Today we’d like to introduce you to Maureen Woodman.
Maureen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Our story started over 100 years ago in Essex, Massachusetts as a fish/clam market that sold homemade chips, baked goods. Chubby and Bessie Woodman were a young married couple that made donuts and sold clams and on July 3, 1916 a local clammer asked Chubby to fry the clams like they did the potato chips and that’s how the fried clams were invented. Now, a century later, 5 generations of workers and family members shipping, retail, ice cream, catering, a function hall and a scholarship fund, we are still going strong.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a road full of many great innovators, survivors, great ideas, and very long hours with a lot of hard work done by many many hands. Wonderful celebrations, great food, and a beautiful landscape. Always worried about the weather, being so close to the coastline has been a huge challenge, always afraid of floods, hurricanes and blizzards.
Woodman’s of Essex – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are in food hospitality service. We are open all year long but are very busy in the summer. We sell fresh local seafood that comes from our local water. Fried Clams are our signature dish also we are known for our hand cut battered onion rings. Our clambake /BBQs catering is a regional favorite. Our food is mostly gluten free because we use corn flour, the original recipe. We pride ourselves in original unchanged recipes over 100 years old. We have over 30 family members working together. We have generations of non-family members that have also worked for 5 generations along with us. We have won numerous awards and are recognized as one of the most famous tourist destinations have filmed movies here. We are unchanged and family friendly in a very safe environment with food that is consistent for over a century. We are passionate about our help our customers our environment and our product and we appreciate every day the opportunity that has created a successful legacy for families in the future to work and enjoy.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
For me, I am one of the founders of the Mr. and Mrs. L Dexter Woodman scholarship fund that started in 1988.
I love to give out the money and tell the story of this little tiny community that we live in that gives back in a giant way, I can’t begin to tell you what it’s like to live in a small town and see how this community comes together when someone needs help. We have given away over 700,000 dollars to date and every time we give out a scholarship, I feel that it’s all worth it… all the work and to help out students is great.
Contact Info:
- Address: Woodman’s of Essex
121 Main Street,
Essex, Massachusetts 01929 - Website: woodmans.com
- Phone: 18006491773
- Email: mwoodman@woodmans.com
- Instagram: woodmans_of_essex
- Facebook: woodmansofessex
- Twitter: @woodmans_essex
- Yelp: Woodmans of essex
Image Credit:
Photos by Norman Lemcke
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