From intern to owner: An Asheville chef's journey, plans for downtown restaurant

ASHEVILLE - At age 25, Mike McCarty didn’t imagine his culinary school internship at a local seafood restaurant would become a lasting career. Nor did the fledgling chef know he would own that very restaurant nearly two decades later.

Yet, McCarty is carrying The Lobster Trap to its 20th anniversary as the executive chef and 100% owner.

“I started and said to myself, ‘I’ll be there about three months,’” McCarty said. “Then, three months turned into 18 years. I slowly but surely worked my way up.”

From intern to restaurateur

In 2005, Amy Beard founded The Lobster Trap, at 35 Patton Avenue, to bring fresh Maine lobster and other seafood that incorporates Appalachian ingredients to Asheville diners. The restaurant continues to serve seafood sourced from Coastal Maine and along the East Coast with rainbow trout from Sunburst Farms in Western North Carolina.

In 2006, McCarty was hired and worked at the restaurant for a year while juggling culinary school at A-B Technical Community College and employment at a second restaurant.

After a year, he left The Lobster Trap but returned in 2008. McCarty said he was required to complete an internship for the culinary program and that restaurants offered minimum wage to interns but The Lobster Trap offered a living wage.

For years, he continued to work under Beard as a line cook, sous chef, and then general manager. In 2013, he was promoted to executive chef.

McCarty said he and Beard had become good friends and she knew he wanted to own a restaurant one day.

In 2018, the opportunity came but not as he’d expected.

Beard had moved back to Maine permanently, and for several years, McCarty said he was running day-to-day operations at the restaurant as the executive chef, general manager and vice president of the company. So, when Beard offered him partial ownership of the business with the agreement that he would one day take complete ownership, he agreed.

In July 2023, McCarty said he paid off final shares to become the full owner of The Lobster Trap.

“It was like it wasn’t even real,” he said.

Although he’d been running the restaurant, he said he felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility once the deal was done.

“It’s all on me,” he said.

Renovation plans

Next year, The Lobster Trap will hit its 20th anniversary and McCarty has big plans for an extensive renovation.

McCarty said he’s met with an architect and designer and finished drawing out the plan for the transformation project, which will include replacing light fixtures, adding new tables and chairs, putting down fresh coats of paint, and constructing a new bar to give the restaurant an updated look.

The renovation is scheduled for January 2025, which is typically a slower month for tourism and customers. The Lobster Trap is expected to be closed for about three weeks while the project is completed.

The Lobster Trap has undergone two previous renovations with many updates gradually rolling out over the business’s 20 years.

McCarty said the upcoming project will “definitely be something people notice.”

He aims to bring in new customers without alienating loyal customers.

“It’s important to keep the restaurant contemporary, refreshed, renewed but still keeping our core values and keeping the restaurant the same in terms of its soul,” McCarty said.

Secret recipe to success

The Lobster Trap continues to attract customers with items like Maine lobster rolls and a rotating, seasonal selection of seafood like oysters, mussels, clams and fish.

The Tuesday Oyster Night special, which offers $1 house oysters, usually sourced from Virginia, is popular with customers, too.

McCarty said the secret to The Lobster Trap’s success is the team’s staying true to themselves and the restaurant.

“Not allowing ourselves to be comfortable and not falling into a grind, just constantly reimagining ourselves,” he said. “Constantly asking what we can do better for the restaurant industry, our customers, ourselves and not being complacent.”

McCarty said The Lobster Trap employs 33 workers and pays a living wage, with line cooks' base pay at $21/hour.

“We’re here for our customers, we’re here for our people,” McCarty said. “We strive to be the best seafood in Asheville and a comfortable place for people to come and enjoy.”

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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: The Lobster Trap to receive major improvements for 20-year anniversary