Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I N O. V M A R C H 8 , 2 0 2 1 12 M A N U FA C T U R I N G F O C U S Once here, she wanted to do some- thing with the buckwheat, combining it with Maine wild blueberries. "I just didn't know what," she says. After a lot of experimentation, she perfected the gluten-free crisps. e company started small, with food co- ops and natural food stores. ey caught on fast, though. Karen secured financing from CEI and Slow Money Maine, and moved to Railroad Square in 2017. "I could finally hire someone to help," she says with a laugh. Her cranberry-almond crisps won a Sofi award from the Specialty Foods Association in 2018. Ross joined the company that September as CEO and investor. He'd owned a snack distri- bution business, and also had worked with Steve before, and they worked on building capital. e past year has been a breakout, including a New England-wide dis- tribution deal with Whole Foods and placement in 17 Hannaford super- markets in Maine, and 14 in New Hampshire. e crisps are also sold in specialty stores and used in restaurants, not only in Maine, but nationwide. As Steve and Karen Getz talked to Mainebiz on a February morn- ing, they stood next to a stack of boxes destined for Eataly, a high-end Italian food marketplace with stores in New York City's SoHo neighbor- hood, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Boston and Las Vegas. ey plan to move this spring or early summer, once the new building is fitted out with things like a large roll-in convection oven to replace the five small temperamental ones they have now, as well as FDA-required space for gluten-free products. e idea all along, Karen says, was to make a product out of Maine ingre- dients, starting with the Aroostook County barley that they still use. eir Maine brand was a factor in both the Whole Foods distribution as well as Hannaford — both companies have a focus on featuring local products. When they started growing, they wanted to do it in Maine. "People have an affinity for Maine," Steve says. But it's about more than that. "We wanted to showcase it could be done here successfully." 'Home-Maine' ice cream Gifford's Famous Ice Cream factory is still at the Skowhegan dairy where Randall and Audrey Gifford began making the ice cream in the 1970s. e company opened its first ice cream stand in Skowhegan in 1980, and its second one in Farmington in 1982. Stands in Waterville, Bangor and Auburn followed. It's always been a company with roots firmly in Maine. Now Gifford's wants to make sure people know that. e company is launching a major rebrand with the words "Home-Maine," a play on "home-made" on its cartons, which have a new packaging design, evocative of rolling Maine landscape, by Portland artist Liza Kelley Sperry. It turns out, people, even some in Maine, don't know Gifford's is a Maine company, says CEO Lindsay Skilling. e company is looking to change that. "Everything we do, and everything we love is because of Maine," she says. "Maine and New England." Nathaniel Main started a dairy business in Connecticut in the 1800s, the first generation in the business. His grand- daughter, Audrey, married Randall Gifford in 1947, and they continued the family tradition in Skowhegan. Skilling says the new look "embod- ies who we came from." "We're simply made here in Maine," and it's important for people to know that, she says. e company employs 47 year-round and 120 when its ice cream stands are open — which happens later this month. e company in 2019 underwent a big distribution push, and is in stores down the Atlantic seaboard and as far west as Nevada. Skilling says that even across the country, the Maine brand resonates. "People think of maybe a simpler time, peace of mind," she says. "It seems like Maine always carries some weight." The tags say 'Made in Maine' Maine Stitching Specialties started when Bill and Julie Swain were mak- ing Dog Not Gone outdoor visibility products, using space in the Dirigo Stitching factory on Dane Avenue in Skowhegan. When Dirigo owner Peter Shultz retired in 2014, he offered to sell the Swains the company. "He said, 'Why don't you guys buy me out and keep manufacturing here," Bill Swain says. ey changed the hybrid event [hy•brid e•vent / noun] A hybrid event is one that combines a "live" in-person event with a "virtual" online component. Take your virtual events to the next level! Headlight AV goes above and beyond the traditional limits of AV to help you create powerful and memorable presentations. HeadlightAV.com / 207.775.1671 » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Lindsay Skilling, general manager for Gifford's Famous Ice Cream, enjoys her favorite ice cream at Gifford's Famous Ice Cream Stand in Skowhegan. F I L E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Everything we do, and everything we love is because of Maine. — Lindsay Skilling Gifford's Famous Ice Cream

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