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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z S TA R T U P S Rowbottom has also tapped into the Maine Farms for the Future, a pro- gram through the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and For- estry. With help from Stephanie Gil- bert, a farm specialist in the depart- ment, Rowbottom was able to get fund- ing through an Agricultural Marketing Loan Fund. e loans focused on busi- ness planning, and making sure there was a solid business plan behind com- panies funded. Rowbottom was able to secure a $25,000 grant. Rowbottom, who early in her career worked in marketing and publishing, touts Crooked Face Creamery's "authen- tically smoked cheese" a catch-phrase that helped her land funding for a larger cheese smoker. Scaling up During the early growth stages, she started getting sound advice from Jed Beach of FarmSmart Maine. Beech bills himself as a "farm CFO for hire" and is based in Lincolnville. Making the transition from the farm cheese room where she'd been in the early stage, Rowbottom now faced the next big challenge. She needed a bigger space, a larger cheesemak- ing operation. While today she pro- duces cheese from 200 to 400 gallons of milk per week, at the time she was trying to scale up the equipment she used to make cheese, going from a capacity of 30 gallons to 100 gallons. For a cheesemaking giant like Cabot, this is small potatoes. But for an artisan cheesemaker, with a lim- ited staff, it was a major step. "I didn't have equity" for major equipment upgrades, she adds. Around early 2018, she was able to secure a Dairy Improvement Fund from the Finance Authority of Maine. She was able to get a $35,000 loan at 1% interest. e loan helped pay for a new vat and storage tank. at resolved the capacity issue, but she still needed a suitable space to make cheese. Rowbottom turned to an old friend, Amber Lambke, who co- founded and operates Maine Grains in downtown Skowhegan. Lambke is based in the former Somerset County jail, which offers rough but extremely sturdy space — with granite and con- crete walls and several stories to run a grain processing plant. Lambke had an available ground floor space that could be used for retail operations. "I met with Amber and I said, 'Listen, I have no equity. I got a loan. I need space,'" she recalls. Lambke showed Rowbottom the ground floor space, which is conveniently adjacent to the Miller's Table, the cafe at Maine Grains. A customer could buy bread at the Miller's Table and go next door to buy cheese — a perfect union. "[e space] needed work, but it had concrete floors and drains in the floor, which are critical for chee- semaking," Rowbottom says, adding: "Amber has offered never-ending sup- port. I'm overflowing with gratitude. Skowhegan is great." Still, there was work to be done. Converting space in an old prison build- ing is challenging. She had to drill holes through thick concrete walls to run pipes. She spent a lot of sweat equity time painting and outfitting the space. But because the Maine Grains build- ing is in the Skowhegan Tax Increment Financing zone, Rowbottom was able to secure a $47,000 renovation grant. "It took six months. I started out in March and opened in Septem- ber" of 2019, she says. "ankfully, we got it up and running before the pandemic. But then that forced us to figure out curbside pickup and other ways of doing business." Additional training Scaling up the business also meant honing business skills. Rowbottom enrolled in the Fair Food Fund's boot camp for entrepre- neurs. She worked with Brunswick- based Coastal Enterprises Inc.,which offered valuable business advice. She worked with the Maine Farmland Trust. She worked with Maine Tech- nology Institute and Maine Center for Entrepreneurs. Every place she went she gained more knowledge. "e more connections I made, the more doors would open," Row- bottom says. "I took a lot of classes." Fast forward e Maine Grains space in Skowhegan offered room for a small store front, something Rowbottom had sought after years of being part of farmers markets. By now her products — the Crooked Face Creamery ricotta cheese, the smoked cheeses and other products — have started to sell well. ey're avail- able at small grocery stores, including the Belfast Co-op, Portland Co-op and Pemberton Farms in Cambridge, Mass. e cheese is also available in a range of restaurants, including Sur Lie and Hunt & Alpine in Portland. Another of Crooked Face's custom- ers is Lost Kitchen's Erin French, who has gained national recognition for her cooking, restaurant, cookbook, memoir and now a television show, "e Lost Kitchen," on HBOmax. Ever frugal in business operations, Rowbottom was able to pay off loans from No Small Potatoes. She'd like to pay off her equip- ment, but in the back of her mind she's thinking about expansion. She's met with the Central Maine Growth Council to see if there are growth opportunities. "I want to be focused on being an artisan cheese shop in Maine, but also sell regionally," Rowbottom says. Distribution to retailers is challeng- ing, she says. "e distribution model really has you banging your head against the wall," she says, lamenting there are limited options and it's often two weeks before products get on the shelves. In an effort to go more grassroots with distribution, Rowbottom started working with Maine Milk Mavens, which is organized by Jessie Dowl- ing and Olivia Barber from White- field-based Fuzzy Udder Creamery. e cheesemaking operation doubles as a distributor, working with some two dozen creameries to deliver products to restaurants, cooperatives and small gro- cery stores throughout Maine. Rowbottom has also found a com- munity of like-minded entrepreneurs working with the Maine Cheese Guild, a coalition of artisan cheesemakers. "I love them," Rowbottom says. "Everyone's so gritty, working their butts off." Peter Van Allen, Mainebiz editor, can be reached at pvanallen @ mainebiz.biz F O C U S P H O T O / L A U R Y N S O P H I A There's no easy way to get off the ground. You take classes, you get on the road. You have to do the work. I got rejected so much. — Amy Rowbottom Crooked Face Creamery Wheels of cheese at Crooked Face Creamery in Skowhegan 17 M A R C H 6 , 2 0 2 3