Outer Banks Boil Company, the Corolla, North Carolina-based takeout and catering concept that focuses on Low Country cuisine, has announced plans to expand beyond the Southeast, looking for franchise opportunities from Maine to Florida. Plans call for opening at least three to five units in 2021 and at least five locations each year thereafter in college towns, cities and beach communities.
“I always knew that I’d prefer board shorts and flip flops over a suit and tie, but I could have never imagined that a senior project would drive me in that direction,” said Outer Banks Boil Company Founder Matt Khouri. “To see a class project develop into a successful and rapidly expanding business concept really is the American dream come true, it’s a very fulfilling feeling.”
Khouri, originally from Eldersburg, Maryland, finished up studies at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington in 2012, and moved to Corolla in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with a loose plan to offer the “best pot on the beach.” He offered his seafood boils from his apartment kitchen, and the kitchens of friends, at vacation homes in the evenings. He’d bring the boil to the homes and steam it up there, offering local knowledge and some fun along with the food.
The first year, Khouri did about 10 boils, the next year 30, the year after 60 and by the fourth year, more than 100 events. By 2019, Outer Banks Boil Company had expanded to four locations in two states and did more than 1,100 catered events that year. In 2020, the brand added a fifth location in its third state and is on pace to cater more than 2,500 events by the end of the year.
“The response has been nothing short of amazing, but it really wasn’t until folks started expressing interest in taking our concept and putting it in their areas that we knew we were truly onto something,” Khouri says. “Late last year, we began answering the call for even more locations and started exploring nationwide franchising as an option.”
Khouri acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has actually fueled demand for his business.
“While many restaurants struggled to adapt their systems and processes to continue operations during COVID-19, our concept was perfectly prepared for the shift in the landscape,” he continued. “As dining rooms shut down throughout the country, the demand for takeout food and the restaurant experience rose, which helped our concept flourish during the lockdowns and continue providing people with access to delicious and authentic low-country seafood boils.”
