Seafood lovers will soon have a new option to please their palates: four different seafood pies of the Maine Fresh line of foods produced by the Trescott‑based Cobscook Bay Company LLC. The seafood comes straight from the bays of Washington County, caught by local fishermen, says company CEO Jeff Johnson. "It's all natural, wild‑caught seafood that is sustainably harvested." In addition, the pies use Maine‑grown vegetables, herbs and dairy products whenever possible.
     The seafood pies are the culmination of a dream held close to the heart of the Cobscook Community Learning Center (CCLC) of Trescott since 2002 to create a new generation of businesses for the region. The community members who designed the nonprofit CCLC recognized that supplementary funding would be required to operate and ensure access to the center, especially for those with limited financial resources. The goal was set early on to create businesses that would model sustainable practices, create new jobs and, with time, generate a percentage of net profits that would help sustain the CCLC.
     With the financial assistance of a number of different grant‑making organizations, the Cobscook Bay Company was formed as a for‑profit partnership between the CCLC's secondary LLC, Periwinkle LLC, and Phinney Enterprises, owned by local businessman John Phinney, who is also president of the Cobscook Bay Company.
     Phinney's wholesale company is a distributor and processor of seafood caught in the area and provides Cobscook Bay Company with the fresh seafood it needs. The seafood is then transformed into four single‑serving pies: lobster, scallop, shrimp and crab. The single serving is a hearty meal for one with 9.8 ounces registered on the packaging and will retail from $5.99 to $8.99 depending on the seafood selection.
     Currently the Cobscook Bay Company employs eight people to produce the pies, but Johnson notes that the cumulative benefits to fishermen and other suppliers are many but hard to calculate.
     Johnson, who sold his Maine‑based business, Pemberton's Gourmet Foods, last year, has over 20 years of experience in fine foods, marketing and running a successful business. Pemberton's is best known for its line "Death by Chocolate," but also produces salsa, pesto and private‑label goods. Phinney has also been in business for over 20 years. His experience in seafood distribution and processing was instrumental in moving the Cobscook Bay Company forward when he joined forces with the CCLC in 2007.
     Understanding the importance of happy taste buds, Johnson worked with Portland's famed Fore Street restaurant chef and 2004 James Beard Award winner Sam Hayward to come up with the blend of ingredients for the pies. Now the pies are ready to set the tables of seafood lovers around the state and eventually farther afield.
"Hannaford Brothers has agreed to distribute the pies [to 170 stores] and we expect to have the pies placed in the stores by the end of November," Johnson says. In addition, the pies will be placed in selected local grocery stores.
     But beyond pleasing seafood lovers, the Maine Fresh brand of Cobscook Bay Company has a social mission that was attractive to Johnson and has proved compelling to retailers. Johnson lost his wife Sarah less than five years ago to cancer. "She was my business partner. She was such a big part of it. When you have a significant event like that happen in your life, it can change you." Johnson worked for another few years with Pemberton's but felt that he needed to change his focus. After selling the company, he was looking for a challenge, but one that allowed him to use his business experience in other ways. He found his niche after meeting CCLC Executive Director Alan Furth and Phinney.
     The social mission of the Cobscook Bay Company intrigued Johnson. Here were opportunities and challenges that would support products using traditional resources and traditional jobs such as fishing, both of which bring economic vitality to the county, but that would also benefit the area's children and adults through the CCLC's educational initiatives. The Maine Fresh line will donate 25% of net profits to the CCLC to support the nonprofit's mission to sustain transformative educational opportunities at the local and global level. "Retailers have responded to our social mission so well," says Johnson. "They recognize how fragile the economy is."