Ben Conniff: Engaging in the World in Meaningful Ways

Ben Conniff has had quite a journey since graduating from Lyme-Old Lyme High School and receiving a MacCurdy Salisbury award in 2003. Today, he is Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Luke’s Lobster, a restaurant group with over 30 locations across nine US cities, branches in Japan and Taiwan, and a line of frozen lobster items available in supermarkets. Ben is also the author of Real Maine Food, has written articles for numerous magazines, and was named to the Inc. and Zagat “30 Under 30” lists—but his path to success was anything but straightforward.

When Ben was 12, his family moved to Old Lyme from nearby Deep River. He says Old Lyme was a great place to grow up, recalling that he spent a lot of time at the beach or on the water in his Boston Whaler, and later with the high school crew team. He also enjoyed playing in music ensembles and acting in theater productions, noting that those experiences helped him to develop skills in public speaking and leadership. After high school, Ben studied at Yale University, graduating in 2007 with a degree in history.

When asked if he had taken any business classes in college, he laughed and said, “No, none at all. But studying history teaches you how to think and understand the world. A college history program forces you to back up your claims with evidence, while also not requiring everyone to have the same opinion. So being a history major was very helpful for me to get an understanding of how the world works, how we got where we are today, and how it’s helpful to learn to build arguments based on facts.” He added, “The education you get at college is only partly in the classroom. It’s also about your extracurriculars, the relationships you make, the people you spend time with, and how you become socialized. I spent a lot of my time outside of classes doing social event planning and management. I had cooked my whole life, and enjoyed getting together with family and friends, and that really became true when I had the opportunity to organize larger-scale social events at college. I liked planning a big event, and then going to the event and seeing people really enjoying themselves.”
Ben moved to New York City after college and began working as a journalist, mainly focusing on food writing, but he soon came to understand that it was the food and people that he found interesting, rather than sitting in front of a computer writing about them. He realized that he wanted to “make the story, not write the story,” and began looking for work in the restaurant industry.
In 2008, he saw an ad on Craigslist posted by Luke Holden, who had been working in banking, but wanted to get back to his roots as a third-generation Maine lobsterman, and was seeking a business partner. The two met, and Luke’s Lobster was born. Ben was able to use his storytelling skills to market the restaurant, and called on the logistical and organizational skills he learned in college to open the first location in the East Village.

Since then, Luke’s Lobster has grown into a thriving international concern, but with its roots firmly in Maine. It achieved B Corp Certification in 2018, meaning the company has shown a commitment to social and environmental good, not just profit. Ben mentioned the Lift All Boats Initiative, a student mentorship program to help diversify Maine’s lobster fishery and make it easier for historically disadvantaged groups to obtain licenses. He explained that Luke’s Lobster also works with the Maine Business Immigration Coalition to advocate for the rights of immigrants, also known as “New Mainers,” who are essential to Maine’s communities and businesses.

When asked what advice he would give to recent Lyme-Old Lyme High School graduates, Ben said that one of the few downsides of growing up in Old Lyme was its lack of diversity. It’s important to acknowledge the history that has led us to where we are, and also the opportunities we have to help others who don’t grow up with those privileges. He encouraged students to broaden their perspectives, to be introspective about the advantages they may have, and are bringing with them to college and beyond, and to engage with their world in meaningful ways.