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Growing up in the North Shore area — and especially Marblehead — means being surrounded by local businesses. Going downtown for lunch on a half day or a Saturday morning coffee run after Friday night lights are staple memories for many Marblehead High graduates, and those memories have inspired Marblehead natives to open businesses of their own.
This summer, two recent Marblehead High graduates have gained traction with their own restaurants: Lily Tapper, owner of Three Hundred Fifty, at 222 Humphrey St. in Swampscott, and Max Scivetti, owner of Max's Backyard, 437 Rantoul St. in Beverly. Both spoke with the Independent about their journey starting their businesses.
Tapper was a 2018 graduate from Marblehead High. She said baking was always her passion which led her to attend Johnson and Wales to double major in baking and pastry arts and food and beverage entrepreneurship, later getting her business master's with a marketing concentration.
"There wasn't any trigger in my life that was like 'Okay, this inspired me to bake,'" Tapper said. "So from a young age I knew I wanted to open a bakery."
Matching her obsession with baking and growing up in a household where both her parents are business owners, opening Three Hundred Fifty seemed like a set-in-stone plan for Tapper. On the topic of her business-owning parents, she stated,
"It was very helpful to kind of see what life was like as an entrepreneur. We talked about work at dinner and I kind of learned what it meant to own a business and what it entailed."
Her parents were a major inspiration in opening Three Hundred Fifty, she said.
"Even though you are working 24/7, you are building something you created, so it was super inspiring seeing how they built their businesses and I wanted to do the same."
Before opening, Tapper would do pop-up pastry sales out of her parents' house, which helped spread her product via word-of-mouth through Marblehead. Three Hundred Fifty burst into the pastry scene, gaining quick traction on social media.
Tapper said the virality online of the bakery was not in her original business plan, however being of the younger generation, she knew how to utilize it and grow the business off the social fame.
"With social media, everyone's posting what they are doing and sharing it and making reviews, so I feel like I definitely have the upper hand in that way," Tapper said. "I can relate to that and I'm able to put out the content people my age are reposting or interacting with."
Opening Three Hundred Fifty was not just a cakewalk, however. It took Tapper nine months to open, and even after opening, there were challenges with demand, and Tapper being overlooked in her industry because of her age and gender.
Even with all those struggles, when the Independent visited Tapper at her Swampscott location, the bakery was not anything less than packed with pleased customers.
The other business owner interviewed was Max Scivetti. Scivetti graduated from Marblehead in 2020. Scivetti said his first job was working at Mino's, the classic Marblehead roast beef spot.
He really got his start with making sandwiches in college. He attended Coastal Carolina University, and was originally upset that no one down there knew about North Shore roast beef sandwiches.
"There was no roast beef down there, so I'd go to the butcher, get the thin cut and make it in my apartment," Scivetti said. "I'd have my mom send me down the James River sauce and all my college friends would try it and love it."
After college, similarly to Tapper, Scivetti would sell sandwiches out of his parents' house too, averaging around 20 to 30 kids coming by to try the product.
Roast beef finds new home in Beverly
Last month, he opened Max's Backyard in Beverly, which has been insanely active since it has opened. Social media algorithms also supported the business.
"The account is crazy," Scivetti said. "It has like two hundred thousand profile views, which is such a crazy numbers to think of."
Also, catering to a young audience has helped the store thrive. When asked about what he sees the future of the restaurant, Scivetti said he plans to get on Endicott University's meal plan, because he has found the college students love the place.
When asked about the future of Max's Backyard, he seemed to have a solid three-year plan for the growth of the business.
"Once this place can support itself more, I would want the name to be recognizable. I want to tap into the college scene more, and for expansion, I want to target college towns, like I think having a store in Amherst would be awesome."
It is still only a month in, but Max's Backyard has already become a big new name in the North Shore beef scene, and with Scivetti at the helm, more recognition should be expected.
Both Tapper and Scivetti, even with their businesses selling different products, have had similar journeys through opening their businesses. Both credited being from Marblehead, a tight-knit town, for helping their product spread and also finding inspiration for their companies, whether that be from their dinner table or their first job.
They have proven that the younger generations should not be overlooked in any industry, including the food industry, and now serve as great role models for potential future entrepreneurs from Marblehead.
Marc Grazado contributes general assignment reporting for the Independent. He studies mass communication at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
