If you thought lobster rolls were just food, think again. They’re fashion now, too!
On The Debbie Nigro Show, I caught up with my “sister from another mother,” Andrea Anthony — the iconic entrepreneur behind Lunch Lobster Roll in Amagansett and Southampton — to talk lobster love, restaurant buzz, and lobster pajamas (yes, really).
I try and track the latest trends and surprisingly discovered ‘Lobster Fashion’ was trending? Wow, I was seriously behind the lobster claw curve on this one! Then I searched online to see what I could find out and came upon endless items of clothing bearing ‘Lobsters’! Sweaters, purses and pajamas to name a few.
I was talking about the trend on my radio show and mentioned I should probably check in with my lobster business gal pal and see what’s up. So, after the show I texted what I’d been talking about to gal pal Andrea Anthony President of LUNCH Lobster Roll in the Hamptons, and asked her if her ears were ringing?
She texted me back a photo of her Lobster Roll Pajamas!
I cracked up and had to know more and invited Andrea to pop by my radio show.
It all started Andrea said, when the upscale kids’ clothing brand Pink Chicken approached her with a fun idea: co-branded lobster pajamas using her famous restaurant’s logo. The limited-edition $65 sets sold out.
Sensing these comfy lobster pajamas had legs at a more affordable price a version was created that landed at TJ Maxx. The only problem? Andrea has no idea ‘where’ they ended up!
“People keep asking me where to buy them and I’m like… I have no idea! So I thought—why not turn it into a lobster pajama hunt?”
Now it’s a full-blown scavenger hunt with a tasty prize!
First 5 people who find Andrea’s ‘Lobster Roll Pajamas’ at any TJ Maxx who report back to her ‘where’ they found them on either her Instagram or Facebook …will win gift cards to Lunch Lobster Roll!
Instagram: @lunchlobsterroll
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LunchLobsterRoll/
Meanwhile the folks behind lobster roll aren’t just about fun and fluff. They’re working nonstop to keep the food and service fabulous and the summer vibe flowing all while expanding on cool brand partnerships!
Big Bites of News from ‘LUNCH Lobster Roll’!
Chopt Collaboration:
Lobster Roll’s famous lobster salad is now in select Chopt locations, including Penn Station and the Upper East Side in NYC, in a special summer salad collaboration featuring Chopts ginger sesame and creamy caesar dressings.
Hamptons Happy Meal at American Cut in Tribeca:
Get 2 lobster sliders, truffle fries or Caesar salad, and a martini for just $28 from 5–7 PM.
The full American Cut crew is even doing a Ticketed Steak + Lobster Dinner at the LUNCH Lobster Roll Southampton location July 18–19.
ANDREA ANTHONY IS ALWAYS QUICK TO TELL YOU IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT HER! SHE’S EXTREMELY PROUD OF THE LUNCH LOBSTER ROLL BRAND AND THE STRONG TEAM BEHIND IT! Including Key Players That Make Things Happen like Paul D’Angelis and Simon Cascante… as well as everyone else who helps bring the ‘Lobster Lovin Vibe’ to life at both their Amagansett and Southampton Locations.
As Andrea says, “You kind of get lost in the sauce when you go big. But we’re still all heart.”
Coming Soon?
The Lobster Roll Food Truck Now Booking for July!
Lobster Roll Kits, and an Upcoming Hamptons Coffee Table Book.
Andrea Anthony is genuinely one of the warmest coolest gals I’ve ever met. Great woman and brilliant businesswoman. I love her!
Enjoy this fun podcast of my live conversation with Andrea Anthony on The Debbie Nigro Show. If you’d rather read than listen- the audio transcript is below.
Now let’s all try and help Andrea find the Lobster Roll Pajamas at some TJ Maxx. Ha!
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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
0:00:00
And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show! I may not always love you But long as there are stars above you You never need to doubt it I’ll make you so sure about it
0:00:34
(Speaker 2)
God only knows what I’d be without you Every time I hear this song I see my high school girl, pal, one of my best pals, Nancy Picone, her name is Nancy Sasso, now I don’t know if she has another name, her, I’d see her because we’d sing this song in the car driving around in high school together. Ah, memories, nostalgia. Yeah, so rest in peace, Brian. Thanks for the love and the beautiful music. Hi everybody, I’m Debbie Nigro giving out some love today to all my listeners and I so appreciate being able to
0:01:17
(Speaker 2)
do what I love every day here on the air and I even love it more because I get to bring on people who I adore who are doing cool things like the gal you’re about to meet again right now because she’s been on the show in the past but we’re going to say hello to Andrea Anthony. I can’t love her anymore. I said you’re like my sister from another mother. She is an interesting businesswoman.
0:01:38
(Speaker 2)
She’s a fantastic mom. She’s a grandma like me playing whack-a-mole with kids trying to do business deals in between she’s running two amazing Restaurants that are iconic out in the Hamptons called lunch lobster roll one in Amagansett one in South Hampton and then I thought of her the other day when I was doing the lobster trend Story about how everybody’s buying lobster sweaters and clothes with lobsters on them like what it’s going I bet you Andrea should weigh in on this. And sure enough, I got in touch by text. I go, hey, are your ears ringing?
0:02:07
(Speaker 2)
And she sends me back a pair of pajamas with lobsters on them. I was like, you’re kidding me. So besides the lobster pajamas that she told me are now somehow in TJ Maxx, she’s got a couple of cool promotions going on.
0:02:18
(Speaker 2)
One with Chopped, the salad franchise, something going on in Penn Station today, and another one with an iconic steakhouse in Manhattan. They got the Hamptons Happy Meal and her lobster sliders are a part of it. Andrea, welcome.
0:02:32
(Speaker 1)
Hello, Deborah. Thank you for having me again.
0:02:35
(Speaker 2)
Oh, don’t call me Deborah. My mother called me Deborah Andrea, and I knew I was in trouble. She’d be like, Deborah.
0:02:41
(Speaker 3)
Oh, boy.
0:02:42
(Speaker 4)
Oh, boy.
0:02:43
(Speaker 2)
Debbie. Andrea you are one of my favorite people I’ve met along my travels you know that right? Thank you well we are sisters we are the steel magnolias right? Right and we never spent much time. Did you see the movie? I do. Remember that line? I do remember the line. I love you like my luggage. Good one I like it. Andrea and I have never spent much time together. It’s just, you know when you get somebody and they get you and there’s just this feeling like you’ve had another friendship, another life somewhere.
0:03:15
(Speaker 2)
So that’s what we’re about. I’m a huge champion. The lobster pajamas killed me. Tell me a little bit about the lobster pajamas.
0:03:22
(Speaker 1)
I’ve got to tell you, my partners think I’m crazy but you know I kind of stumbled on the idea. A local brand came up with, well they approached me, the Pink Chicken and they do elevated children’s clothing. They have a unit in Amagansett and elsewhere I think they’re on Madison Avenue and a couple of other cities that we all love and whatnot. We co-branded these pajamas and they were sort of like with a nice thin flare.
0:03:54
(Speaker 1)
They wanted to use the lobster logo, so we co-branded for a small period of time. These pajamas were going for 65 bucks. And they were really cute and they sold out. It kind of gave me the idea of lobster roll pajamas. And I know lobsters are big now. Yeah, I mean, crazy. So we had a designer do this really cool design. And lo and behold, TJ Maxx took them. Amazing. So here we are now. I mean, it was a long project.
0:04:26
(Speaker 1)
I’m sure. Jumping through a lot of hoops, but they took them. But I’ll tell you the funny thing. They’re so huge that I don’t even know what locations have them. And it’s really, it’s frustrating because you want to do some promotions. So I’m going to have to say at your participating TJ Maxx store, because when you’re dealing
0:04:49
(Speaker 1)
with someone so large, you kind of get lost in the sauce.
0:04:53
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, you’re lost in the sauce. But I want a pair of these pajamas, bad. I’m like, oh, they look so comfortable. And I’m like, what do you mean you have none? Where are they? We don’t know where they are.
0:05:04
(Speaker 1)
It’s crazy. People say, where can we buy them? Like, I have no idea. I think I’m gonna do something kind of fun. We say, listen, if you find them, come on to our Facebook or our Instagram site
0:05:15
(Speaker 1)
and let us know where you found them.
0:05:17
(Speaker 3)
You know?
0:05:17
(Speaker 2)
You know… We’ll do a giveaway. first five people to find where the pajamas are, we’re going to send you gift cards. Oh, I love that. Yeah, if you find Andrea’s lobster pajamas and any participating TJ Maxx, please get in touch with her because she made them, made the deal, took her forever, and now she can’t find the pajamas. So somebody has to send some back, let her know, and she’s going to give you a gift certificate. I think that’s great.
0:05:40
(Speaker 2)
You know, I… Right? You know, I want locations you want to know where they are. I want to know we got to call the TJ Maxx people I went on their website just now as we’re talking and I’m looking at TJ Maxx viral beaded lobster bag lobster purse anyone women’s sweaters lobster and they got a Lobster bag. There’s a viral love we got to make your pajamas go viral. How are you? Yeah Okay, we’ll talk about that later because I got an idea.
0:06:05
(Speaker 2)
But okay, so today’s a big day with your lobster business. I can’t believe you’re in the lobster business. Like who’s in that business? Like what’s the back story?
0:06:12
(Speaker 1)
I know.
0:06:13
(Speaker 2)
You believe that? Quick back story before I tell everybody what’s going on today. How’d you get in the lobster business?
0:06:17
(Speaker 1)
Oh, it was by mistake. Of course. I was studying to be a shrink. I was in psychology back in the 70s. And yeah, we, my then husband opened up a restaurant in Southampton and two weeks before we were scheduled to open, the manager fell through the cracks and took another job. And I was at Hofstra at the time and I kind of let my program go. He needed help there. He had already had the unit in Amagansett. So I left the program for the summer, went over to Southampton, had no idea what I was doing. I was sort of a
0:06:56
(Speaker 1)
placeholder I guess you could say. Yeah. And I don’t know, it kind of got in my veins and from that point on I switched fields and grew up in the business I was 20
0:07:08
(Speaker 2)
Wow and now you know, I’m a fossil so you’re a fossil if you’re a fossil I’m a fossil I was thinking you this morning because I was trying to get back to the show and you know We were doing the show today and I had spent 24 hours as in grandma land, which I I Like to tell anybody who could get to. It’s like a game of whack-a-mole because now there’s three kids and each has a different need and I don’t know what’s going on.
0:07:32
(Speaker 2)
I really have no idea what’s going on. And my daughter got a new carriage with a double carriage, I don’t know, and she never looked at how to open and close it. And we had a baseball game and I had to be the coach. I wasn’t really the coach. I had to stand in. I’m on the field. I’m over here. We’re trying to… I was like, what is going on with my life?
0:07:47
(Speaker 1)
But anyway… Yeah, you have to be an engineer to put those things together.
0:07:51
(Speaker 2)
Oh my gosh, buses, things. I’m making toast. I, this is exciting. So, Chopped is there and they are doing, as we speak, a pop-up
0:08:10
(Speaker 1)
and the whole store is stylized to represent a lobster roll with all kinds of beach paraphernalia. They have lobster roll chopped beach towels and those koozies, and stylized napkins, and they’re selling the lobster salad in one of their kale salads, I believe. And yeah, it’s really exciting. They’ve really taken off on that lobster salad.
0:08:41
(Speaker 2)
So you said something about the dressing. Yeah, what’s the dressing? We were getting to the same topic. I didn’t mean to speak over you.
0:08:47
(Speaker 1)
Have you ever had them? Their dressings are awesome. Okay. My favorite, and we’re going to be carrying them throughout the summer, my favorite is their ginger sesame dressing. Sounds great. Oh my gosh. It’s like an Asian type of flavor. And we’re also carrying the creamy Caesar. But you know, they’re clean dressings and we’re also carrying doing it in other CHOP locations? No, they’re actually in I think about six locations. It’s Penn Station this week and where are they going? I think then
0:09:32
(Speaker 1)
they’re on 78th and 3rd. They’re going to Willis Avenue. They were at Astor Place and station yeah and maybe I’m forgetting one but yeah there you know about six locations and you know we’re in discussions they may continue going on for the whole summer you know we’re sort of we will be in discussions about that so we’re hoping that they will continue the promotion and you know maybe throughout the
0:10:01
(Speaker 1)
summer so we’ll see. Okay very cool. It seems to be the summer of collaborations you know a lot of collaborations going on. I like collaborations. It’s been approached by a couple of other brands. Yeah I love collaborations. Because
0:10:13
(Speaker 2)
yeah that’s everybody helps yeah everybody helps everybody else out it’s nice because you use your resources they use their resources if there’s a nice match and I love making nice matches between people so that everybody wins right and that’s everybody’s working hard for the win it’s great let’s talk about American Cut this the Hamptons Happy Meal that’s a cool one what a
0:10:35
(Speaker 1)
great idea right yeah so they are doing a Hamptons Happy Meal during their happy hour from 5 to 7 and what they’re doing is two mini lobster rolls with you can get either their truffle fries which are awesome or a Caesar salad and a martini either I think they’re offering a kettle one martini or a tangerine martini I mean that’s a great deal I think they’re charging $28. Oh all of that? That’s a good one. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And then they also put the lobster roll on
0:11:10
(Speaker 1)
their menu. So, you know, you can have either or. And they’re doing that throughout the summer. Amazing. That’s kind of cool. So, can I talk about
0:11:19
(Speaker 2)
lobsters for a second and the price of lobster? It always seems so… Yeah, but you know what? I will tell you one more thing. Sure. The American Cut.
0:11:25
(Speaker 3)
Yes.
0:11:25
(Speaker 1)
They’re coming to our Southampton location and they’ll be there on the 18th and 19th of July. And they’re doing a ticketed dinner, a 7 to 10 seating on the Friday and Saturday night that weekend. And tickets can be purchased on either their website or our website and that’s going to be really cool. Their whole crew is coming in, their chef and they’re doing a curated really interesting meal so
0:11:53
(Speaker 2)
that’s noteworthy as well. Yeah was that steak and lobster is that is that the
0:11:57
(Speaker 1)
move? Yeah they’re going to be doing steak and all kinds of cool stuff family style so it’s posted on their website really cool curated meal long list homemade apple pie stop throwing food
0:12:15
(Speaker 2)
items at me I can only think about food right now talking to you I want to understand the price of lobsters for a minute because it always seems so decadent out of reach for a lot of times like if you’re gonna have a lobster roll you’re investing in a lobster roll you’re investing in lobsters for a minute because it always seems so decadent out of reach for a lot of times like if you’re gonna have a lobster roll you’re investing in a lobster roll you’re investing in lobster it’s not like something you pick up a burger right so people think does people think twice about spending money on
0:12:33
(Speaker 1)
lobster they do I mean I think people are more price conscious now and you have to remember there there are two markets lobster meat which we’re in and then the whole lobsters completely different got, lobster meat which we’re in and then the whole lobster, completely different. Lobster meat is very, very expensive right now. So yeah people I mean I read every review we get on Yelp, on Google. I also you know if you eat at our restaurant and you and you get your check in the
0:13:04
(Speaker 1)
folio, there’s a QR code that will bring you directly to my email. So I’m always, I always have my ears open to listen to feedback. And I will tell you, most of the time, it’s great feedback, but if it’s something negative,
0:13:18
(Speaker 1)
it usually has to do with the price of a lobster roll. And you know, I get it. I mean, they’re not inexpensive but what we’ve done we offer lobster sliders and we really try to keep that price point where somebody can come in and have two lobster sliders, french fries, you know a soda and be and coleslaw you know comes with coleslaw as a side as well and it can be
0:13:46
(Speaker 1)
around that 22 $23 mark nice which is fair very fair so but you know you’re talking about lobster meat so yeah I mean people are conscious of what they spend and you know you’re in the Hamptons so if you come out here good you stay out here yeah you know it’s hotels you go with your, you’re in the Hamptons, so if you come out here, and you stay out here, you know, it’s hotels, you go with your kids, you’re eating out a lot. I mean, let’s face it, it costs money.
0:14:13
(Speaker 2)
And people are price conscious. Yeah, you are the best deal in town, Andrea Anthony. For anybody who’s traveling out to the Hamptons, you definitely want to stop in at Lunch Lobster Roll. want to stop in at lunch lobster roll say hello to Andrea tell her oh I heard you on Demi Nigro show and you could say oh yeah and if you happen to be in New York City and the surrounding areas for chopped make sure you go in and get the lobster roll chopped salad and if you have to be an American Cod go have the
0:14:34
(Speaker 2)
happy hour Hampton’s Happy Meal and if you happen to be in the market for pajamas look for Andrea’s lobster roll, lobster pajamas in some participating TJ Maxx and tell her where you found them and she will find her pajamas for her and she’s going to give you a gift certificate to have some lobster rolls. I love you. Wonderful having you on today.
0:14:56
(Speaker 2)
I love you too.
0:14:57
(Speaker 1)
I like my luggage.
0:14:58
(Speaker 2)
I like my luggage. I like my luggage. Have a great day.
