GRATEFUL AS EVER

Kevin Joseph here with a ton of news and fresh new perspective on just how grateful I am for all those who have supported my efforts with Empire Oyster, RAW LAB & LTLE FISH over the years. As I prepare for what will likely be a seismic shift in my career, I AM MORE GRATEFUL THAN EVER for your support since I started on this journey with New York Oyster Week in 2012. What’s changing? How can you participate and benefit? Read on and please share far and wide. I’m sharing so much here because I AM SURE that the community I have built around oysters & seafood will find value here…especially those who’ve been a part of RAW LAB & LTLE FISH concept in Charleston. I’m just as sure that the information, advise and connections that this community will respond with will help us go global. THANK YOU, again!

• Kevin

THE NEXT CHAPTER

Starts with a break. A sabbatical in a place where there is good surfing and diving. Asia or Indonesia perhaps. That’s Q1 2026. Then, perhaps, Ideally, one lap around the earth sourcing and documenting Caviar & Sea Salt: The People, Places, & Processes that create the Products. Why? Because the definitive films and books on these subjects have not been published yet.

Then back to work. Summer 2026 will have me preparing for the next RAW LAB in a brink and mortar space. I’m targeting Jupiter. FL. I’ve always loved it there. I have a solid lead on space there too. It is one that could work seasonally, which would allow me to pursue summer operations in and around my hometown of East Hampton, NY. Headed to Jupiter and Miami next week. If I can be Palm Beach & Miami adjacent in Winter and NYC adjacent in Summer, well, that’s perfect for 2026 and 2027. From there the global expansion will have its best chance of being turbo-charged.

NYE 2026 will DEFINITELY be our last service in our current space in CHS.

The plan is to ring in NYE on December 31, 2025 and “Drop The Knife” on our operations in Charleston. No False Imperative here. We’re not going to have 3 Farewell Tours or being a Persian Rug Store always “going out of business”. This is it. Now til 12/31 is “the end”. More on how and why below we will conduct NYE Services below. I hope you’ll join us on this “victory lap” through year’s end. I am 100% sure I will move on from this market to pursue the openings of RAW LAB in NY or FL. I’m 99% sure that will mean the end of it in Charleston, for now. If possible, we would like to find a licensee to take over operations under our existing brands and find a new location.

RAW LAB will operate on select Thursday and all Friday & Saturday nights going forward. We will deliver between and 35 and 40 services between now and the end of ‘25. All 400 or so seats / dates are now open on RESY. LTLE FISH will have about 12 more services for roughly 200 guests, more or less. And, yes, there is also a chance we will keep operations going post 2025, but we need to find the right person / team to take it over. Kevin Joseph will NOT be your chef. But if you have a prospect, let me know. Tips are now not taxed so an owner of the business (who will pay me a lice

NYE 2026 will be an Equity CrowdFunding Event

Tickets will go on sale in September. We will use these funds to generate capital for our next location. Yeah, crowdfunding for equity is legal now…for an S Corp. Expected price per seat: $5,000. This will include dinner, some merch perks and .05% equity in the business. That grossly undervalues the business at $1,000,000. 12 - 14 seats will be on offer. 4 have been taken so far. Look to IG for info on reserving seats when we go live.

WHY MOVE ON?

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED x 1000: This venture owes me NOTHING and neither does Charleston. I took a run at doing something outrageous (and starting it during COVID in a town where I am not from) and I not only survived, I THRIVED! What a huge hit and learning experience this has been. It’s been a joy to develop and perfect these concepts and live in The Holy City. And what a blast we have had with so many great locals and visitors to town. It’s been a massive blessing and we’ve polished it to the point where there’s very little left to add or improve now. We’ve earned and maintained 4.9 Stars on Resy and that’s elite in any market at any price point. What a miracle and a gift. We literally “RAISED THE RAW BAR” and redefined what a dining experience can be worth. We established that $340 per seat, pre-paid can and IS, “worth every penny”. Evidence of that comes in many forms but the best example is how often guests come back with friends and family. This happens WAY more than I ever imagined it would.

OPEN IN MARKETS WHICH HAVE THINGS WE NEED TO THRIVE & SCALE BEYOND WHAT WE CAN DO IN CHARLESTON: The truth is that while Charleston is a GREAT food town, it’s not one that supports a huge population base or a large number of professionals who regularly entertain clients with an expense account. This is how elite dining operations survive and thrive…in larger, more affluent, Tier 1 Markets. Our concepts will do much better in markets where that IS the case and we might even be able to fill the room on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday (something that was never possible in Charleston). Also, we now need to be in a metropolis (or adjacent to one) with ubiquitous food media and influencers and, possibly, a culinary school and/or a much larger pool of talent. It’s time to challenge ourselves again. It is time to graduate.

WE HAVE OUTGROWN OUR SPACE / LANDLORD DEAL: We no longer wish to operate in a paradigm where we are dependent on others so that we can operate. I was willing to do this while I proved and polished the model. Having done that, we need to control our own destiny 100%. I, essentially, sublet space from an entity that is subletting a space from some guy we don’t even know who rents the building from a bank that owns the whole block. We cant invest any more effort into that space or situation. No drama. No trauma. It just is not a stable model.

HOW WE FEEL ABOUT IT: Beyond Elated! Entirely Confirmed! Completely Victorious! Incredibly Grateful! Very happy. Completely satisfied. What a trip! What a grand success! For me personally, it has allowed me to better understand what I want and what I’m capable of going forward. It’s been an extraordinary blessings. I am genuinely excited for the future and grateful for our amazing guests.

NEXT STAGE GOALS

TO SCALE THE BUSINESS I NEED TO WORK ON THE BUSINESS MORE THAN WORK IN THE BUSINESS:

I proved the brick & mortar / set location model and I did it with minimal personal investment and no investors. It was a nano model experiment. It worked. My ROI over 5 years was 400+%. I did it with grit, hustle, perseverance and passion. I’ve made a living here. I got through the end of Covid and came out of it alive and well. To scale the business globally (as is the goal) I’ll need investors and they will need to see a return. I must find a way to do these things to scale the business.

So the next challenge is to see if we can open more spots like we have now, or, perhaps, build a move-able / modular unit and take the concept on tour. Perhaps both. Maybe we’ll use shipping containers and maybe we’ll move those around on trucks or with barges and tour like a band or a hit Broadway show. We also have to figure out HOW to build this out in other spaces, find talented licensees, investors and other strategic partners.

Time, thought and effort is needed to sort these things out and find ways to operate in many, much larger markets or more populous and affluent regions.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, OYSTERS!

What a blessing to be given the opportunity to praise our Local Oyster Farmers on Live TV on National Oyster Day. #FarmersWithBenefits

WATCH IT HERE

LTLE FISH

Thursdays, mostly, September - December

LTLE FISH is the concept that operates in the RAW LAB space when RAW LAB isnt operating. We’ll be offering it most Thursdays, through the end of the year. Check on RESY to see if a reservation can be made and we’ll post on IG too, as to dates we will present LTLE FISH.

LTLE FISH offers RAW LAB’s Greatest Hits (and some specials) in an a la carte service style. So it IS NOT “Omakase” service style, like RAW LAB but it is the same great room and seats around the bar and ice moat built for 12. At LTLE FISH, you order from a menu and come and go as you start and finish. Come for a quick glass of wine and some caviar before dinner elsewhere. Or, try everything on the menu and enjoy wine & sake by the bottle and you linger with friends. You can also bring your kids.

BOOK SEATS @ LTLE FISH

We have done this in fits and starts since last summer with great success. LEARN MORE ABOUT LTLE FISH and book reservations here

A 4.9 Star Rating on RESY does not lie. Guests typically spend 1.5 - 2 hours with us and about $100 per person, so here you’ve got something you can enjoy without the same cost or time commitments at RAW LAB.

Understand the similarities and differences between LTLE FISH & RAW LAB

THE PLAYLISTS

Dig the jams at RAW LAB & LTLE FISH? Here, have them all:

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR ALL OF OUR MUSIC

Everyone asks me for it so I put them all on a web site for all to have. Share the link far and wide and enjoy!

OYSTORE

Soon you will be able to buy the things SO MANY of the things you have asked for!

E-commerce is one of the many business channels we need to develop. Slowly, we are getting there. Look for more details soon on Instagram @Raw.Lab.CHS & @Ltle.Fish.Chs. In the meantime, you can take the following products home after a night with us or pop in to grab them, Thurs - Sat 2-4pm.

CAVIAR

We are now offering 2oz of SNAKE RIVER CAVIAR for pick up, take away or delivery in the CHS area. Soon we hope to offer other kinds of caviar as well.

2oz of premium American White Sturgeon Caviar from the Snake River in Idaho is a glorious way spend an evening on the boat, beach or porch with loved ones. Retail, this product would run you from $250 - $280,in a restaurant it might be a bit more.

Our price is will be $175 and for now (pick up or take home at RAW LAB) And sure, for $20 more we deliver it to you at your home, office or hotel, anywhere on Charleston’s peninsula.

WHY THIS CAVIAR? Because: 1.) Value / Quality 2.) American & 100% Traceable 3.) Absolutely no additives or preservatives / toxins like Borax 4.) We buy direct from producer, not a re-packing facility. 5.) The 4 P’s - People + Place + Process = PRODUCT

LEARN ABOUT SNAKE RIVER CAVIAR HERE!

SEA SALT COMPLEX

As you may know, in the past year we have become obsessed with SEA SALTS. We’ve event traveled as far as Dominican Republic to source one - the rarest on Earth, which we have for sale to RAW LAB GUESTS ONLY. Learn all about THE RAREST SEA SALT IN THE WORLD here.

SEA SALT is the greatest gift I can give ANYONE! All SEA SALT contains ALL 84 ESSENTIAL MINERALS! Ancient Sea Salts (do not contain ANY heavy metals or microplastics).

Sea Salts are a cornerstone to vitality in a host of ways. Sea Salts are cheap, easy and effective way to get ALL of your essential minerals and electrolytes, naturally and in a way your body was designed to use them. It's the ultimate health hack as all celluar functions rely on minerals. LEARN ABOUT AND BUY SEA SALTS HERE

OUR MIGNONETTES

Our 3 mignonettes (French, Japanese & American) have changed lives and hundreds of you have said “You should sell those!”. And so, now we are, plus an old favorite I have recently brought back and perfected: Ginionette (Gin, Orange Blossom Vinegar, Celery, Coriander, White Peppercorn & Pink Peppercorn). Get some in time for the best time of the year for oysters and oyster roasts….FALL & WINTER! $30 per bottle.

MUSHROOM SOY SAUCE

AKA, The Dank. If you’ve been to RAW LAB or LTLE FISH you know. Shitake, Oyster and Mitake Mushrooms slow boiled for hours in low sodium soy sauce. What you get is a liquid that has MORE than Umami, it has an “Ohhhhhh Mommy” effect. So dank light does not pass through it. So strong, all you need is a drop and a pint will probably last you a year or more. $30 per bottle

MERCH

Hats, tees and more…coming soon. Load up for Christmas. More info soon on Instagram @Raw.Lab.Chs & @Ltle.Fish.Chs

SEATS @ RAW LAB ARE NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET

In truth, they never were.

But aligning our availability with your schedule can be a tad challenging, we know. Finding a babysitter must be a nightmare in this town. Anyway, we’ve just opened every Friday & Saturday night through December on RESY and since these will be the last services…GRAB SOME SEATS!

So, you can book there OR, you can call us and we’ll help you find a date that works. 843 284 3597. So easy.

1% FOR THE MARSH

We’ve been huge fans of Yvon Chouinard, his company, Patagonia, and 1% For The Planet for years. Our riff on it will be local and we aim to raise about $5,000 by the end of the year for local oyster / marsh conservation.

1% of our sales from RAW LAB from now through Dec 31 will be donated to Toadfish Conservation Coalition for local (SC) oyster reef restoration projects. That’s about $2.50 per seat.

Why? See graphic below! If you want to recreate in our river, bays, estuaries and oceans…and enjoy safe, healthy, delicious seafood (and for your kids to, as well) we ALL need to do MORE to protect, preserve and restore these delicate, threatened and (too often) degraded ecosystems.

LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT TOADFISH CONSERVATION COALITION HAS DONE HERE

EVENTS THIS FALL

EMPIRE OYSTER’s “MARSH TO MOUTH”

With all the fuss about “SHRIMPgate” in Charleston of late, we have decided it’s REALLY time to get granular about our understanding of and support for Local Seafood Producers.

On select Wednesday Evenings this fall we’ll be presenting a recurring elite raw bar experience featuring local clams, oysters, shrimp, caviar and fin fish on a fairly regular basis. We’ll offer up raw and cooked ceviche, crudo and more paired with local beer, nice wines and other interesting beverages.

We’ll launch it in October. We’ll probably be roasting some oysters too. A portion of the proceeds will benefit TOADFISH CONSERVATION COALITION

SHELLEBRATION

Join us and Toadfish @ for their 5th Annual “SHELLraiser”

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8th @ BOWENS ISLAND

This annual even has raided hundreds of thousands of dollars for local oyster reef / marsh restoration and clean up projects. NOBODY has done more for our local ecosystems than Toadfish & their founder, Casey Davidson. This year we’ll support them once more with or RAW BOAT in the VIP area.

PURCHASE TICKETS & BUY TOADFISH PRODUCTS AND SUPPORT COASTAL CONSERVATION EFFORTS

RAW BOAT

Our new RAW BOAT is complete and she’s magnificent.

She’s a MOBILE RAW BAR SERVICE STATION. I had one that fell apart after years of use and exposure to the elements. She’s part of our catering kit. We’ll be showcasing her at the MARSH TO MOUTH SERIES & SHELLEBRATION events this fall. She is available for private parties and events, of course. LEARN MORE HERE

PRIVATE EVENTS & CATERING

Book Empire Oyster for a private event

We do catering under the EMPIRE OYSTER brand. And, over the past 15 years we’ve done some extraordinary events on yachts, at homes and at private clubs for individuals and corporations in The Hamptons, NYC, Newport, RI, The Palm Beaches, Miami, Sarasota, New Jersey and Massachusetts…to name a few.

Bespoke menus featuring our signature Marine Cuisine & DelicaSEAS are our specialty but if you our yours are interested in an elite Raw Bar, an Oyster Roast, Low Country Boil or a NE Clam/Lobster Bake we will bring the A Game for ya.

Please do reach out ASAP and get something booked while you can. We are keen to do more this fall in places like Isle of Palms, Kiawah and Sullivan’s Island.

SHUCK TRUCK FOR SALE

It’s time to let her go to a good home and I need to divest a big, bulky thing I’ve had for 15 years. TARGET: Chapel Hill, NC. RATIONALE: UNC Football has a new Head Coach in Bill Belichick. This will be a big year for the squad and we know that SOMEONE UP THERE needs to be the B.M.O.C. and WIN THE TAILGATE. This is the way to do it, in “Tar Heel Blue”.

FULL SPECS AND DETAILS HERE

MASTER CLASSES

OYSTERS + CAVIAR + WINE + MUSIC @ RAW LAB

SUNDAYS STARTING IN SEPTEMBER @ RAW LAB: 4-6pm

We just did our first one of these in Charleston. 10 guests had a blast as part of a team-building weekend. They all learned more than they ever knew there was to know about how to get the most out of premium quality oysters & caviar. We’ll be perfecting this as a stand alone 1-2 hour experience in our current space in Charleston and then we plan to offer it as a program to hotels & resorts, world-wide.

EPICUREANISM

Same basic concept as above (but expanded) and delivered at hotels, resorts, communities, clubs or homes, ANYWHERE. This is a series of 4 modules (supported with wine pairings) delivered separately or together over about 4 hours. Our first even is likely to be in Atlanta in the fall.

1. OYSTER FLIGHT

2. CAVIAR TRIP

3. MARINE CUISINE

4. SEA SALT SOCIAL

   * All supported with wine pairings

LEARN MORE HERE

IN SEARCH OF…

MENTORS, ADVISORS, INVESTORS & VISIONARIES: I KNOW I cannot build this empire alone. Im sure the same is true of Nobu, Ramsay, Oliver or Andres. I am looking to build a board of directors. The opportunity here is 1000x more than “restaurants & hospitality” and I need a diversified global team to realize the $1B in valuation I KNOW we can achieve in the next 10-20 years. I have ZERO founder’s syndrome and I will NOT be the CEO of the future corp. Well, maybe, Chief Evangelizing Officer.

SPACES: For future operations, world-wide, we could just tweak or footprint but vastly improve all parts of the operations. Our needs are unique (in a good and bad way). We DONT need 2-3000 sf like a big restaurant does. But they’ve never built restaurant spaces like that. We currently operate with a 250sf dining room. Ideally, a 300 sf dining room would give us the opportunity to have a chef and a sous chef behind the bar for service but keep it intimate. If we had a small prep area (that wasnt the chefs area) we could do lunch service. Add our own a dish room, mop sink walk in and restroom and we’d only need another 300 - 400 sf. That’s 800 sf, max, total. If we had all of our amenities adjacent to our dining room and a 800sf footprint it would be glorious. Finally, what if we could do what Starbucks did with Grocery and Book Stores…occupy a small portion or a distressed space and become an amenity to the host?

PARTNERSHIPS: Hoteliers, Resort Operators, Restaurant Groups…etc. These will be the folks that might help us scale, globally. Hotels & Resorts will benefit from hosting our Master Class Programs as interesting activities for their guests as well. Restaurant groups or hotels with distressed space can possibly benefit from bringing our concept into their underutilized spaces. We are working on a few of these deals already.

LICENSEES: Looking for talented Bartenders (that we can teach how to shuck oysters) and Convivial Chefs comfortable with being Front of House and, in some ways, being an entertainer, conversationalist, educator & performer. They’ll own their own business and our new company will provide a host of services, processes, recipes and Intellectual Property they’ll pay a monthly fee for. Perhaps we can even find someone to take over the Charleston space, and keep it open. That would be ideal.

LOCALS: Because you made us and we LOVE YOU. Please, keep coming and keep bringing friends and family who are visiting you. And please try LTLE FISH when you don’t have all night to go deep with the Dinner & Show that RAW LAB is.

VISITORS TO CHS: Travelers have always had a hard time fining seats because locals have kept us so full. But we love it when they join us because they tend tell EVERYONE back home…and then many of those people book seats, then flights and hotels, come and tell me “We came to CHS for YOU”. This (and locals returning with friends or family) is THE HIGHEST HONOR.

KEV’S STORY

A Deep Dive on Kevin Joseph

As part of the process of working on (and failing, so far) to open a RAW LAB in Laguna Beach, we put this together: Kev’s Story. If you want to know the whole story of where RAW LAB came from, it’s there. RAW LAB is, as I say, my “Unauthorized Autobiography”. Truth is, this is how I eat, the music I dig, the vibe I have and it’s all designed to attract the kinds of people I love to spend time with…interesting, interested, adventurous, curious, extroverted Epicureans & Gourmands seeking a WOW experience with others. My work is like a play I wrote for myself to produce, direct and star in. Why? Because I Live On Purpose. My INSPIRATION & MISSION with EMPIRE OYSTER, RAW LAB & LTLE FISH is this:

“Jacques Cousteau famously said: ’We protect what we love’. This sentiment informs my mission and inspires my efforts. I am here to help people to discover all the reasons to love the People, Places and Processes that create the Products we eat. I.m simply here to guide people into a greater understanding and appreciation for these things and help them to find their personal preferences…which will inform how they buy seafood and order it in restaurants, forever. This is my purpose on this planet.

I want you to feel good about supporting the People, Places and Processes that responsibly and sustainably create these Products…this bounty. And I am here to help you understand how to do that, get past the fraud and the myths that are rampant in seafood. I’m here to help people to discover the rewards of understanding their best choices in seafood and how to get the most out of it. I am their guide and coach in this way.

Those who've dined with me over the years have come to their own conclusions through the process of ‘Guided Discovery’ I use. Where I succeed in helping people it is not with a lecture from a soapbox but from a journey and a series of destinations. My guests realize that if they too make choices to respect, protect, preserve & restore the history, culture, cuisine, economy and ecology connected to these foods, they too will be rewarded. The reward: Health, vitality, more of that amazing food and more appreciation and enjoyment of it.”

PARTING WORDS

Of course, there has always been a chance that RAW LAB would not survive…that we will close sooner rather than later…for reasons beyond our control or some other factor. We not only survived, but thrived and we are forever grateful.

I am confident that the wings will stay on this balloon until it lands happily on the other side of 2025. And that there is a slim chance it will all stay open under the stewardship of a new licensee / owner. BUT, if RAW LAB & LTLE FISH came to an end in Charleston today, next month or this fall, I’d celebrate it all like a GRADUATION, not a FUNERAL because, long ago, I achieved much more than I ever expected to in Charleston. And I’ve learned, laughed, enjoyed and grown so much in the process. So THANK YOU, again!