🔒Lobsters aren’t the only ones with secret lives

Many of you have been out to Monhegan, an island 14 miles off of Port Clyde.

For those who haven't, let me set the scene. I'd been out there before, but my son, who is not even 3 years old, had not.

On a recent day we set out for the island. The wind was blowing hard out of the south and the mail boat, the Elizabeth Ann from Port Clyde, was surging up and down with the swell. Passengers on the bow of the boat we're getting drenched, though the sun shined brightly. My son and I preferred an indoor seat with a view of the waves through salt-washed windows. When we got off the boat at the Monhegan town wharf, the air was a mix of salt spray and dust cloud.

We went to the Mohegan Museum at the lighthouse, we explored dirt roads overflowing with rosa rugosa and only occasionally used by locals in rusty pickups. Eventually, every toddler must eat and I knew the perfect place: Hot Fat.

Hot Fat serves fried fish, fish tacos and curly fries — the best curly fries on the planet. The place looks a bit ramshackle, part food truck and part road-side stand. While Hot Fat is at the end of a dirt road on an island 14 miles out to sea, literally at the edge of the United States, it survives in an industry where many of the best-capitalized and best-located restaurants fail. Owner Matt Thompson keeps it afloat despite having a day job, as a lobster boat captain, and by having a few scrappy advertisements crafted with cardboard and a Sharpie.

Still, the story of Hot Fat may resonate around the state of Maine. There's a passionate owner, an owner who is not afraid of hard work or working two jobs. There is a passionate following. And the business survives almost in spite of the fact there may be little promotion beyond word of mouth.

In recent weeks, I have visited or visited with any number of Maine businesses and/or business owners that share some of these characteristics: Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, Bruce Tisdale of Mountain Machine Works in Auburn, the Ready brothers of Ready Seafood come to mind. But I've also met with construction managers, architects, lawyers and investment managers that demonstrated the same stick-to-itiveness.

I hear many of the same themes at the Mainebiz “On the Road” events. Business people worry about the economy and regulations. They're looking for ways to deal with the high cost of energy. They say it's hard to find the right employees.

Then there's a factor that seems undeniable, yet remains unresolved: Many business owners wonder why the good word about what's being produced in Maine is not getting out to the wider world. At the same time, I hear people say Mainers like to keep best things a well-kept secret.

I had lunch recently with Doug Rooks, one of our longtime correspondents. We were eating in Brunswick and I wondered why it was that Brunswick was such a great town, yet so few tourists making the Route 1 trek seemed to know about it.

It's simple, he said: Brunswick wants to remain a well-kept secret.

I have no reason to dispute that, but it does seem like there are a lot of hidden treasures in Maine.

In this issue, we attempt to shed light on some businesses that might have been well-kept secrets.

Senior Writer Jim McCarthy looked at the architecture-and-engineering firm SMRT, which is rethinking the design of medical complexes. Senior Writer Lori Valigra talked to a principal at Bellwether Design Technologies, which solved the problem of how to create an elaborate “crinkle wall” on the new Hyatt Place in Portland. A Bass Harbor-based freelance writer, Laurie Schreiber, tackled two companies: Dawnland, which has taken over the concessions at Acadia National Park, and SnapSpace, which converts unused shipping containers into offices, homes, houseboats, smoothie stands and the like.

My thanks to these writers for introducing us to these Maine businesses.