As a restaurant owner and businessman of 25 years in Maine, who is well known and active in the industry, I want to go on the record as stating that co-owner Rick Savage at the Sunday River Brew Pub in Bethel is wrong and what he did is against what we in this industry should be working toward.

As providers of food and beverage to our guests, we owe it to our staff and guests to perform our jobs with due consideration for the public health. While I agree that some of the restrictions on businesses in Maine that are unaffected by the coronavirus may be excessive, I strongly oppose the type of “protest” that Mr. Savage has conducted.

We restaurateurs, as purveyors of food and spirits, should always keep the health and wholesomeness of our products and service at the foremost of our efforts. Mr. Savage has, unfortunately, put politics and public opinion on the menu at his establishment. In doing so, he has added risk to his community and his guests and cast us all in a bad light.

Hopefully, the record will show that most of the businesses serving food and spirits in the state of Maine are doing the best we can to protect the health of our staff and guests. I hope that the public knows most of Maine’s independent restaurants are working hard to provide our essential services with the least possible risk to our guests, our staff and the public.

Michael Quigg

Beale Street Barbeque

Bath

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