As of 11am today, Bug-A-Boo Bay is under new ownership.  The buyer is Randy Stodola.  He is from the New Germany area.  He has owned two bars there, his last one was Down South.  He sold it in August of 2009.  Down South was a Carribbean style bar/restaurant that he had fashioned after Alexandria’s very own Bug-A-Boo Bay.  The other bar/restaurant that Randy owned was T-Road Tavern in New Germany.  Randy is a graduate of MSU with a Business Degree.

A good friend of his, Jason Hartmann will be managing the kitchen and day-to-day operation of Bug-A-Boo Bay.  Jason has owned and operated two bar/restaurants himself, one was located in Brainerd known as the Half-Moon Saloon.  The other was Hoppers Bar and Grill in Waconia.  Jason is a graduate of Brown Institute with a degree in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management.

The way that this story unfolds is that Jason had called me on another piece of property for his parents.  When I started to visit with him, I had mentioned Bugs.  He called Randy and told him about it, the rest is history.  Having a flair and afffection for a Carribbean-style restaurant, this should be a good mix.   They fully intend to leave the name the same, the menu will probably get simplified till they get their arms around the famous restaurant.   Plans are to be open by May 1st.

They wish to be active participants in the community.  Let’s give them a warm welcome and show our support by attending as often as we can.

I’d also like to say an extremely large THANK YOU to Dave and Deb Bistodeau.  They created a place for the residents and visitors of Alexandria to enjoy year-round at a tremendous burden to themselves.  They owned and operated Bug-A-Boo Bay for 9 years, many times without compensation as they tirelessly worked to provide the highest quality and service to us.  Once Bug-A-Boo Bay closed, the residents felt a tremendous loss that we had taken for granted since it was created.  Dave and Deb have lost far more than we.  Now they have turned over their creation and have said good-bye to it’s day-to-day heartbeat.  Very few people know what this feels like, but they’ll be fine.  Dave and Deb sincerely wish the new owners well and encourage all to patronize the establishment…and we all get to enjoy “Bugs” again:)

Any comments out there from cyber-space on Bugs?