North Carolina-based Outer Banks Boil Company, a new takeout and catering business that specializes in signature seafood boils, now plans to expand its presence in Baltimore and the surrounding area. The brand and its executives have sentimental ties to the Baltimore area and believe the company’s seafood boils would provide the perfect complement to Baltimore’s famous culture of steamed blue crabs.
Matt Khouri, the CEO and founder of Outer Banks Boil Company and business partner, Ryan Miller have a deep history not only as friends, but in business as well. The two met while attending Freedom Elementary School in Eldersburg, Maryland and have been close friends ever since. Khouri and Miller were raised in Maryland, but attended different colleges, taking Miller to the University of Maryland College Park and Khouri to UNCW, where Outer Banks Boil Company was born. Maryland is already well known for their crab cakes and steamed blue crabs, but Khouri’s vacations to the Outer Banks, cooking seafood boils with his family, inspired the business plan he put together for a college class project. When they first met on the playground 20 years ago, no one could have predicted that the two would hope to return to Baltimore one day as business partners; bringing home their signature seafood boils to the communities where they were raised.
“Our team has its sights set on Baltimore and the surrounding area for a number of reasons,” says Khouri. “Growing up in the area, all of our childhood memories of ‘home’ make it such a natural fit for the Outer Banks Boil Company model. Baltimore knows and loves its seafood and our signature seafood boils, whether catered or our ‘Best Pot To-Go,’ should fit right in and thrive in the 410!”
The brand now eyes the seafood-loving city of Baltimore with plans for future expansion through franchising; viewing company outings, networking events, grand openings, weddings and celebrations of any kind as perfect occasions for a signature seafood boil. In the past, Delmarva Boil Company, the brand’s corporate sister store in Ocean City, Maryland, partnered with several local Baltimore breweries including Hysteria, Diamondback, Monument City and Full Tilt, with plans in 2020 to have a full brewery tour before the confirmed events were cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. These partnerships provided a way for non-food serving establishments to offer a great pairing with their brews. The brand now looks to continue pursuing these types of partnerships and events in all of the markets they have locations in.
“We are excited to open our first location in a major metropolitan city and would love nothing more than to do it in our hometown, Charm City,” says Miller. Our team knows there are countless applications for concepts in an off-beach market including corporate gatherings, cookouts, rooftop parties, brewery events and many more! We view the Annapolis market as a second location in the area after building up the brand and a local following.
