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Our Story

Shucks logo Shucks Maine Lobster is a Maine-based seafood processing business that has revolutionized the way the world eats Maine Lobster. Located close to the source, we buy the best Maine lobster and shellfish at the wharf and sell it fresh, raw, and out of the shell. Our office Our seafood is carefully prepared for chefs and shipped around the country directly from Maine.

We offer a line of unique Gourmet Maine Lobster products targeted for the supermarket and food service industries. We feature conveniently packaged Gourmet Maine Lobster Meat (knuckle/claw) and Gourmet Maine Lobster Tails—the first ever raw, fresh and perfectly shaped claws, knuckles, and tails. We also offer the tender leg meat in what we call Lobster Spaghetti.

Sauté it. Poach it. Infuse it with flavor. Use your imagination. Shucks opens up new territory for creative chefs. We are your sous-chefs, helping you to celebrate seafood in countless new ways!



Shucks, wish I'd thought of that
Johh Hathaway, President, Shucks Maine Lobster

I’ve been eating lobster on the beaches of Maine ever since my parents took us on perfect Maine summer nights when I was just a kid. Maine Lobster is the perfect reward for living through Maine winters. In fact¸ people all over the world love Maine Lobster even if they have never lived through a Maine winter. It’s one of life’s pure pleasures. In fact, Maine Lobster enjoys the strongest brand name of any food in the world. It reminds people of the cold, pristine waters of the Maine coast and the wonderful fishing heritage that makes our coastal communities so strong and beautiful.

A few years ago, I opened a little lobster shack in my home town of Kennebunkport, a small, friendly village on the rocky coast of Maine. My five kids all worked different summer jobs and I thought it would be a good idea to have all of them work at the lobster shack together. I started steaming Maine Lobsters, and people started eating. But I noticed that people—OK, the tourists—didn’t really like shucking their own Maine Lobster; it was too messy and too hard to get the meat.

More and more people stopped ordering the Lobster Bake dinner. We started selling the fresh Maine Lobster rolls at night in the lobster shack, and people loved it. We decided to put some fresh Maine Lobster meat on our Caesar salads, and people loved that, too. They were perfect ways to enjoy Maine Lobster without the mess, and, of course, without the work. You get the picture.

I got to thinking that maybe those unsuspecting tourists might understand something I didn’t. Not only do they understand that you can enjoy Maine Lobster without having to live through a whole Maine winter, they also know that you can really enjoy the total experience and great taste of real Maine Lobster even if someone else shucks it for you.

That may seem simple to you, but it was a revelation to me.

Then I met Kristen Millar, who was the new head of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council . She had the courage to challenge generations of traditional thinking about the Maine Lobster that we all love. She asked the important questions that no one ever bothered, or dared, to ask before: Who eats Maine Lobster and how do they like to eat it?

The answer is pretty simple when you think about it, but it still certainly changed my life. People love Maine Lobster far more than all other lobsters combined: Canadian, Australian, Floridian, South African. Kristen's research proved that people love Maine Lobster for the fresh, tasty, gourmet lobster meat, but many of them – a whopping 87% – don’t want the fuss and mess of lobster in the shell.

Tourists are not alone. Chefs love Maine Lobster, but they hate the mess and fuss of the shell. No chef buys steak with the horns still on. When you want the freshest lobster in the world, you want fresh, raw Maine Lobster meat. Now, Shucks Maine Lobster is the only place in the whole world where you can buy it. This is our gift to you from the wonderful people of Maine.