Posted on 01/05/2021 7:17:08 PM PST by nickcarraway
2020 was a nightmare year for just about everyone, but the restaurant industry in particular took some pretty big hits during mandated lock-down orders and other impeding restrictions put into place across several states.
In order to keep their doors open, restaurant owners have had to think on their feet, as well as out of the box to keep serving customers. That’s exactly what this Michigan restaurant owner has done, by starting an “On-ice meal delivery service,” which will deliver hot meals to ice fishermen directly to their shanties. Not a bad gig!
Jennifer Bailey, owner of the Michigan-based restaurant Bailey’s Place, announced the restaurant’s latest service in a Facebook post.
She wrote, “Hey [fishermen!!!!] We are now offering ice delivery starting tomorrow so if you’re cold and hungry out there on that ice need a hot cup of coffee or a nice warm meal call 989 202-4722”
The delivery service is offered to any anglers fishing on Houghton Lake. The menu is loaded with both breakfast and lunch options, and there’s even some fish options available in case the bite is slow that day and you just need to satisfy a fish n’ chips craving. I have to imagine snacking on fried fish while standing on a frozen lake pairs very well together!
According to a local news station, Bailey said staff members from the restaurant are prepared to deliver food orders directly to customer’s ice shanties.
“Basically, all we need to know is the color of your shanty, if it has a name, if it has a number, and your nearest cross street. Then we just go out on the ice on the little four-wheeler and deliver your hot food,” said Bailey.
And several people in the area already seem to be responding well to the restaurant’s latest tactic. 38 people have chimed in on the comments section under the post to show their support for Bailey’s Place, and many appear eager to use the new service. One customer wrote, “Whoa! Even to the shanty! This is awesome!!” Another customer wrote, “Wonderful and appreciated idea! Will have to give it a try!” Another prospecting angler left a comment saying, “Can’t wait to use this, THIS WEEKEND!!!”
Without getting into the weeds about these restrictions forcing restaurants to remain closed, you have to appreciate the creativity and sheer determination of these restaurant owners who are pulling out all the stops in order to keep their businesses afloat. Obviously, it would just be better if they didn’t have to do all of this, but it’s good to see the idea receiving a warm welcome from the community.
Now good luck to all you anglers out there. Tight lines!
“Hey [fishermen!!!!] We are now offering ice delivery starting tomorrow”
Yeah, just what ice fishermen need. Ice!
I’m a southerner to the core, so ice fishing is a completely alien concept to me. It looks like an excuse to drink beer while waiting on a fish to bite ... So, fishing, just with ice. Not really seeing anything special about it, but it sounds pretty awesome.
True story.
First winter in Erie, PA.
A new friend invited me to go ice fishing on the lake.
Basically a towed living room cabin on skis.
With a hole in the middle to fish.
Could have been a reality show of “Pimp my ice fishing house.”
Exactly!
I had a snow delivery service for Eskimos. Didn’t last long.
On lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota they have “towns” of ice fishing shacks to cabins. Plowed roads on the ice. IIRC, one of them has a Post Office!
Tip-ups and sitting on upturned buckets holding these tiny ice-fishing rods, waiting for perch or walleyes to bite. One year I caught a mud-puppy and kept it alive for the next eight months in a fish-tank. I also remember the time when I was 14 and we stopped off at a bar-and-grill to get something to eat and I had my first beer, a Carling Black Label.
Ah, to be young again ...
Effing brilliant.
L
Tell us “your nearest cross street.”
Wow, that’s a big ice fishing population.
Sounds like a whole ‘nother world up there!
Two people went through the ice on Houghton Lake yesterday, thankfully rescued.
You're standing there, over a hole cut in the ice, waiting for a sturgeon to swim by so you can throw a harpoon at them.
Be careful they don't pull you in.....
Good old American ingenuity. Great idea!
People up here go ice fishing; I had to cover their derby (as a journalist). Invariable people were having so much fun.
In one front-page picture I took, everyone posed while holding up their beer cans.
I said, “Guys? There’ll be more of a chance to get in the paper if you hide the beer.” LOL!
I didn’t think my boss would go for it.
See, and I’m just a reporter for a small town weekly. Imagine what sorts of made-up things reporters have to do in an important daily American newspaper.
From what I’ve seen, the only consumable ice fishermen need comes in a case of 24.
I think it was one of the Bourdain episodes, he goes ice fishing with a couple gourmet chefs, perhaps in Quebec? Montreal or Quebec City?
Anyway, they were doing it right, and much fine eating and drinking was done.
Sounds like a good time to me. IOW ... fishing.
“Here, Fishy-Fishy!” PING!
I used to go ice fishing with my Sister In Law. No matter WHERE we set up, that woman pulled HUGE Muskies and Northern Pike through the ice - not an easy thing to do!
And then she’d kiss them and release them back down the hole, LOL!
(But we always kept and ate all the pan fish we caught on any given day!)
Good times. She’d have loved this idea. RIP, Girlfriend!
This all makes me want to fish, but it’s too cold here, and I have a really busy next few days anyway. Ugh.
There was a Frasier episode where they went ice fishing and dropped the car keys in the hole. 😆
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