Meal ticket | A Washington County nonprofit looks to a traditional dish to fund its future
I will end one of the roughest years in memory with a truly inspiring story. As you’ll see, an allegory of hope involving, of all things, some seafood pies illustrates how a nonprofit, a business and a group of disparate partners representing the best Maine has to offer can come together to impact an organization and a region.
For the past decade, Alan Furth, executive director of the Trescott-based Cobscook Community Learning Center, has grappled with the perennial question facing nonprofit leaders: How are we going to fund this thing? The founders of CCLC, which promotes education and art in the region, had realized they needed a money maker that would sustain the nonprofit organization and strengthen the economy of Washington County simultaneously.
“We soon determined it was time to stop talking about pottery and poetry, and time to focus on business development,” recalls Furth, who moved to Maine in the 1970s among the wave of hippies and back-to-the landers.
But, like a true coastal Mainer, Furth also knew enough to look to the sea for a business idea that could marry his nonprofit with a for-profit enterprise, and allow CCLC to thrive while a simpatico business venture put people to work and made money.
That was seven years ago, three years after CCLC’s impressive center was constructed. While that vision has remained strong, much has happened on the way to market.
CCLC’s meal ticket, to be launched in March 2010 by the organization’s for-profit arm, the Cobscook Bay Co., will be four seafood pies, gussied up by chef Sam Hayward, winner of the James Beard award and founder of Portland’s Fore Street Restaurant. Hayward, like Furth, moved to Maine in the 1970s, and like many of his generation, loves Maine’s beauty and character, all of which he finds is “writ large” in Washington County.
A wider net
Seafood chowder was CCLC’s original idea for a social venture to support the community center, but a business plan quickly ruled out that proposal. Furth summarizes: “The chowder industry is well taken care of; you don’t stand a chance.”
While chowder was nixed, seafood pies, a regional tradition, were suggested as a viable option. But so many people discouraged Furth from proceeding that he shelved the plan in 2005.
Fast forward to 2007. Enter John Phinney, a Washington County native, fisherman and third-generation owner of Phinney Fisheries. Phinney, who lives in nearby Lubec, had heard CCLC was looking to manufacture pies, so he took the business plan home and roughed up a seafood pie. Soon after, the Cobscook Bay Co. was born, along with a unique business.
This is how it works: Cobscook Bay Co. is owned by Periwinkle Holding Co., LLC, whose sole purpose is supporting CCLC. Periwinkle owns 45% of the business and Phinney Fisheries owns the other 55%. As part of its social mission, Cobscook Bay Co. will be able to allocate 45% of its net profits to support CCLC programs. The frozen pies will be marketed to retail grocery stores.
In 2008, the project began attracting serious investors and everything looked good to go. That is, until Furth ran into old friend, Cynthia Major, who had run a successful cheese business in Vermont. Major, now Cobscook Bay Co.’s director of marketing and project management, soon discovered that food testers thought the pies tasted familiar, but not in a good way. “The feedback was: great mission, great story, lousy product,” she says. Undaunted, Major went in search of a professional chef and former cheese customer, Sam Hayward.
“Cynthia asked if I would drive to Washington County and taste a rustic seafood pie,” recalls Hayward. “I was captivated. There was no way I could say no.” Hayward created recipes for the four delicious seafood pies — lobster, shrimp, scallop and crabmeat — that will be produced under the label of Maine Fresh: Restoring Maine Communities. “My bottom line was all ingredients had to be real and local,” he says.
In 2009, John Heald, who moved to Maine in 2006, entered the scene. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Heald had a successful career in international business and an extensive network of professional contacts. He quickly identified some critical business needs and created a volunteer advisory committee of top-level experts in project management, operations, food marketing, strategy, food chemistry and finance from all over the U.S.
“We all believe in the importance of jobs in Washington County,” Heald says. “Ultimately, our vision goes beyond seafood pies, but for now we are staying focused on the here and now. And, we have an awfully good chance of making this a success.”
I confess. This story of hope and creativity, involving a cast of characters unique to our state, coming together in a year full of tribulation and challenge, lightened my heart and allowed me once again to celebrate Maine.
Elizabeth Banwell is director of program development and strategic initiatives for the Maine Association of Nonprofits in Portland. She can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz. Read more of Elizabeth’s columns at www.mainebiz.biz.
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