Maine Seafood

growing

2009-10-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-09-20T06:15:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Thursday snow

2009-01-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

It's snowing like a banshee outside my window right now. I called my children's school in Kennebunk to see if they were going to be release early. She said no, it's bright and sunny there. So I go online and sure enough, there's a thin band of snowstorms trailing back all the way to Vermont that is moving directly through York and no where else. What's up with that?

Maine shrimp season is underway. Prices are low. We're selling whole Maine fresh shrimp for .99 lb. You can't beat that. Last year we were .75 cents higher! Some more weather coming this weekend so look for lobster prices to remain above the lows of two weeks ago.

Holidays

2008-12-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

That's my leader of the pack image I used in a marketing campaign a few years ago. I always like it. Christmas was a huge success. Everyone wanted lobster meat this year. EVERYONE! I spent six hours picking lobster meat and couldn't keep up! I'm very happy to be in the food sector of retail. People are starting to become serious home cooks. We've seen a trend in special orders for exotic fish from people who were typically haddock buyers. Shellfish has become popular again after waning a bit during the fall. Our Maine littlenecks have become very popular as well as the Bang's Island mussels. I think the price point helps considerably.
My kids had a great holiday. Ashley was very happy to see her Hannah Montana guitar under the tree and Emily was into the bucket of legos so fast her eyes were spinning. Six year olds on Christmas morning, there is really nothing better. My mother made her Lobster newburg, the recipe for which you can find on yorklobster.com. It's my all time favorite. Christmas morning with Lobster Newburg on Ray's Bagels...if you haven't tried it, you don't know what you're missing.
New Year's eve is shaping up, I've had to stop typing three times already to field phone orders. One of them is for 4cnt 1.5 lobsters that must be split live when the customer arrives for bake stuffing. Another one is for 8 pounds of chopped clams for New Years Eve clam chowder.
I think the New Year will be better than expected. I believe consumer confidence will rebound sooner than expected when Obama takes office....That's all I'll say regarding the political change coming in our country....
Anyway, happy New Years Eve to everyone!

First Snow

2008-12-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

We woke up to our first snow yesterday. I was eating breakfast with my kids when I got a text message from one of my employees who was "texting in sick". I dropped my french toast and kissed my kids goodbye and flew out the door. Although there was only a wisp of snow, there were cars off the road left and right. I counted 8 cars off the road. It was crazy. Folks in two wheel drive, compact cars screaming by me and my jeep. I felt like the little old man creeping along in the travel lane. I've taken to listening to the sports channel in the car now. I can't stand listening to the preachers of doom and gloom on the regular talk channels. They're incessant! There's one guy who does a 20 second break down of the "top" stories. It's always...this guy hit a telephone poll, that guy got arrested, the sky is falling over there...Sooooooo depressing. On a brighter note, the Pats won...Go Pats!

2008 Maine Oyster Festival

2008-09-12T06:25:00.001-07:00

The 2008 Maine Oyster Fest preparations are in full swing. This year it's on October 12, at the Union Bluff's new Meeting House. This place is an undiscovered gem. You really have to see it. Right on York Beach with panoramic views of the ocean and all it's playful beach inhabitants. You'll see, in a few years , this will be the place to go. There is nothing like it in Maine. It's the Maine version of Miami Beach- walk from the surf a few feet and into an upscale hotel with four star dining! The festival is truly fortunate to have such a great relationship with these folks. They are all young and very progressive. We're starting something really cool that is new to the younger generation. Lot's of great live music, cool events like the Oyster Luge and people letting loose and having a great time. The website has been a process Maine Oyster Fest. I've been working on this for months. It's funny, sometimes I'll get an email saying " hey you spelled oyster wrong on the fifth page." I'm constantly updating and making changes. It's got lots of good pictures on it and will give you a fairly good idea of what the Festival is all about.