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Cousins Maine Lobster food truck launching brick-and-mortar unit

October 2, 2018

Yunus Shahul of Cousins Manhattan has signed a 12-year lease to open the first Cousins Maine Lobster brick-and-mortar restaurant location in New York City. At 77 Lexington Ave., in Kips Bay, the  space measures 1,500 square feet, with a 1,200-square-foot basement and will open by the end of the year, according to a company press release. 
 
Real-life cousins Jimmy Tselikis and Sabin Lomac created Cousins Maine Lobster as a single food truck in 2012. Enter the hit ABC program Shark Tank. Show producers had been customers of the Cousins Maine Lobster food truck and decided to ask Jimmy and Sabin to go through the process of being on the show. After a couple of months of being in business, the cousins decided to take the plunge to be contestants.
 
"We decided from the beginning that Barbara Corcoran was the shark that we wanted to target once the show began taping," Tselikis said. "We have formed a relationship in which Barbara plays a mentor and business partner to Sabin and me, providing solid marketing, expansion and general business advice to us each day."
 
"Kips Bay is a thriving neighborhood for restaurants and offers a conducive setting for success due to the dual office and residential makeup of the area," said Lack. "A steady flow of young professionals who live in Kips Bay coupled with the thriving Park Avenue South office corridor should make this an ideal spot for the first New York City Cousins Maine Lobster brick and mortar restaurant."