🔒Tracking Maine’s restaurant shake-up: A year of growth, closures and ownership shifts

The past year brought a steady stream of change to Maine’s restaurant and food business landscape. New eateries and cafés opened from Kittery to Bangor, familiar names expanded and new owners took over established businesses. At the same time, several restaurants closed their doors, some businesses hit the market and others navigated mergers, acquisitions and financial challenges.

Here’s a roundup of openings, closings and transactions from the past year.

Openings

Bay Bowls and Smoothies, a Brunswick-based mini-chain, located at 32 Main St. in Freeport, opened on Sept. 5, 2025.

Douro, a Portuguese-style restaurant, opened on Oct. 9, 2025, at 110 Thames St.

Catbird opened at 279 Main St. in South Berwick on Oct. 16, 2025.

Minibar, an indoor mini-golf course and sports bar, opened in Oct. 16, 2025 at 270 Marginal Way in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood.

The Local OOB opened at 23 Washington Ave. in Old Orchard Beach. The restaurant, which offers pub food, opened on Nov. 15, 2025.

Rambler Café reopened at 463 Stevens Ave. in the space formerly occupied by Rwanda Bean in Portland on Nov. 21, 2025.

Bar Harbor Cheesecake Co. opened on Nov. 28, 2025, at 166 Main St. in Ogunquit.

Wow India opened at 649 Congress St. in Portland on Dec. 2, 2025. The menu includes a selection of Indian dishes.

Aomori, a Japanese restaurant owned by chef Masahiko Miyake and his family, opened at 52 Hanover St. in Portland on Dec. 8, 2025.

PopUp Bagels, a Connecticut-based bagel chain with a New York presence, opened a Portland location at 210 Middle St. on Dec. 12, 2025.

Sea Salt Fry opened its doors on Dec. 12, 2025, at 231 Post Road in Wells. It will serve upscale comfort food.

LB Mini-Mart, the convenience store offshoot of the eatery LB Kitchen, opened at 235 Vaughan St. in Portland’s West End on Dec. 18, 2025.

Baked on Maine opened on Jan. 2 at 42 Maine St. in Brunswick.

Aomori Kitchen + Market opened at 52 Hanover St. in Portland on Jan. 14. It serves as the Japanese conbini-style sister market to chef Masa Miyake’s adjacent restaurant, Aomori.

Bombay Bistro opened at 3 Vallee St. in the former Frog & Turtle spot in Westbrook on Jan. 14.

Mornings in Paris opened in Falmouth at 240 U.S. Route 1 in February. It’s the bakery’s fourth location. Mornings in Paris has other cafés in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Ogunquit.

Belle Boulangerie, located in a 4,500-square-foot mixed-use building at 156 Water St. in Hallowell, opened in February.

Crepe Elizabeth, founded as a mobile bakery in 2022, opened its first brick-and-mortar location recently in downtown Freeport. The shop debuted on Feb. 1 in the Mallet Building, at 7 Mills St.

Y%F, located at 602 Congress St., opened on March 20.

Elizabeth, a French-inspired wine bar, opened on April 1 at 47 Wharf St. in Portland.

Makoto, a sister restaurant to Portland’s Yosaku, opened on April 1 at 448 Cottage Road in South Portland, in the former Elsmere BBQ space, which closed in 2024.

Rasa Indian Cuisine opened on April 6 at 175 Exchange St. in Bangor.

Mourning Cloak opened at 122 Washington Avenue in Portland on May 1.

Ladyfish, a seasonal seafood pop-up restaurant, opened in May and will run through October at 425 Fore St., at the former location of Bar Futo.

The Parlor opened at 1 Shaw St. in Bath opened on May 2.

Chérie opened at 249 Congress St. in Portland on May 21.

The Dooryard Pub opened at 45 Huntress Avenue on May 21.

Cocktail Mary reopened at 20 Market St. on May 22.

Barkada opened at 425 Fore St. in the former Paper Tiger space on May 30.

Sødt, a Scandinavian candy shop, opened a second location at 58 Main St. in Freeport on June 22.

Signal in Kennebunk opened on June 27 at 27 Western Ave in the former restaurant Via Sophia.

South Portland Bakery & Café opened on June 25 at 200 Gorham Road.

The Velvet Dog opened at 24 Preble St. in Portland on June 27.

Gong Cha, a Taiwanese bubble tea chain, opened its first Maine location at 200 Running Hill Road in South Portland on June 27.

The Rooting Pig reopened July 9 along with the Broad Arrow Farm Market, which both closed for renovations in 2024. Both are located at 33 Benner Road in Bristol.

K-Pop Kimbap opened on July 9 outside the Old Port Square Garage at 427 Fore St.

Kittery Wine Bar opened at 10 Walker St. in Kittery Foreside on July 17.

Sweetfern Geomet opened on July 29 at 122 Washington Ave in Portland.

Changing hands

Tony’s Donut Shop, at 9 Boulton St. in Portland, was taken over by longtime employee Emily Bachelder on Jan. 6.

Freedom’s Edge Cider, based in Albion, merged with Dasch Seltzer on Feb. 10, uniting two craft beverage companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ted’s Fried Clams, a long-time Shapleigh establishment that shut down three years ago, reopened with new owners on May 1. The new ownership group includes Joe Christopher, Rob Orr, Matt Orr and Roger Zeghibe.

Old Smith Farm, located at 226 Gray Road in Falmouth, reopened on May 26 under new owners, Jill Moses and Frank Curran.

Ziggi’s Coffee, located at 3 Waterfall Drive in Saco, reopened on June 30 under new owner James Barrett. The location has been vacant since October 2024, when the Colorado-based coffee chain’s only Maine location closed after just seven months in business.

Penobscot McCrum LLC, an Aroostook County potato processing facility, was acquired by McCain Foods, a Canadian company with a global footprint.

Closings

Low Stakes Lodge, a steakhouse at 106 Exchange St., closed on Oct. 13, 2025. The restaurant opened in June 2024.

Susan’s Fish N Chips, which opened in 1989 at 1135 Forest Ave in Portland, closed its doors on Oct. 30, 2025.

Bar Futo, a Japanese-inspired restaurant at 425 Exchange St. that opened in 2022 closed on Nov. 1, 2025.

Abbiocco, which opened at 634 Forest Ave in Portland on Oct. 2, 2025, closed its doors six months later on April 22.

Mulligan’s, a longtime downtown Biddeford bar and restaurant, located at 23 Lincoln St., closed on May 31.

Barkery Dog Bar, at 180 Waterman Drive in South Portland, closed on June 22 after five months in business.

Noble Pizzeria & Barbecue, at 478 Stevens Ave in Portland, closed on July 12. The space will become a sports bar called the Sports Bra, which will have a women’s sports theme.

Finally, a wider shakeout in the beverage industry had a ripple effect in Maine, with the closures of Sweetgrass Winery & Distillery in Union, Blue Lobster Urban Winery in Portland, Banded Brewing Co. in Biddeford, Mast Landing Brewing Co. in South Portland,

For sale

Roberto’s Italian Restaurant in Ogunquit was listed for $2.78 million.

Bartlett Maine Estate Winery, Maine’s oldest winery in Gouldsboro, was listed for sale in January.

Bandaloop, a restaurant in Arundel, has a buyer and is under contract and will run through mid-September and close on Oct.1.

Financial challenges

After auctioning off a motel property used to provide subsidized housing for seasonal workers, the Maine Diner in the York County town of Wells has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, giving it time to restructure debt.

Maine Diner had been scheduled to go into a foreclosure auction led by Portland-based Keenan Auction Co. The company had also sought to find a buyer via a direct sale, listing the property for $3.3 million with Portland-based Daigle Commercial Group.