By David R. Morcom

In Hollywood, a guaranteed ticket to fame and fortune is winning an Oscar. In the television industry, the Emmy is the coveted prize, and every artist in the music industry would love to have a Grammy gracing their mantle. But, for those in the specialty food trade, there is no prize more sought after than the little, golden man who wears a chef’s hat and carries a serving tray. This is the top prize awarded at the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT). It is every bit as prestigious in the field of specialty foods as any of the aforementioned awards are in their respective disciplines. The competition to win a gold NASFT statuette is fierce because it can have highly positive consequences in terms of respect within the trade, worldwide publicity, and sales, sales, sales.

In 2003, in only her third year of business, Carolie “Cal” Hancock ’69 took her Pemaquid Point Lobster Pot Pies to the NASFT show in New York City, where she so impressed the judges that she brought home the golden chef for the “Best Meat, Pate or Seafood” category. “It was total elation when we won,” Cal recalls. “There were around 3,000 entries, and some of them were from rather famous chefs. To win in only our second year of exhibiting at the Fancy Food Show was truly unbelievable because it was unheard of for someone that new to win. The next day there were balloons and media all around our exhibit booth. It was total fun and excitement.”

Cal is the founder of the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company, which focuses on the production, sales and distribution of a number of all-natural, gourmet lobster specialty products. She is a woman with boundless energy, a friendly vivacity, and dark hazel eyes that sparkle with intelligence. Her hearty laughter is never far from the surface and she has a quick and ready sense of humor. She is good natured and unflappable, and because of this, Cal’s energy is directed solely on forward progress.

Cal founded her company in 2000 in Cundy’s Harbor, Maine’s oldest commercial lobstering village. Her production and fulfillment plant is in Topsham, Maine, just a few miles away, and it is so clean and neat, it could be used as a hospital operating room. Cal’s inspiration for her company comes from working with her grandmother, Hazel Ellis Hancock, in the family’s lobster restaurant in the 1960s in Ogunquit, Maine. “My grandmother ran the restaurant for 25 years,” Cal explains, “and she cared about her customers. She made sure they loved the food and were delighted with the service they received. I’m looking to extend her approach by providing terrific products to the specialty retail market, where value-added lobster is virtually non-existent.”

Cal received a B.S. in health information management from Colby-Sawyer College, which she recalls with great fondness. “I stay in touch with my roommates, and remember being captain of the basketball team, President “Ev” Woodman, Mountain Day, which I would love to go back and do again, and a farm near my dorm, Burpee Hall, that had lots of cows. On some days those cows emitted a smell that can be described politely as pungent,” she says with a laugh. Cal went on to Ohio State University where she earned an M.S. in Allied Science. Prior to starting the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co., she was president of WhiteWater Group, a business consulting practice in Minnesota and Maine, and, before that, she served in several executive management positions in other organizations and companies. She was away from Maine for 30 years, but always longed to return home. “As soon as I left, I couldn’t wait to get back,” she states with conviction. “I belong here.”

Cal’s guiding business strategy is to offer only high quality, value-added lobster specialties. She has developed products that are simple and comforting, as well as elegant and impressive. All of her products are freshly and naturally prepared in small batches to ensure the integrity of the traditional family-inspired recipes, and many of her products are named after a specific Maine coastal area. In addition to the Pemaquid Point Pot Pies, the products include Cundy’s Harbor Lobster Stew, Christmas Cove Lobster Cakes, Nubble Light Lobster Wellington, and Downeast Lobster Rolls with Whoopie Pies to name a few. These products are available directly from the company, at upscale retail outlets in 20 states, through many fine catalog companies, and on Amazon.com, where the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. was one of the first in that internet giant’s gourmet food store.

Some of Cal’s fondest childhood memories are of sunny summer days spent with her cousin off the Maine coast pulling up their own lobster traps. Her familiarity with the life of a Maine lobsterman is one of the reasons Cal insists that Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. actively support the Maine lobstering industry, which has long been using methods to help sustain their succulent resource and protect the ocean environment. Lobster in Maine is harvested the old-fashioned way, with each lobsterman hauling 250-300 traps a day one at a time. This practice is critical to preserving the lobster industry, and only Maine lobstermen measure each lobster and return to the sea those which are large, healthy breeders, as well as the immature young.

Cal and her permanent staff of six order their work lives by the four essential principles Cal uses to govern her business: quality, people, service, and innovation. Regarding quality, Cal insists that only claw and knuckle meat be used for all her recipes because “that’s the most tender part of the lobster.” Regarding people, Cal says simply, “We appreciate how important each customer is, and we work hard to hire people who understand this as well. When it comes to service, we try to be proactive in finding better ways to share our products with new customers each week, and that requires constant attention to the smallest details. All of this, the quality, the service, and the people is to support our growing and innovative line of lobster and specialty seafood products. We currently have 15 products with about 33 combination package choices, and we want to continue making more wonderful things out of lobster and exceed our customers’ expectations on all levels.”

The media reviews the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. has received make it clear that those expectations surely have been exceeded where the food critics are concerned. In the Chicago Sun Times, the verdict was: “Simple and elegant, this lobster dish is extraordinary…worth every penny…a must try for the serious seafood lover.” The Philadelphia Inquirer raved: “Awesome lobster pot pies…filled with tender meat and rich sherry-soused broth. Even more satisfying is Hancock’s lobster roll kit…almost as good as going to Maine.” The respected Rosengarten Report simply exalted: “Lobster Pie of the Gods!”

Other accolades have come in a steady stream. There are two NASFT silver chefs to keep the gold chef company, and it was recently announced in a press release that the “Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. is the winner in the Outstanding Fish and Seafood category at the First Annual Gallo Family Vineyards Gold Medal Awards for their Pemaquid Point Lobster Pot Pie.”

While the awards and critical plaudits are appreciated, it’s her customers who matter most to Cal. When she receives a letter that says “I sent my grandmother your lobster rolls for her birthday and she raved about them,” it means as much to Cal as anything she can imagine.

Cal’s immediate plans for the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. are to continue to grow the business and the product line, to sell more via the internet, to explore the international marketplace, and to open a retail store somewhere near her home to tap into the tourist trade and teach visitors who are unfamiliar with Maine’s most famous food product what it’s like to dine on the “lobster pie of the gods.”