Month: January 2016

The former Gusto’s food truck has been sold to Taylor Witham who will be relaunching the business under the name Ziggy’s Food Truck (website, facebook, twitter) this Spring.

Sip of Europe (website, facebook, instagram, twitter) has leased a 600 square foot space at 229 Congress Street. For the past year Sip of Europe owner Yulia Aleksandrovna has run a seasonal open air coffee shop on the pier in Old Orchard Beach.

Aleksandrovna found success in Old Orchard Beach and decided to open a shop in Portland to “share goodness with other Mainers” on a year round basis. Sip of Europe will serve Lavazza Coffee from Italy, as well as sweet and savory crepes.

Sip of Europe is moving into the space next to Ramen Suzukiya formerly occupied by Goddy G’s clothing store. Aleksandrovna hopes to open as soon as possible but understands that permitting and build-out can sometimes take longer than expected.

After months of speculation, Bissell Brothers has confirmed that they’ll be moving the brewery to Thompson’s Point in 2016.

We are excited to announce that in the second quarter of 2016 we will be moving our entire operation to the Brick North building at Thompson’s Point in Portland. The move will include a significant increase in production capacity, tap room size, & retail efficiency, while allowing us to keep the Bissell Brothers spirit, experience, and commitment to providing fresh beer for Maine intact.

The announcement from Noah and Peter Bissell shares that the “need to consider relocation came far earlier than any of us expected” and they are “pumped to be able to use the flexibility of the larger space to deliver you more of the beers you love, as well as new offerings, and take customer service and the on-premise experience to the next level”.

Bissell Brothers plan to send out regular updates as the build out for the new brewery gets under way.

Plans submitted to the planning board for Thompson’s Point show a 10,000 square foot designated for a brewery. In addition to Bissell Brothers, the point will also be home to a 5,000 square foot tasting room for Cellardoor Winery, Stroudwater Spirits distillery, and Jason Loring’s seafood restaurant called The Point.

Fore River Brewing is holding a launch party on January 13th at The Thirsty Pig.

Fore River is located in the Cash Corner neighborhood of South Portland. Owners John LeGassey, Alex Anastasoff and TJ Hansen plan on opening their tasting room shortly after the launch party.

An article in today’s Press Herald takes note of the growing number of food producers starting in or moving to Westbrook.

The proximity to Portland, but at a reduced price, easy access to Interstate 95 and support from city officials are among the reasons that food producers are choosing Westbrook as a place to grow.

“We welcome the palpable enthusiasm for the Westbrook market and look forward to becoming the manufacturing hub for foodie Maine,” said Assistant City Administrator William Baker, whom several companies credited with reaching out to them before they started looking in Westbrook and helping them find a location there.

Portland Magazine reports that Otto Pizza owners Michael Keon and Anthony Allen have also leased 190 State Street and plan to move Ocho Burrito into to the former Petite Jacqueline space.

…marketing manager, Eric Shepherd, confirms that OCHO…will move into Petite’s vacated space on State Street. “We realized the concept behind OCHO is probably bigger than the space it’s in now. We’d like to provide a lot more interesting ingredients, with plenty of space to eat, and a bar.”

In addition, Allen and Keon will be opening a new Otto Pizza at 250 Read Street and are working on Hero, a sandwich shop under construction at 30 City Center in the old Soaklology location.