2020 was a year that redefined the restaurant industry. Many eating establishments partnered with food delivery companies like GrubHub or UberEats in an effort to continue to feed their customers. That was especially important when the numbers of people inside a restaurant were limited.
That model seems to be working well for a lot of restaurants, but there’s still room for improvement. And in some places, that improvement is necessary. Up in the frozen north, ice fishing is huge. In states like North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, there are people who basically live on the ice through the ice fishing season. That means many of those restaurants in those states have basically lost about half of their customer base until the ice melts.
So a Michigan restaurant called Bailey’s Place is now offering a new service – delivery all the way to its customers’ ice shanties. They’ve announced that they’ll deliver to any ice angler on Houghton Lake. All they need is a description of the ice fishing shanty or an approximate GPS location, and they’ll scoot right out onto the ice on a four-wheeler and deliver a fresh meal, a Thermos of coffee or some hot chocolate.
That’s a pretty impressive offer. Houghton Lake is about 20,000 acres, with 30 miles of shoreline. But even though it’s likely the food might be a little chilled by the time it reaches its destination, hundreds of people have already put in their orders.
I’m sure there are plenty of restaurants close enough to Wyoming ice fishing holes, but ice fishing isn’t as big a deal here as it is in Michigan. Still, it’s a great example of people coming up with creative solutions during this wacky pandemic.
