Brett Curtis has found a niche bringing the taste of the ocean to places without an ocean.
Curtis is growing a food hall concept called Dock Local, which opened its fifth location this week. Most Dock Local locations are in Texas (though one is in Tennessee), but far from the ocean. The latest is in the Dallas Farmers Market food hall, and it’s the first to have a full bar alongside the menu of lobster rolls, crab queso, and Baja fish tacos.
Curtis was a corporate chef for years before he decided to try his hand at launching a food truck in 2016. Initially, it was mostly on weekends. That was around the time when food trucks were all the rage, and the Cousins Maine Lobster guys were on “Shark Tank” making it look easy.
Curtis grew up in Maryland eating bushels of crab, and spending summers on Cape Cod with a cousin eating “roadside lobster.” So seafood was on the menu at his food truck, which did well. Fans were clamoring for Curtis to open a brick-and-mortar.
He tried a fast-casual variation in Dallas that ultimately fell victim to the Covid years, he said.
But then the food hall trend began to gain steam. Dock Local opened in Legacy Hall, operated by the Food Hall Co., and it has done well. When the Food Hall Co. launched another food hall in Nashville in 2022, Dock Local opened there too.
Now Curtis sees opportunity for this seafood-focused menu in food hall settings. He plans to explore franchising as a next step to grow the brand, targeting markets that don’t have an ocean.
Dock Local offers a flight of various lobster rolls. | Photo courtesy of Dock Local
Dock Local’s specialty is the lobster rolls. The menu offers the option of a Lobster Roll Flight, for about $75, which includes six mini rolls in different styles, from Maine-style (served cold, light mayo) to Connecticut (served hot with garlic butter and chives), and a signature monthly option created by guests and the culinary team.
It’s shareable and, in Dallas with the bar option, Dock Local can offer a wine pairing. (Though, Curtis notes with a chuckle, the top seller so far is tequila.)
A lobster grilled cheese also gets plenty of attention on social media.
Once a specialty of the Northeastern U.S., lobster has become an everywhere dish. But the cost has risen exponentially to about $38 per pound, Curtis said. He blamed tariffs and the fact that warming ocean waters are forcing lobsters to migrate northward, which has hurt supply in Maine.
But in a food hall, seafood has to be accessible. Dock Local also does a fish taco flight, as well as dishes like fish and chips, salt-and-pepper calamari, and seafood boils — all out of a space that’s around 300 to 600 square feet. “We’re working out of a closet,” he said.
Curtis said he has learned what works in the food hall world.
He looks for food halls that bring in the community, with music or events, for example. Successful food halls have a social atmosphere that draws in traffic, he said.
Dock Local had a unit in a food hall in Charlotte, North Carolina, that didn’t work. It was too much of a lunch crowd and too small a space, so it wasn’t a good spot for the seafood brand.
Curtis would love to take Dock Local to Arizona or Detroit. Ideally, he would like to open two or three each year. Another unit in the Fort Worth area is in development for this year, he said.
Will he franchise? It’s too soon to tell.
It will likely depend on whether he can find the right partners.
“I know franchises who are never really involved in their operations,” he said. “But I’d want partners who are passionate about what they’re bringing to the table.”