Deb McCluskey: From Lil’s Cafe to 7 Restaurants | Ep. 71 Beyond The Plate Podcast

Deb McCluskey: From Lil’s Cafe to 7 Restaurants | Ep. 71 Beyond The Plate Podcast

Published: September 1, 2026

Duration: 1:04:57

Deb McCluskey bought one small cafe in Kittery, Maine in 2021. Five years later, she and her son Michael McCluskey run seven restaurants across Maine and New Hampshire -- and she signed the lease on the seventh one without telling him.


Carol Erickson sat down with Deb inside Salty Spirits, the 500-square-foot oyster and cocktail bar in Kittery Foreside with just 14 seats at the bar, to walk through all seven concepts one by one: Lil's Cafe and its famous crullers in Kittery, the Islander Cafe on the water in New Castle, New Hampshire, Stella's...