Red Hook Lobster Pound Needs Our Help

Just a week before Hurricane Sandy hit, I was having one of those days where I was in the mood for something decadent. I just needed lobster. I knew Red Hook Lobster Pound was at the New York Public Library that day. And although I knew full well a lobster roll was over the Midtown Lunch price range… I did it anyway, and it was awesome. On a regular old lunch break in Bryant Park, I was instantly transported to Maine… but the lobster roll was actually better than what I’ve tried there! I became an instant fan. I had no idea that a few weeks later I would be writing a post to help get this truck back up on its feet.

Lunchers, while most of our food trucks have been out helping victims of Sandy, Red Hook Lobster Pound is one truck that needs our help. They have extensive damage on their brick and mortar store, and their food truck needs to be rebuilt as well. Here is an excerpt from their Smallknot page:

The water raced down our main street and flooded The Pound and the commissary with over four feet of water, and there is extensive damage. Two of our vehicles are not functioning, our food truck needs to be totally rebuilt. We had to demolish all the walls, take up the floors, trash the lobster tanks and all our inventory.

Here’s the idea: For every gift certificate that you buy now, 75% of the purchase price will be yours to use at any of the Red Hook Lobster Pound locations and 25% will go directly to the rebuild. You can choose from a menu of “investments”, with $28 being the smallest, which will get you a $21 gift certificate for food next year, and a $1000 investment on the high end, which will get you $750 in food next year, and all sorts of additional love and swag. Here’s the full link from the Smallknot website: http://smallknot.com/red-hook-lobster-pound.

And just look at what you can eat, all year long!

I honestly can’t think of a better way to fill my lobster craving, so I’ll be investing for sure. If lobster rolls aren’t your thing (yes, there are some people who don’t like lobster out there), check out the other items on Red Hook Lobster Pound’s menu, like the $10 shrimp roll or the $7 clam chowder. And if you’re not into seafood, buying a certificate as a gift, or simply sharing the donation page with friends will also be a tremendous help. Thank you Midtown Lunchers!

16 Comments

  • You’ve got to be shitting me. This isn’t a non-profit here–this is a commercial business selling very expensive faire. I’m not going to fund/donate their rebuild unless they pay me interest,or a cut of the future profits. They ain’t crying for you when you are broke buying their damn lobster rolls, so don’t go crying to them. They’re in the business of profits, not helping others with 16 or 17 dollar lobster rolls. That gets a big FU from this ML’er…I’d sooner donate to someone who lost their house and didn’t have insurance coverage. That’s someone who’s truly screwed….this is shameless.

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    Yuck is right. And what happens to your gift certificate if the “rebuild” costs more than expected and they can’t get functional?

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    Did they not have insurance?

  • This isn’t an “investment” or a donation. It’s a loan with a gauranteed haircut where I may get paid back in-kind.

    Their roll was pretty good though.

  • I agree—I enjoyed their roll. Not knocking the food. The prices sure, but not the actual food. This just seems pretty pretentious to me. With all the people suffering, I’m not going to go donating to commercial enterprises who look to profit off of me when they reopen with my money…..

  • Pretentious is a good word. If we’re donating any money, it should be to families who were hit the hardest or to an org. like The RedCross or some other charity that will go directly to the affected area.

    Its kinda saddening that a business is asking for “handouts”. I’ll gladly support them when they reopen by eating there, but not just giving them money so i can give them more money later.

  • “Its kinda saddening that a business is asking for “handouts”. I’ll gladly support them when they reopen by eating there, but not just giving them money so i can give them more money later.”

    Exactly. Well said.

  • Gotta agree with the majority here. I’ve donated stuff and help run a charity event for victims of the hurricane (via the Robin Hood Sandy Relief Fund). But I’m not about to donate 25% of a merchandise purchase to a good-but-overpriced food vendor, who should have had insurance of some sort and may also be eligible for FEMA assistance, when the 75% merchandise value will be useable at some unknown date in the future, if ever. RHLP: Deal with it.

    • P.S> They can’t even do math. Their “Two Pounder” donation for $120 only gets you an $80 certificate (2/3 or 67%), where all the other ones are 75%.

  • If they are serious about donations, it should be straight-line 75% for ANY dollar amount “donated.”
    At least, it’ll be more like a coupon because it not much of a gift-card at all. They’d definitely get more generous people with 90%.

    Otherwise, I don’t need lobster that badly, so:
    http://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/home/home.shtml
    http://www.redcross.org/
    http://sandyrelief.org/
    https://sandynjrelieffund.org/index.html
    https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/disaster

  • If they are serious about donations, it should be straight-line 75% for ANY dollar amount “donated.”
    At least, it’ll be more like a coupon because it not much of a gift-card at all. They’d definitely get more generous people with 90%.

    Otherwise, I don’t need lobster that badly.

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    I’d be much more likely to spend on the cause if my contribution could be redeemed at face value at a future date.

    A zero-interest loan to a business that I want to see bounce back, and that needs cash immediately, would make me feel good. A loan at -25% interest wouldn’t.

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    Didn’t notice this until I read the page again:

    “We are rebuilding! This time with a/c and a customer W.C.”

    That isn’t “rebuilding”, it’s called “expansion/improvements”.

    Dicks.

  • “I would gladly feed you Tuesday for a 33.33% markup today.”

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