Courtesy / Auntie’s House
The name Auntie’s House was chosen to evoke the homey feel of fresh-baked goods.
Updated: March 20, 2023
Kennebunk bakery and chocolatier adds Portland store
Courtesy / Auntie’s House
From left, Halie Lewis, Tracey Hart and Robert Hart own Auntie’s House, which recently expanded from Kennebunk to Portland.
Auntie’s House, a maker of cakes, cookies, whoopie pies and chocolates in Kennebunk, took a lease of 1,358 square feet from J.B. Brown & Sons to open its second location, at 40 Free St. in Portland.
The transaction was arranged by Derek Miller of the Boulos Co.
The Portland location opened in January.
Auntie’s House has been in business for 11 years, said Tracey Hart, who co-owns the business with her husband Robert and a third partner, Halie Lewis.
For the first three years the shop was located in Springvale. The business has been operating at 155 Port Road in Kennebunk for the past eight years.
“It started because I love baking and making sweet treats and I like sharing them with people,” Hart said.
The name was chosen to evoke the homey feel of fresh-baked goods.
“I always liked to make baked goods and my grandma always made baked goods,” she said. “And I always wanted to open a store.”
A variety of chocolates are also handmade at the business. Lewis manages the chocolate-making operation, with Robert and a couple of employees working with that side of the business. Robert’s sister used to own Kennebec Chocolates in Augusta.
“So he learned how make chocolates from his sister and it went on from there,” Hart said.
The Kennebunk location has a baking kitchen out back and a chocolate-making facility upstairs.
“We’ve had fun all these years,” she said. “So we thought we’d love to go to Portland too, because it’s such a foodie area.”
Courtesy / Auntie’s House
The business hand makes a variety of chocolates.
Robert knew he wanted the Portland location to be in a nice neighborhood with other small businesses around.
“Free Street seemed to be a perfect area,” said Tracey. “There’s a nice niche neighborhood that seemed like it would be a good fit, and it’s in a brand new building. It just fell into place.”
All of the products continue to be made at the Kennebunk location.
Whoopie balls are a bestseller. Last year, Auntie's made 27,000. Whoopie ball production takes up a few days each week. Chocolate production is nonstop. The business has seven employees, including the owners.
Fit-up for the Portland location was a little tricky, given the timing. The December holiday season is one of the company’s busiest. Typically, they stay open through Christmas, close for a few weeks to take a break, then return to work to reopen by Feb. 1.
Courtesy / Auntie’s House
Whoopie pies and whoopie balls are among the top sellers.
“This year we closed Kennebunk, then used all the time to get Portland ready,” she said.
The partners did most of the fit-up themselves — building the counters and product displays, for example — then had to produce enough food to stock both stores.
“We were straight out,” she said.
As winter comes to a close, the owners expect to hire more people for the Portland location.
Now that they’re up and running, Hart said she loves the neighborly feel.
“Everyone has been coming in and saying, ‘Welcome to the neighborhood. We’re so glad you’re here,” she said. “And other business owners on that street have been saying, ‘You picked a great street.’”
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