Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1293637
V O L . X X V I N O. X X I V P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY ypically, the harvest is packaged frozen, pureed and fermented for wholesale food service. is year, the pandemic decimated wholesale markets, so the company raised a convertible note round to accelerate expansion of its retail line, developed last year, from 160 locations to over 700 by January. Warner's path to kelp was circu- itous. A Pennsylvanian, she received undergraduate and graduate degrees in international relations from George Washington and Yale universities, then spent six years with the Foreign Service. Returning to Maine, her husband's home state, she opened Maine Pie Line, a Portland wholesale bakery focused on international flavors and employing refugees. In 2015, she sold the bakery and became economic development director at the Rockland nonprofit Island Institute, to create a program helping fishermen diversify into sea- weed and shellfish aquaculture. In 2018, she began working with Ocean Approved, a kelp farm off South Portland. Ocean Approved was later rebranded Atlantic Sea Farms. Mainebiz: What were you doing with Ocean Approved? Briana Warner: e Island Institute Sea to table Making kelp tasty — and by January it will be in 700 stores B y L a u r i e S c h r e i B e r We knew that good fishermen would make good farmers. Other fishermen saw them making money, so they started coming to us. Now we have a wait list. Ocean approved dba Atlantic Sea Farms 89 Industrial Park Road, Saco Founded: 2009 What the company does: Seafood processing Contact: info@atlanticseafarms.com / www.atlanticseafarms.com T Briana Warner Briana Warner CEO Atlantic Sea Farms, Saco As CEO of Saco kelp processor Atlantic Sea Farms, Briana Warner has overseen its rapid growth and retail expansion. This year working with 27 "partner-farmers," the company harvested 450,000 pounds of kelp, up from 240,000 pounds and 24 partner-farmers in 2019. The 2021 goal is 800,000 pounds. Briana Warner expects to grow Atlantic Sea Farms kelp production to 800,000 pounds and be in 700 stores next year. O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 2 0 26