Experience Maine Market (website, facebook, instagram) has leased the former Rosemont Market space at 5 Commercial Street where the market will include a retail shop, tasting space and cafe that specializes in Maine made products.

At Experience Maine owner Rachel Sagiroglu plans to serve coffee and baked goods from local roasters and bakeries in the cafe. The space will be set-up with an area that can hold up to 21 people for tastings of Maine beers and wines. Sagiroglu also plans to build out a demonstration kitchen to host cooking demos with local chefs, cooking classes and tasting events.

Rachel Sagiroglu hopes to open the Experience Maine Market this summer. Sagiroglu grew up in the Begrade Lakes area and worked in the Portland restaurant industry before pursing a career in marketing and event and travel planning with “20 years of experience planning meetings, travel and events and experiential marketing campaigns”.

For more information on read this recent article from Mainebiz.

Update: The new name for this business is The Maker’s Gallery.

Silly’s (instagram) owner Colleen Kelley has applied for a beer and wine license so customers at her current restaurant at 68 Washington Ave can enjoy sangria and beer with their meals.

Cellardoor Winery (website, facebook, instagram) closed their tasting room on Thompson’s Point last September. Owner Bettina Doulton has now leased a new space on Middle Street at the corner of Church Street for Cellardoor to open a new tasting room and retail shop in Portland.

Après (website, instagram) a cidery and hard seltzer producer is under construction at 148 Anderson Street in East Bayside. Ian Goering, former head brewer at Tributary Brewing has been hired as the head of production at Après, and the operations manager Sarah Bryan—formerly with Schilling Beer—will manage front of house operations.

Après is being launched by co-owners Ryan Houghton from the Hop Yard and Michael Cardente. Extensive renovations to the industrial building are in full swing with hopes to open the 80-seat tasting room and outdoor seating area sometime this summer.

Après is looking forward to being part of Maine’s burgeoning cider industry, and will be Portland first hard seltzer producer. The production space includes 15-barrel brewing operation and a barrel-ageing room for their cider. A food program for the tasting room is in the early planning stage and will be augmented with appearances by local food trucks.

For people that want the most unique social drinking adventure, Après is redefining the tasting room experience by creating the most unique house-brewed hard seltzer + cider and an unforgettable social environment. We facilitate the simple act of discovery – where people enjoy rare products and connect with others in exciting ways.

Maine has 21 on-market cider producers and now 7 cider producers under construction.

A new restaurant called Stacks Pancake Company (instagram)  is under construction at 139 Riverside St. Stacks will serves breakfast and lunch all day, along with bloody marys, mimosas and coffee from Arabica.

The business is being launched by the Papanikoleau family. They previously ran a number of restaurants in New York and New Jersey before moving to Maine. The family is hoping to launch Stacks sometime in May.

Stay tuned for more details on the menu. In the meantime take a look at their instagram-ready breakfast options.

Sullivan House Bakery (facebook, instagram) is under construction in Gorham at 102 Main Street. Owner Nancy Ames hopes to open the 2,400 sq ft bakery at the beginning of August selling a line-up of bread, scones, muffins, biscuits, cakes, cookies, bars, brownies, and other baked goods.

Ames wants Sullivan House to be not only a good local source for baked goods but also a meeting place for Gorham where people can connect over coffee.

The building plan has table, counter and group seating for up to 26 people. Ames has a life long passion for baking and after a career in the insurance industry and a stint as an innkeeper in Vermont.

DiMillo’s has announced plans to launch a food truck this year called DiMillo’s on a Roll. The truck will be serving “lobster rolls, clam chowder and some sweet treats” and will be located in the front of the DiMillo’s lot on Commercial Street. DiMillo’s hope to launch their truck by the end of May.

They are not alone in seeing opportunity in opening a mobile business this year. Vy Banh Mi launched in March and there are at least another 15 new food trucks aiming to operating in the Portland area this year: Boomin Burrito Bus, Cheese the Day, Curbside Comforts, DiMillo’s on a Roll, Hi Bar Brunch Truck, Highroller Lobster Co., Hunt & Alpine, Iron Clad Eats, La Fritanga, Paddy Wagon, Snowology 207, Sok Sabai, The Pink Waffle, The Shuck Wagon, and Wicked Fresco.

So many new food trucks are launching that WGME’s Dustin Bonk has reported on the 2021 Food Truck Surge, and Nick Schroeder from the Bangor Daily News has reported on services that help customers find the food trucks that are in business on any given day.