Couple Runs Concession Stand At Groton Beach For 27 Years

On some summer days, 250 people stop at the concession stand at Eastern Point Beach in Groton.

Bob and Pat Garcia know probably 80 percent of them. The couple, who take turns scribbling down orders and grilling cheeseburgers, have run the stand every summer for 27 years.

“I’m Italian. I was brought up to cook,” said Pat Garcia, who was born in New York and learned to cook watching her grandmother.

She and her husband make 80 to 100 hamburgers by hand every morning.

“We push it out as fast as we can,” said Bob Garcia, a former Groton town police officer. “People get upset sometimes because it takes awhile to get fed, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

On Thursdays and Fridays, 160 children from the city recreation department visit the beach in addition to its regular customers. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, two busloads carry 40 children each from the town recreation department to the beach.

The stand sells items like clam fritters and Bob’s chili, which he makes every day, for $2.25. Hamburgers are $2.50. A hot dog is $1.50.

“It’s a great place,” said Jen Ursini, of Groton. “I can feed the kids for $5, which is cheaper sometimes than bringing your own lunch.” She's been stopping here for 30 years, she said.

Bob Garcia was born and raised in this town. He attended Groton Public Schools, worked as a town police officer for 15 years, ran a Kentucky Fried Chicken for a time, then took a job in security at Foxwoods Resort Casino.  Now he's head of security at Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School.

Pat Garcia has been with Lawrence & Memorial Hospital for 23 years, and works part-time as admitting coordinator in the emergency room.

The couple will be married 47 years on July 24. Their two sons are in their 40s; the couple's 14-year-old grandson, along with other relatives, help work the stand.

“Unless it's raining,” Bob Garcia said. “Then we dance and we celebrate.”

Pat Garcia said she keeps the job because she loves it.

“We’ve known some of these people 25 years,” she said. “And they still come down.”