Golden Rooster Nominated for Heartbeat of our Community Award

“The Golden Rooster was first established in 1967 and was a popular lunch spot in this area. My family bought the business in 1985, and I’ve kept it going since then. I’ve been here about 36 years now and working here brings me a lot of happiness.

When the pandemic hit, we still offered take-out meals to our customers at discounted prices. But instead of cutting our hours, we began staying open 7 days a week, until 9 p.m., serving $8.00 meals to help our community. A lot of what we offer is comfort food, and those times were scary. Comfort food felt just like what people needed. I kept thinking to myself… Well, if I’m scared, then everybody else has to be scared too.

I hate to say it, but in the long run, the pandemic was actually a good thing for us. Business has been incredibly good as soon as we reopened and continues to be good today. I think a lot of people discovered we existed during the pandemic. When most things shut down, we stayed here, offered to-go, and let the community know we were here for them.

I think what the pandemic really taught me was that people are so different from each other, but it doesn’t matter if you all come together to achieve the same common goal. As ironic as that sounds. The pandemic has helped to ground people and bring them closer. We need that sense of home town value in our city. And we’re happy to be a part of that.” — Chris Rizeakos, Owner of the Golden Rooster in Saco, Maine

Congratulations to the Golden Rooster on being selected as one of the winners of the Heartbeat of Our Community award!