Category: People

Profile of Hannaford

| Posted in Profiles, People

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published profiles of Hannaford and its president Beth Newlands Campbell.

Hannaford now has 178 stores, operations in five states, some 26,000 workers (including about 9,500 in Maine) and revenue of more than $5 billion, said Newlands Campbell.

Roughly 80 percent of stores have pharmacies, which account for 10 percent of revenue, said spokesperson Michael Norton.

Hannaford’s corporate owner, publicly-traded Delhaize, owns stores in the United States and Europe and employs some 138,600 workers.

 

Mark’s Hot Dogs

| Posted in Profiles, People

The Portland Daily Sun has published an article about Mark’s Hot Dogs and the food cart’s longtime owner Mark Gatti.

The entrepreneurial spirit and history of the cart began when Mark was fresh out of college. He did a brief stint setting appointments for insurance sales, a high pressure job he was good at, but “hated” and struggled to make money doing a variety of different temp assignments. He reminisces, “I was pushing a broom after a really long and difficult day doing manual labor, making the going minimum wage rate of $3.35 an hour. It was the early ’80s and I had just moved back to Maine from Colorado and had seen a few vendor street carts in my travels. The idea set in and I worked fast to get it going. I knew I had to sell a lot of hot dogs.”

Mark is celebrating his 28 year anniversary this Monday. Mark’s can be found nearly every day at the intersection of Middle and Exchange Streets in front of Tommy’s Park.

Chef Wilfred Beriau Retires

| Posted in People

Today’s Press Herald recognizes the impact of Chef Beriau has had on the SMCC culinary school and its students as his 26-year career at the college draws to a close.

That story, one of Beriau’s fondest memories of his time at SMCC, perfectly illustrates the way his former students and colleagues will remember him when he steps down as chair of the departments of Culinary Arts and Lodging & Restaurant Management on June 30: Intimidating, but caring and compassionate. A drill sergeant who pushes his students to their limits, but whose heart expands, Grinch-like, when he talks about them.

Did you study under Chef Beriau? Post a comment and share you favorite memories of being in his class.

Sun: Deux Cochon, Groceria Cafe, PFM Top 10, Where to Eat

| Posted in General News, Profiles, People, Under Construction

Today’s Portland Daily Sun profiled Deux Cochon and its owner Adam Alfter,

“I love pickled pig’s feet, they are so good, but people are kind of scared of them,” said Adam Alfter, owner of the Public Market House’s newest BBQ joint, Deux Cochon.

“Probably about three people will eat it and I’ll eat the rest of them, but I’m cool with that, because those three people get to know what it’s like,” said Alfter.

reported on the upcoming return of the Groceria Cafe (aka Cafe at Pat’s),

“I had leased it for the last five years, and now I have it back with Greg Gilman, who is the original chef who built it with me. He’s coming back. Everybody’s excited,” [Jaime] Vacchiano said.

The cafe won rave reviews in local media, and one patron who dined at the cafe in its early years said Gilman’s return is great news.

and spread the word about Broke 207’s call for more affordable restaurants and the PFM Top 10 List.

Jyang-Lee’s Authentic Chinese Treats

| Posted in People

The Locavore column in Wednesday’s Portland Daily Sun is about Angela Fagin and her company Angela Jyang-Lee’s Authentic Chinese Treats.

Growing up in Nanjing, Angela used to eat dumplings made with whole wheat flour. It’s what her mother could afford; “dark flour” was much cheaper and not rationed like refined white flour. Naturally when her mother came to visit her at her new home in Maine, she was astonished that the dumplings that were the core of her daughter’s successful American business were not only made of whole wheat but that they sold at a premium because of it.

Also this week from the Sun is a continuation of Natalie Ladd’s reporting on the food stands at Hadlock Field.

A man of action and few words, he is surprised that people are remotely interested in what goes on behind the rolling metal gate that separates Stand D from the general concourse where fans roam; seeing and smelling their food and beverage options. With eight short days left until the first ceremonial pitch is tossed, the three-man, in-house, professional food service team is as busy as they will be all season.

Making Gelato & Maine Maple Sunday

| Posted in Events, People

Today’s Press Herald includes a report on Maine Maple Sunday,

This year’s sap is also unusually high in sugar content, consistently averaging 4 percent instead of the normal 2 percent or 3 percent. At that level, Harris said he can produce a gallon of maple syrup with only 21½ gallons of sap instead of the usual 40. Last year’s warm winter and low sugar content required an average of 47 gallons.

anda Maine at Work column where reporter Ray Routhier works with Mariagrazia Zanardi from Gorgeous Gelato,

Zanardi’s talk of the gelato’s “molecular structure” struck me. When eating ice cream, or gelato, or other similarly sweet treats, I had never thought much about molecular structure.

But Zanardi does, almost constantly. She studied gelato-making at a university in Italy, then moved to Portland and opened Gorgeous Gelato on Fore Street in December, with her husband, Donato Giovine. Giovine had a packaging business in Milan, and Zanardi had been a Spanish teacher before deciding upon gelato-making as a second career.

For some additional photos of Maine Maple Sunday go to Sweeter Salt.