growing

Matthew Brown, formerly of Brown Trading company in Portland Maine, joins the team at York Lobster & Seafood. Matt sold seafood at Browne for seven years. He brings lots of knowledge and professionalism to York Lobster. We're very pleased to have him aboard.

Just got back from vacation on Vinalhaven Island off the coast of Maine. With the exception of June and all it's ugly rain, the summer went well. Still bummed that the oyster festival is cancelled but if you really need your fix, the Pemaquid Oyster Festival in Damirscotta is still on!! September 27 I think.

2009 Oyster Festival Cancelled

The decision has been made to cancel this year's Oyster Fest. While we all had a great time during the first 2 years, this year has seen hard times for Maine Oyster Growers. With all the rain we had this spring, the harvest in Maine was shut down for almost two months. The economic impact this had on the local growers was significant. We felt it would be an added stress on these growers to donate quantities of oysters to the event this year.

Red Sox lost

Saw the red sox play friday night at Fenway. They lost to the Braves 8-1. All is not lost though. We stayed at the marriot long wharf in Boston. On the way home we got on the elevator and a voice comes to ask us to hold the door. Guess who get's on the elevetor? Wade Boggs. So, that pretty much turned a bad baseball outing into an unforgettable one. Goes to show you, you never can tell.....

Crazy Prices

This summer is looking to be a good one. I'm 3.99 a lb for fresh haddock today and 6.99 for jumbo lobsters. Lobster are going to be cheap this summer ( you can quote me on that) The real catch hasn't hit yet and we're already seeing a softening of price. If you haven't had a 3 pound lobster on your plate, now's the time to get it done!
I'm so excited about the fresh haddock price. It's been so expensive this winter. Haddock is my all time favorite fish to eat, along with just about everyone else in New England! We've had a great winter and through the recession we've managed to stay ahead of the curve and have the best year since we've been in business. If you had asked me six months ago if I'd be saying that, I might have stared back at you with a deer in the headlights look.
Ashley, my daughter(she's 6 yrs old), announced the other day that salmon is officially her favorite food. Whoo hoo ! No more fish stix! Now if I can just get Emily to actually try salmon, I'll be in business.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day coming this weekend. Things have been crazy busy. If you had asked me three months ago if summer was coming I would have said no. It's been a great year and I couldn't be happier. It seems the company is healthier for the economic scare. I'm hoping we've seen the last of folks going out of business and losing their jobs.
We kept all of our full time employees which is great. Our retail manager , Matt had a healthy baby girl a few weeks ago. Her name is Marley. Congratulations Matt. We're fortunate to have Marley's uncle, Josh, working here as well. Josh has been with the company from the beginning.
I'm sure a lot of you will remember Andrew's face in the retail. Andrew has been here for six years.
Mark Grobman is going on his third year as king of the wholesale. Maryesther in accounting has also been here from the beginning- 7 years. Joe in wholesale is on his fourth year. Our faithful fish cutter, Kia, is still making artful filets after four years.
There's lots of new faces for the summer and we have a great seasonal crew put together. I'm looking forward to the summer and fall. The Maine Oyster Fest is already causing a buzz. We're thinking about starting a lobster festival and possibly a fishermansfung.org 5k road race. My sister in law, who is an avid runner, has offered to help organize the event. I'll keep you posted on the progress of that. I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

Haddock- the go to fish now

Frozen at Sea haddock is making a big splash right now. We're selling wholesale at $3.50 right now and $3.99 in our retail. It's having more of an effect now then it did a few months back when fresh haddock was so low. I liken it to the lobster crash back last year when we were selling lobsters for $3.99. Folks couldn't get enough.
What does this mean? Consumers are looking for value. Once a product gets into the "perceived value" for that particular product it starts to sell. Maine shrimp, monk fish,lobster, haddock, cod...they've all experienced this over the past few months. Consumers are actively searching for deals more than ever.When we put a low price out on our sign now, we see a response almost immediately. A year ago it would take up to a week for people to notice.