Those are great for once-a-year or special occasions, he said, “but what happens when you’re just in the mood for a lobster roll and a beer or you want to add a little bit of caviar on top of that lobster, or you want to throw back half a dozen oysters with a glass of wine and you want to then hit the waves or you’re just coming back from the beach?” The Broad Street Oyster Company idea is an “approachable seafood concept,” he said, far different from the upscale seafood restaurants that have white table cloths and a stuffy ambiance. Think lobster rolls and chowders, but also local offerings such as Santa Barbara sea urchin, oysters on a half shell, fried clams and caviar from California sturgeons up northern. He describes the food as a New England-inspired, California seafood concept. “We just kept talking about it and we just kept dreaming of what Broad Street Oyster Company at the Huntington Beach Pier would look like. “When we left that event, all we could think about was ‘That location is amazing,’” he recalled. Tompkins was offered the chance to do a pop-up at the Huntington Beach Pier last May with an event called “Outstanding in the Field,” a roving restaurant idea where about 100 seats were set out at a long table that stretched half-way down the pier. Still, the concept was a hit, so he opened a second location in Santa Barbara, and then another at Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles. “We were doing anything that we could to keep business going and that involved everything between tailgating or a drive-thru or just taking it to-go, until they allowed outdoor seating,” he said. ![]() He operated out of a van, spending his last dollars on fold out tables, coolers and a couple of tents.įor two years, he would hit the road doing daily cold calls to schedule pop-ups outside of breweries and wine bars.īroad Street Oyster Company gained momentum and Tompkins decided to enter into a long-term lease in Malibu – right before the pandemic hit. ![]() Then in 2017, Tompkins followed his dreams into the food industry with a mobile raw bar catering concept.
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