Chamber doors getting used
Maine's chambers of commerce are going through another round of leadership overhaul. In recent weeks, Ross Cunningham stepped down as president and CEO of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce, saying he planned to pursue other opportunities. Matt Leonard, president of the Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, resigned in the wake of the backlash over an advertised raffle of an automatic weapon. Most recently, Toni Crouch, president of the Damariscotta Chamber of Commerce, said she will step down, indicating that she'd like to dial back her demanding schedule. It was only a year ago that we were writing about departures at chambers in Bar Harbor and Ellsworth. Three different reasons, yet the trend seems to be that chamber positions are shorter-term posts, with two to three years being a normal tenure.
Bixby continues rapid ascent
Meanwhile, Kate McAleer, a 2014 winner of the Mainebiz NEXT award, was at the annual Mainebiz Momentum Convention recently offering samples of her signature Bixby Bars and the new Bixby Bites. She is no stranger to accolades, having won the Small Business Administration's 2015 “Maine Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.” More recently, she beat out more than 500 entrants to win a $100,000 grant investment from the Tory Burch Foundation. In a state with so many entrepreneurs, she continues to lead by example. Lori Valigra's story in these pages about House of Genius cites an entrepreneur who sought out McAleer. Last I saw her, at the Momentum Convention, Eimskip Chairman Richard D'Abo was at her booth, chatting and sampling chocolates. I can only imagine that it's a matter of time before a shipping container of Bixby products lands in Europe.
Heard on the street
From Bangor, there's news that a McDonald's owner-operator, Gary Eckmann, has won his fourth Ronald Award, given to the top owner-operator in the chain's Boston region. He became an owner-operator in 1979 and moved to Maine in 1986 after buying four McDonald's sites in the Bangor area. But his involvement in Mickey D's goes back even further: he has worked for McDonald's for 53 years, which predates the introduction of the Egg McMuffin, Chicken McNuggets and Filet-o-Fish. More recently, he was on the team that brought the lobster roll to McDonald's restaurants in New England. … Elsewhere in Bangor, Doug Reed, who opened a sweetFrog franchise in 2013, is using a counterintuitive approach to selling frozen yogurt. Taking note of how ice cream sales fall in the winter months, he invested in a “campfire-like atmosphere,” he says, outfitting the Bangor store with gas fireplaces, comfy couches and “warm, inviting décor.” The result, he says, has been that sweetFrog has become more of a community gathering place and hangout. In dollars, the Bangor location had sales of $1.25 million in its first full year, making it the No. 1 location for the 320-store, Richmond, Va.-based chain. Reed opened a second site in Waterville in 2014.
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