Ryan Osborne stands in front of the Cousins Maine Lobster Food Truck in Papillion

PapillionBusinesses.com here with…

Ryan Osborne.

Thank you. Where are you from?

I am originally from East Los Angeles, California.

So, an Angeleno.

Yes.

What did you do before this, and then what brought you to Cousins?

So I’ve been in the kitchen for about 15 years now. I was a chef before doing my general manager position now. It was something that I was just supposed to be doing like meantime, something in between time, and I absolutely fell in love with it. October 2023 is when I joined the team. I was with them about seven months, and they saw my progression and how much I loved the job, and they offered me a position in the KC Market. Now I just open up markets for them, and that’s what I do now.

Do you think we can expect a Cousins here?

We’re trying. We really are trying.

I’ve noticed a lot of the restaurants and different businesses from Kansas City are coming here. So there’s a lot of similar demographics that we’re [Omaha]  reaching closer to Kansas City.

Oh, 100%. I think a big Midwest hub is Kansas City, but I think other cities and other states are seeing that they can be also a hub as well. And I’ve had great, great food here. Lincoln has great food; Omaha and Papillion just have great food themselves, so I do see that burst of food coming.

How do you keep your lobster so fresh, which I’m assuming, although I haven’t tasted it yet.

Yeah, so from getting it off the ocean floor to getting it into our bags, it’s about a 45-minute process. The mornings start about 6 a.m. The dockers get there in the morning as well, and then the fishermen start selling us the lobster. As soon as that happens, within 45 minutes, they are bought and processed in our facilities and bagged within 45 minutes.

Wow.

That’s something that we pride ourselves in, and we actually offer tours as well, so that’s something that people can look into.

Oh, that sounds like fun, if I get up there.

Yeah, as far as fresh fish, we keep everything on ice. It is freshly frozen. Any kind of lobster that you get inside of grocery stores is going to be frozen. It’s just to prevent any kind of parasite and bacteria. So yeah, we do fast freeze it and then it gets shipped over within the day at any of our markets that need it. So they go ahead and they do their orders, and then they go ahead and ship it out.

How many trucks do you have?

I personally have two trucks and soon to have three trucks. We’re going to open up an Arkansas market pretty soon, and yeah, we’ll be out there.

What helps you determine where you’re going to visit next, and is this a test to opening the market here?

I think demographics play a big part in that, and I think next is kind of up in the air. We’re all kind of figuring out that right now. I think it’s a big boom right now. There was that big boom.

But yeah, it was just a big boom in 2012. So I think we’re experiencing that again with food, with this whole foodie situation that’s going on with social media and stuff like that. So I think that’s a big, big, big plus. As far as where it ends, I don’t think there is an end. I mean, we’re getting picked up pretty soon by a franchise, and them themselves are pretty hungry to get started, and I don’t see them stopping at three trucks. So you might see one here.

I would love that.

Please tell me the part everyone wants to know, including me. Tell me about what you have to offer.

So we have Maine Rolls, which we’re known for. We have the Maine Roll which is chilled and served with mayo with a side of lemon. We have the Connecticut Roll, which is the fan favorite. It’s warmed with a little bit of butter, and then it gets lemon butter on top. And then we have a variation of that, which is the garlic butter. Same thing, just with garlic butter on top. And then after that, we have entrees such as quesadillas, tacos, lobster tots. And then we have our two soups: the lobster bisque and the clam chowder.

If you could pick a couple of your favorites, which ones would they be?

I would say the Maine. You can really taste the freshness of the lobster in that. Not that the other ones you can’t. It’s just I think the Maine is my favorite one. I would say the lobster quesadilla is really good, and the clam chowder is amazing.

Thank you. I can’t wait to try it and take some pictures of it too as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please see our previous story on our Papillion blog:
https://papillionbusinesses.com/blog/papillion_event_cousins_maine_lobster