Maine Crisp Co. Survives “Heartbreak” After Production Facility Flood
Preparing for Expo West can be a stressful endeavor for any CPG company but for Maine Crisp Co., the lead up to the year’s biggest food show became even more dramatic when a “100-year storm” hit Central Maine.
In mid-December, the cracker brand found its year-old production facility under four feet of water after the Kennebec River crested its banks, washing away nearly all of its product inventory.
The brand was in the midst of its holiday season push with orders going out every day. On December 18, the warehouse was stocked with finished product for shipping to distributors, as well as ingredients and packaging that would go towards restocking after the new year. The staff left for the evening only to return the next day to find the building inaccessible due to flood waters.
“Everything was ruined. It was just heartbreaking,” said Maine Crisp founder and chief product officer Karen Getz. “We just rallied.”
Founded in 2014 by Karen and Steven Getz, the Winslow, Maine-based brand has grown from its beginnings in the Getz’s home kitchen to the 17,500 sq. ft. production space, purchased by one of the brand’s investors, where it’s been since September 2022.
Situated alongside the Kennebec River, the production warehouse is on a flood plain but had been built to have its floor five feet off the ground after flooding in a different “100-year storm” in 1987 had damaged the original structure.
Fortunately, the storm had knocked the power out before the flooding started, saving some of the company’s equipment from further damage but Getz estimates the company lost at least $250,000 worth of product, packaging, ingredients and office supplies.
The Maine Crisp team worked through Christmas to clean out the space and get it ready for a ServPro team to come dry out the facility. The company’s production team was paid for two weeks following the flood and then furloughed for another three weeks.
At the direction of the company’s new director of operations (whose first day was the Monday of the flood), the brand brought its staff back on January 22 and started baking two days later with the help of generators.
Even though Maine Crisp was able to get production rolling again just over a month after the flood, it still had to inform its customers and distributors that it would take another four to five weeks to build inventories to ship orders again.
With Expo West approaching, the clock was ticking to produce as much as possible so Maine Crisp could not only sample and present at the show but also dispel any rumors that the flood had wiped them out. Like most other exhibiting brands, Maine Crisp also was anxious to talk to buyers about the cracker company’s new West Coast distribution partnership with UNFI.
In April, Maine Crisp is expecting to go nationwide in all Whole Foods Market stores. Its Better Than Buckwheat crackers — which have shown increasing sales velocities since launching in the fall — are entering all Whole Foods locations and the Crisps line will be in all but the Rocky Mountain and NorCal regions of the retailer.
The company also recently lined up new partnerships with Thrive Market and national distribution with National Co-Op Grocers.
Getting production levels up and meeting the purchase orders “will be tight” between Expo and the new distribution channels, Getz said, “but we should be fine.”
In terms of lessons learned, it’s hard to prepare for inclement weather but Getz said it was important for the team to maintain open lines of communication to relay what was happening and to remain optimistic “because we needed to give people hope,” she said.
“We’re always determined to make the best of any situation and I think it is what it is. We can either complain about it or we can dig in and we’ll be back,” she said.
“Also check and recheck your insurance.”
