Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O. X I X A U G U S T 1 0 , 2 0 2 0 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E to redevelop and revitalize Maine's economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. This funding was awarded through the Economic Development Administration's (EDA) CARES Act Re- covery Assistance Program. Office park considers sale Oakland's FirstPark business complex is seeking a potential investor to buy the entirety of its remaining acreage. It also has a plan to "reshore" busi- nesses, or bring back more business development and production to the U.S. Toward both goals, FirstPark has hired Portland-based SVN|e Urbanek Group Advisors as the busi- ness park's commercial and indus- trial real estate broker. e park was established by the Kennebec Valley Regional Development Authority, which was created by a state man- date in 1999 and includes 24 central Maine municipalities that together support the FirstPark project through shared costs and revenues. e man- date required the authority to sell the park in part, through subdivision, or in whole. N O T E W O R T H Y C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N Kennebec Savings Bank in Augusta donated a total of $25,000 to six hun- ger-relief agencies to support families and businesses in its service area. Standard Waterproofing said it is now fully operational in its new $1.2 mil- lion, 9,000 square-foot facility located at 1020 Augusta Road in Winslow. The Maine Public Utilities Commission is now operating in its new location at 26 Katherine Drive in Hallowell. Skowhegan Savings Charitable Founda- tion donated $25,000 to the Somerset County Business COVID Relief Fund. The Environmental Protection Agency awarded $300,000 to the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments to con- duct brownfields assessments, develop cleanup plans and support community outreach in Western Maine. The Maine Bicentennial Commission in Augusta awarded $80,000 its years old. e Saco River Drinking Water Treatment Facility will serve roughly 40,000 residents of Biddeford, Old Orchard Beach, Saco and Scarborough, and is expected to go live in the spring of 2022. e facility will be located on South Street in Biddeford, across from Maine Water's existing treatment facility, which was built in 1884. As part of the project, more than 250 acres of forest land will be preserved to provide the community with access to open space, to protect the Saco River source and to preserve wetland habitats. e new location also allows Maine Water to move its drinking water facility out of the Saco River floodplain, eliminating the risk of disruptions from flooding. Maine Water said the cost of the project will be paid through a customer rate change approved by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. e increase for a typical residential customer will amount to about 1 cent per gallon, or slightly more than $1 per day, the company said. N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N The Casco Bay Island Transit District was awarded $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance Program for research relat- ed to the design, construct and opera- tion of a new hybrid ferry and automat- ed, rapid charging battery system. Hospice of Southern Maine opened its new Home Hospice Center at 390 U.S. Route 1 in Scarborough. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that the Greater Port- land Council of Governments (GPCOG) and the University of Maine System has been awarded a total of $700,000 Skowhegan mill rushes to address shortage of flour B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r S k o w h e g a n — A grist mill in Skowhegan has seen demand skyrocket during the pandemic, and has added extra shifts to keep up with retail and wholesale orders. "We saw an enormous spike in online sales," Maine Grains Inc. founder and president Amber Lambke told Mainebiz. The mill traditionally produces 50-pound bags of flour for the wholesale market, which includes bakers and breweries throughout the Northeast. The pandemic created a surge of home baking, driving shortages of flour on grocery shelves. "It was stressful, but we are able to keep up," said Lambke, a 2014 Mainebiz Women to Watch honoree. She added, "Sourdough social media activity exploded." Online sales skyrocket Online sales for the mill peaked in early April, but remain at higher levels than before the pandemic, she said. Online sales skyrocketed compared with numbers before the pandemic. In April, online sales created 180 orders per day, with an average of three products per order. The mill's distributors and wholesale customers also saw increased demand for retail-size bags sold by the case-box, each of which holds six bags of flour. Customers that in the past ordered, say, 20 case-boxes are now five or six times that much. Year-to-date sales are up 35% to 40%. Lambke expects to have milled about 2,000 tons of grain by the end of 2020. That compares with 1,200 tons in 2019. Second shift To meet the demand, Lambke hired five part-time and three additional full-time workers, for a total of 20 employees, and instituted a second shift. The mill previously ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It now runs from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m in two shifts. Maine Grains invested $15,000 in two bagging machines that automatically weigh and fill retail-size bags, giving the mill three such machines all together. Restaurant closures hurt the mill's sales, but sales increased to bakeries, many of which pivoted to curbside pickup or bread shares and are rebounding. Maine Grains stone grinds organic wheat and oats at the Somerset Grist Mill the company owns in downtown Skowhegan. She bought the building, a former county jailhouse, in 2009. After renovations, she launched operations in 2012. The mill's primary business remains wholesale, with customers spread from Maine to New York City. "We work with over 15 distributors who get our product to bakers, breweries, corner stores, groceries and CSA pro- grams," she said. B R I E F Amber Lampke, founder of Maine Grains, has added extra shifts to meet the demand for flour. P H O T O / A M B E R WAT E R M A N We saw an enormous spike in online sales. — Amber Lampke Maine Grains C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N

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