SCARBOROUGH — Locals and tourists associate the warmer weather in this area with Maine lobster rolls, fried clams, baked haddock and more, but some may be confused about where they can find these seafood treats during a global pandemic.
Seafood aficionados and casual consumers are in luck, as Scarborough still has plenty of options this summer, from old favorites, like Bite Into Maine, on Route 1 in Scarborough, to new businesses, like Family Seafood, which opened up in April and is family-run, Jane Im, one of the owner’s said.
Led by three Scarborough High School graduates, familyseafoodmaine.com started in 1993 as a seafood processing company, now shifting into the retail and wholesale business, she said. The company is best-known for its lobster but also offers other products like crab legs and salmon.
Family Seafood Inc. is a family-run seafood retail and wholesale business that has been in the Scarborough area for the past 20 years. The owners are all Scarborough High School graduates. Courtesy photo of Jane Im
Located on Snow Canning Road in Scarborough, Family Seafood does same-day delivery, up to 30 miles away, Im said. The company will also ship across the country.
“We know some people don’t want to go to the store, so we offer online ordering, and they can get (products) safely,” she said.
Lobster tastes great whether in a salad or a stew, Im said. “It’s good for either lunch or dinner.”
She said that Family Seafood processes lobster with care, “the way it should be.” The family’s partner company will handpick lobster meat and are delicate with all of their products.
The owners all knew that they’d be getting into the business from a young age, Im said.
“I think that it’s a newer generation stepping up in our family’s business,” she said. “We’re pretty young and we grew up with business in our life.”
The website was launched in April, and Im said that the family has been seeing success and building relationships with customers and others in the seafood industry.
Online ordering is benefiting older restaurants, too, Sarah Sutton, owner of Bite Into Maine, said.
Bite Into Maine, with a brick-and-mortar takeout location on 185 Route 1 in Scarborough, a Portland location, and a food truck at Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth, had shut down for about three weeks, reopening in May, and is now preparing for a bit of summer bustle, Sutton said.
Bite Into Maine has a takeout location on 185 Route 1 in Scarborough that is now open for online and phone ordering. Catherine Bart/Leader
The Cape Elizabeth food truck’s location is perfect for a summer picnic, she said. Most customers of Bite Into Maine visit the truck for a lobster roll.
Bite Into Maine’s Fort Williams food truck is a nice location for people to grab a lobster roll and have a picnic lunch in an open environment, Sarah Sutton, owner, said. Catherine Bart/Leader
“We have social distance lines and everything is disposable,” she said. “I think it’s a great place. I would say food trucks are so great because you don’t have to go to a closed space to order food. You can sit and have a picnic and enjoy food. It’s an ideal situation in a pandemic.”
The Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions caused the restaurant, as well as most others in town and beyond, to adapt in order to keep up with restrictions, she said.
“For us it was online ordering,” Sutton said. “We’d been talking about it for four years. After we set it up, I was like ‘Wow, this is easier.'”
Customers can visit biteintomaine.com for online ordering and and to find location hours.
Beyond what’s typically expected of sanitizing food-preparation areas, Bite Into Maine also has one manager, called the “sanitation inspector” on each shift, whose main job is to make sure everything is disinfected, Sutton said.
Because Bite Into Maine doesn’t have an alcohol license, the company has been able to focus on the food menu, she said.
“We’re fortunate,” Sutton said. “We’d be a lot harder hit if we were a traditional restaurant with a full bar.”
She also reflected on other Scarborough restaurants.
“If we’re able to have a tourist season I think it will be really helpful, as long as they can do it safely.”
Local restaurants and fitness centers are taking advantage of a temporary ordinance that allows businesses to reconfigure their outdoor spaces to accommodate customers in a more spread-out environment, Tom Hall, Scarborough town manager said.
Mainely Tubs, Portland Pie Co., Bayley’s Lobster Pound, The Clambake, Cowbell Scarborough, Dunstan Tap & Table, El Rayo Taqueria, Foley’s Fitness, The Garage BBQ, O’Reilly’s Cure, Stern Seafood Restaurant, The Maine Bagel, and Nonesuch Brewing are open for business, Hall said.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
