Lobster Clubbing the Competition

Archer’s On The Pier in Rockland, Maine boasts the best Lobstah Club you’ll find. Lynn Archer who owns the place should know. She beat world famous chef Bobby Flay in a cook-off. When she met him, having no idea who he was, she said, “OK kid. Give it your best shot.” When she saw him chopping celery, “I said ‘you’re done! You’ll ruin it with celery!’ He didn’t have a shot,” she adds with confidence. “Poor young man. I told him, ‘keep practicing.’”

Here Archer tells PINK, what it takes to have not one but two top restaurants, Archer’s and The Brass Compass Café that cooks up a hearty breakfasts for the local fishermen, and why, after 38 years of cooking on the line and running the businesses, this is still her dream job; and why she doesn’t mind getting up at 3:30 am to make biscuits.

PINK: What’s your success secret?
LA: Hard work. I work seven days a week from 5am, 364 days a year. I take Christmas off.

PINK: You must be exhausted.
LA: Not at all. I love what I do. I love my people and my town. I have great passion for what I do.

PINK: What’s the best part?
LA: My blessings are a multitude. The view! The kindness of others. My 55 employees. Eighty percent tell me they love me.

PINK: What’s the worst part?
LA: When I see great potential in people and they let themselves down. When they don’t show up. I hire people from the prison. I take the kids on. Most do great.

PINK: What about family?
LA: I have three sons. They are lobstermen.

PINK: How did the crab club challenge come about?
LA: The Food Network called. I said, ‘what do you want? You know better than to call me at lunch. I hung up on her… She called back later. I turned down a demonstration in July. I can’t do it in July. I’m in the kitchen cooking! Then they asked me to do it for a benefit for homeless kids so I said OK. That’s when Bobbie Flay challenged me to a throw-down. I still keep in touch with him today.