Jul. 2—What do mustard packets, seafood shacks and modular homes have in common?
They can be made in Maine and Gov. Janet Mills wants to see more of them.
Forty-six Maine companies received a share of just under $3 million in grant funding as part of the state’s Domestic Trade Program, a venture that seeks to boost sales of Maine-made products across the country. The funding follows the $3 million that was doled out to 40 other businesses earlier this year.
The program, part of the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, offers Maine companies financial and technical support to develop new market opportunities across the United States, the administration said in a statement.
The 46 awards ranged from $16,400 for Dailey Woodworking, a small Carthage shop making items like pepper grinders and cutting boards, to $250,000 for Luke’s Seafood, the Maine company known for its lobster shacks and restaurants all over the world.
“The Domestic Trade Program is helping folks across America learn what Maine people have known for years: Maine-made products are the best in the world,” Mills said in the statement. “These investments will help Maine producers of everything from soap to surfboards effectively market their products, create jobs and strengthen the Maine economy.”
MINI MUSTARDS
Raye’s Mustard in Eastport will use the funds to help expand its product line to include something co-owner Karen Raye said seemed out of reach for the small condiment manufacturer: single-serve mustard packets.
“It’s something we had thought about doing for years and just never had the capital to do,” Raye said. “We’re ready to rock and roll.”
She plans to use the $50,000 grant to work with a food service consultant and invest in proper marketing materials.
The company has missed out on opportunities like government contracts because of the lack of packets, Raye said. Not to mention how lucrative an offering it could have been during the pandemic when food-service businesses dramatically expanded their takeout options.
“Overall, there is a great opportunity to expand our food service sales, not just here in Maine but across the country,” she said.
The grant comes at a crucial time for the mustard-maker. Raye’s is planning a $2 million restoration mission to preserve its 1903 mill — the last stone-ground mustard mill in North America.
Raye hopes to start construction on a new museum this fall that would safeguard the mill’s cultural and historic legacy.
“(The money) will allow us to make sure our sales continue growing while we focus on the construction of the building,” she said.
MODULAR HOMES
While Raye’s works to bring the 1-ounce packets to market, Kara Wilbur at Dooryard Development is hoping to use her $100,000 grant to tackle something a bit bigger: the state’s affordable housing crisis.
Dooryard, and KBS Builders, its subapplicant, hope to bring more modular homes to Maine. But they’re not talking about “off-the-shelf ranch-style homes,” Wilbur said.
Dooryard offers modular construction options ranging from small single-family homes to eight to 10-unit apartment buildings.
Wilbur said the homes are designed to fit in with the Maine village and downtown neighborhood aesthetic. They’re more compact, so they’re efficient and more affordable, and, being modular, they can be set up quickly and ideally, plug into existing infrastructure.
“Modular housing offers a solution to the housing crisis by reducing production costs and speeding up construction,” Wilbur said in Dooryard’s application. But it’s underutilized.
In 2022, only 1% of multifamily development and 2% of single-family homes were built using modular methods.
Dooryard and KBS hope to change that. They plan to use the money to launch a “robust and comprehensive” marketing campaign, improve their websites and develop a digital product catalog.
“There is tremendous opportunity for modular building to capture more market share,” Wilbur said. “The foremost barrier to expanding modular housing production is the limited awareness of the attractive and affordable building types that are available.”
LOBSTER-EATER RESEARCH
Ben Conniff, co-founder and chief innovation officer for Luke’s Lobster, said the seafood chain plans to use its quarter-of-a-million-dollar grant to gather more consumer data.
“During COVID, (our) restaurants got decimated for reasons we all understand,” Conniff said, citing the closure of indoor dining and the switch to takeout-only service.
“As we’ve emerged from COVID, we’ve not emerged as the same society as we had,” he said.
Luke’s had several of its 34 locations in popular business-office areas.
But when workers went remote and then largely stayed that way, the lobster shacks lost the majority of their business.
Luke’s now needs to figure out how to pivot: Do they open new locations? Where? Should they invest more into grocery sales? They need data.
“There are a few types of technology we can use to better understand who our guests are and what’s motivating them,” Conniff said. “Once we have that, we can reach them in the right way through the right kind of marketing and open new locations in (the right) areas.”
The company was one of several Maine businesses that spoke out against proposed state legislation that would have limited the ability to collect online data and target ads to potential customers. The bill was rejected by both legislative chambers.
Some of the other large winners include: ALM Ortho Inc., American Roots, Discover Downtown Westbrook, Maine and Co., Maine Outdoor Brands, Maine Pellet Fuels Association, Maine State Chamber of Commerce, NC Hunt Inc., TimberHP, Maine Community Power, Maine Federation of Farmers Markets, Atlantic Sea Farms, American Unagi, The Good Crust and Rancourt & Company Shoecrafters Inc.
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