Posts Tagged: business

Waterville Food Truck Park & Jay’s Dumpling Truck

Zhanpo (“Popo”) Lu wanted to bring more food variety to Waterville, and in May 2025, she did just that by opening the region’s first dedicated food truck park. The Waterville Food Truck Park features six rotating food trucks and operates seven days a week. It’s home to more than 20 vendors offering everything from Thai… Read more »

Commercial Leasing Tips for Small Business Owners

One of the final hurdles in starting your own business is finding a suitable location to hang your shingle. At the SBDC, we often see sole proprietors who have just begun their ventures working from home. However, we also work with micro-entrepreneurs (companies with less than 10 employees) who need to rent enough space to sell… Read more »

Winnie’s Beauty Salon – South Portland

When Winnie Ogweta opened Winnie’s Beauty Salon in South Portland, she set out to do more than style hair. As the first Black-owned salon in South Portland, and one of just a handful across Maine, her business represents an important milestone and a new opportunity. As a licensed hairstylist, Winnie wanted to create a space… Read more »

Dreamer Food – Bangor

Business Owner Anik Derphilibossian sitting in front of her food truck Dreamer Food

Anik Derphilibossian is a Registered Nurse (RN), Armenian-born & raised in Lebanon, who immigrated to the United States from Lebanon in 2021. She found herself missing the flavors and food of her homeland. With a love for cooking and encouragement from her fellow nurse and best friend Kara, Anik started sharing her culinary creations –  first… Read more »

Palette Crêperie – Monhegan

Various crepes offered by Palette Creperie

Originally hailing from Morocco and residing New York City, Redwane Gatarny, a trained chef, embarked on a journey back to his culinary roots. After seven years in public health, he decided to return to his passion for good food with a dream of sharing the authentic flavors he remembers from his childhood. He wanted to… Read more »

Ease Massage & Manual Therapy – Saco

Stefani Sellers, owner of Ease Massage & Manual Therapy, giving a massage to person laying down on a table, looking relaxed

Stefani Sellers has always been passionate about healing and helping others. This is why she launched her business, Ease Massage & Manual Therapy, in 2022. Ease is Maine’s only nationally board-certified medical massage therapy practice certified in manual lymphatic drainage. She provides her clients with effective healing solutions tailored to their individual needs including massage… Read more »

Networking For People Who Hate It

Some of the best parts of networking are meeting people from all backgrounds, building your business, finding new clients, and getting your name out there, but it can also be an uncomfortable experience. If you’re an introvert, networking may be one of your least favorite activities. So here are some tips and tricks to make… Read more »

Seacoast Senior Advisors – Scarborough

Many seniors face large transitions and changes later in life and Dani Rockey loves getting to help families unravel and understand their options. So she started Seacoast Senior Advisors, a community-based organization focused on helping families navigate Senior Living options, understanding that transitions are hard enough and wanted to help make them easier. But to… Read more »