When a family-owned inn in Freeport was sold in June to an out-of-state corporation, one of the first things they new owners did was sever business ties with local vendors in favor of a single wholesale supplier.
The Harraseeket Inn, once known for its lists of local suppliers alongside its expansive menu, now serves an abbreviated set of choices. Gone are the local mentions.
For the farmers, that doesn’t just represent a loss of business but also a loss of connections.
“We would have people shop at a farmers market who had eaten at the inn and recognized the name of our farm,” said Nate Drummond, whose farm was among the cut vendors. He provided produce to the inn. “One of the things that made local food and local farming so successful were the synergies where people could buy at markets and also get the food at restaurants.”
The sale of the Harraseeket to Giri Hotel Management, LLC is the latest in a line of Maine inns transferring from family-owned to corporate-owned. Giri has been buying up Maine inns in recent years and now owns 25 lodging properties in Maine, including the Anchorage by the Sea in Ogunquit, Bethel Inn Resort in Bethel and Union Bluff Hotel in York.
The changing hands and menus, like what happened at the Harraseeket, is concerning to officials like Steve Lyons, director of the Maine State Office of Tourism, who worries it could be the start of a trend that jeopardizes Maine’s future as a culinary destination.
“Travelers coming to Maine are still looking for local Maine food,” Lyons said.
According to statistics from the tourism office, 75 percent of visitors coming to Maine want a food or beverage experience and half of them specifically want Maine lobster. Forty-two percent wanted local beer and 39 percent were after local seafood. A third of all visitors tracked by the tourism office are looking for a farm-to-table eating experience or purchasing local food from a farmers market in the state.
“Visitors to Maine seem to be into local food,” Lyons said. “What we are seeing are visitors wanting to embed in local culture and understanding the locals [and] having local food is part of that.”
While Drummond understands the business model of people in the hospitality industry consolidating vendors, he does think it will make a difference to some people who visit Maine.
“As a local farmer we believe having local produce and other local food does provide a quality difference [and] distinctiveness from whatever you get off the Sysco truck,” Drummond said. “But I respect that for some restaurants and hospitality businesses that is simply not where they are at in terms of cost and time.”
The move toward a single, large wholesaler can also come at the expense of customer service. Smaller, local vendors can more easily and rapidly respond to their clients.
“In a pinch we take care of our customers and if they need something we make it happen,” Dennis Bowden of Bowden Egg Farm said. “Now if something is not on the [delivery truck] they are at the mercy of the supplier.”
Those connections between farmers and the people cooking with their products has helped put Maine on the culinary map, Lyons said.
“We have many restaurants that have won awards, including James Beard awards,” Lyons said. “We are seen as a foodie destination but if businesses start cutting costs by using the big wholesalers, I would think it could have a negative impact.”
Still, just because a business has opted to source from a single wholesaler, does not necessarily mean there is no local food on the menus.
Sysco, for example, does source some of their food items locally for resale. That’s the company that’s now supplying most of the ingredients used in the facility’s two restaurants, a staff member at the inn confirmed Friday.
That is the case for at least one vendor who up until this summer sold directly to the inn for 25 years and who asked to remain anonymous.
“I talked to [the inn] the other day because I had not received an order for awhile,” the vendor said. “I think they are still using my product, but are buying it through my distributor.”
It remains to be seen how any trend that reduces the reliance on local vendors in Maine’s hospitality industry will play out with diners. But tourism officials like Lyons are not thrilled about it, even as he acknowledges the economic sense of it.
“Companies like Sysco, for example, have a larger buying power,” Lyons said. “But I do think it could have a negative impact at some level where food seems to be such an important part of why people choose to come to Maine.”
