[mike ray]

My name is Michael Ray, and I am 1 of the owners of the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound. The Pound is owned by myself, my dad Richard Ray and my brother who is also named Richard. Some of you probably know us because we are there 7 days a week, working hard to make The Pound a place we can be proud of. We have been reading the posts all along, and actually appreciate your complaints. We know what our problems are because we are very hands on owners, but it is always helpfull to get negative and positive customer feedback. I would like to thank everyone who has patronized our establishment, and also thank those who have defended us here on the winni forum. As some of you have stated before there are some posts on here that are completely "bs" and that is what has brought me here today. Up untill now we have chosen to remain silent. We feel that actons speak louder than words. That is why we have dedicated ourselves to fixing our problems, and letting the final product do our talking. However, we cannot stand idolly by when someone blames our establishment for making children sick. I can assure all of you, that post is one you can file under "bs". Here is exactly what happened that night.
The family came in late as they said (late for young children anyway) , and ate exactly what they said. The children had cheeseburgers, french fries and two large glasses of chocolate milk each. The parents told our waitress that the children had been running around, playing all day in the hot sun and were starving. The waitress told myself and my brother that the children "chowed down" the food and drinks. Maybe feeding young children cheeseburgers and chocolate milk late at night after spending a day in the hot sun "running around" was not a smart idea. I can't speak for anyone else, but just thinking about the combo of choc milk, fries and burgers makes my belly do backflips. Also I think it is quite possible that when 1 child got sick, the other did as a result of seeing the sick sibling. We have to remember, children tend to have very sensitve stomachs and even adults get sick as a result of seeing others vomit.
What happened after the incident is really what I take issue with. The father approached myself and my brother in the bar area of the pound and told us his children had just gotten sick. My brother asked what they had eaten for dinner. The father replied cheeseburgers. my brother asked if the burgers were undercooked, to which the father replied "no". My brother explained that it couldn't have been the meat, we had been serving burgers all day and hadn't had 1 complaint and also we were in and out of the kitchen all day and knew the meat was properly stored. The father said angrily "you are going to tell me there is nothing wrong with your food? why are my children in your parking lot puking?" My brothers reply was "sir, i don't think it was the food, but if you can tell me how you would like me to help you, I would gladly do so." The father started heading for the exit, then turned around and infront of a resturant full of men, women and children yelled "you can go fu@# yourself!" Both my brother and myself sat there stunned. I can understand that the father was upset but that was no way to handle the situation. We were more than willing to assist the family in any way possible but after having profanities screamed at us, felt it was best to stay away.
After all this happened, we asked a hostess to keep and eye on the family and to assist them with anything they might need. I saw her going in and out to the parking lot checking on the family, however she did not engage them, thinking they had everything under control. Both myself and my brother pulled their check from the computer system, went back into the kitchen and checked every item the family had, including the milk. We suspected that the milk was the problem, but we found that everything was perfect, and that the milk was fresh and just opened that day. We spoke to our chef about the incident and inspected the meat with her and found that the meat was fresh and properly refrigerated. I can only speculate as to why the children got sick, but there is 1 thing I can assure all of you, it was not because of any spoiled drinks or food being served at the pound.
All of our refridgeration units are brand new and in perfect working order. We pride ourselves on our cleanliness, and the quality of our food. In all of the complaints we have had, there has never been 1 about the QUALITY of our food. We only buy and serve the best of the best and will continue to do so.
So in closing, I am here to say we know we have issuses to adress and we are adressing them on a daily basis. I am not making any excuses here. We are determined to workout our issues and become 1 of the top resturants in the lakes region. We have a tremendous staff that is working dilligently to make every customer happy. We have been serving up to 600 customers daily, with very little complaints, and every day is better than the last. If you would like to meet us personally to discuss any of your concerns, as I stated before we are ther 7 days a week and would be happy to listen. If you would like a tour of our kitchen facilities to see how our food is prepared and stored, please just ask.(as long as we aren't extremely busy) We built this resturant to be a shinning star in an area that we have loved since we were young children. Our hope is that you continue to support us and all the other fine establishments in the lakes reigon. We have some great ideas planned for the future. You will see some exciting new changes for bike week, and many different attractions come to our property.(concerts,octoberfests,etc...) We are in this for the long haul, and hope to make all of you fans of the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound. thanks, mike