just watch the world go by outside. I even managed to chat with the owner about the neighborhood he lived in for nearly forty years. And he got me thinking about my own neighborhood. There are incredible hiking trails and great restaurants and, of course, the beach. And when I'm traveling this summer, listing my own place on Airbnb could be a really smart way to let someone else experience the area the way I do, like a local. Listing your home on Airbnb while you're traveling is a great way to make some extra money. You could put the money toward your next trip. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much”
2019-11-07 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Live Episode! Luke's Lobster: Luke Holden and Ben Conniff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT