MLA Business Member Spotlight: RDR Lobster

RDR Lobster in Trenton has been a steadfast MLA business member for many years. The company, established by Ron Doane in 2008, sells live lobster and softshell clams to a variety of customers, including Canobie Seafood of New Hampshire. It has remained a small seafood dealer throughout the years, currently with 20 employees on staff.

“We maintain our markets. We haven’t actively tried to grow,” said Dan Damon, RDR general manager. Ron Doane, who also operated Down East Lobster Company prior to RDR, retired from the company he founded last year.

“We do our own thing and don’t have to suffer from expanding too much,” Damon said. RDR has a small storage building in Jonesboro in addition to the Trenton facility and runs its own fleet of trucks to transport its products to customers.

Damon worked at RDR part-time while in high school. He came onboard full-time in 2008 and, as he said, “I’ve been here ever since.” He has watched as young lobstermen who used to sell him a half a crate have progressed to successful fishermen with 45-foot boats. He’s also watched as the highliners he first met 17 years ago slow down and begin to retire. “I like dealing with the lobstermen. I was on the dock every day [before becoming general manager] and they’re mostly good guys,” he said.

Like Ron Doane before him, Damon will continue to support the MLA. “It represents the lobstermen and the industry pretty well. And that’s a good thing in and of itself,” he said.

RDR Lobster

1077 Bar Harbor Rd

Trenton, ME. 04605

207-667-2250

rdrlobster@yahoo.com