Saco ups its food game

Co-owner Victoria Barthelmes talks with customers seated at the outside deck area of Finestkind in Saco’s Pepperell Square. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer Like clockwork, the noon lunchtime crowd filed into Rapid Ray’s in downtown Saco on a recent weekday. Students, downtown employees and workers from a nearby construction site all bellied up to the counter to place their orders for “Big Ones” (double cheeseburgers), fries, sodas and “chocs” (chocolate milk), as throngs before them have done for decades.

Ray’s has been a local staple since 1953, starting as a proto-food truck, then opening its now landmark brick-and-mortar shop in 1986. Downtown Saco is pretty rich with old-school dining institutions. There are also the Golden Rooster for breakfast and lunch, Vic & Whit’s sandwich and wine shop, and Pizza by Michael, each of which has been open for more than 50 years.



But a fresh batch of eateries and food businesses has opened on and around Main Street over the past year, infusing the town with new energy and making locals hungry for even more highly craveable, modern options. Perhaps getting the most buzz is the town’s newest restaurant, Finestkind, in Pepperell Square. It’s a casual breakfast and lunch spot launched in September by chef-owners Tom and Victoria Barthelmes, a young couple with serious Portland and New York City fine-dining pedigrees (Central Provisions and Per Se among them) who pride themselves on making practically everything in-house, from the English muffins, brioche, donuts, pastries and cookies to the bacon, ham, sausage, brisket, chorizo, slaw and potato chips.

Tom Barthelmes, left, and Zach Bryant in the kitchen at Finestkind. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer Finestkind and places like Swell Nitro Coffee, Swedish bakery Fika, Sea Spray Confections and the forthcoming gluten-free bakery Sweets & Co., are part of the town’s burgeoning new food scene: hip, smartly branded shops run by young entrepreneurs who recognize Saco’s potential as a food destination.

It’s not that the town has seen a sharp increase in the number of restaurants and food shops; many of these new venues are replacing others that recently closed; Finestkind, for instance, took over the space of the longstanding breakfast spot New Moon. Still, locals can’t help but appreciate the high quality, passion and meticulous attention to detail the new owners bring to their businesses. “Finestkind is one of those places that would thrive in Portland for sure,” said Matt Ellis, a Wex sales manager who moved with his young family to Saco in 2019.

“They certainly have risen to the top of everybody’s list for breakfast in Saco. Because we’re getting these creative entrepreneurial folks opening places like Finestkind and Fika, I think that is going to draw more eyeballs to the food scene here.” BUILDING ON BIDDEFORD’S SUCCESS Just over the Saco River that divides the two towns, Biddeford and its own food have received national media attention for several years now.

But Saco may be starting to catch up. In fact, some of the new businesses are banking on it. “What made me decide to open in Saco was to see how Biddeford has been coming along,” said Peter Vacca, co-owner of Swell Nitro Coffee, which specializes in tap-poured, nitro cold-brewed coffees with delectably creamy heads.

Swell launched in May on Main Street, next to Vic & Whit’s. “With that food scene blowing up, I figured Saco wasn’t going to be too far behind it, and it’d be great to get in at the ground level.” “I believe that what is going on in Biddeford will trickle over into Saco,” agreed Lorraine Fagela, baker-owner of the gluten-free bakery and café Sweets & Co, which she aims to open on Main Street by late October.

“There are a lot of opportunities and a very supportive community longing for variety and different flavors in the food scene here. It’ll be behind Portland and Biddeford for sure, but it won’t be for long.” “It feels kind of natural that the Saco food scene is picking up steam with new quality spots, especially with our adjacency to Biddeford,” said Samuel Wiese, co-owner of the walk-up Swedish bakery stand Fika.

“Really, the two towns form one larger community. The more unique and high-quality businesses that come in, especially in the food sector, the better we all do.” Downtown Saco has fewer available spaces than Biddeford, which will naturally limit how fast the town can bring in new food businesses.

There was just one vacancy downtown as of late September, according to Angela Presby, executive director of the nonprofit organization Saco Main Street. But local demand for new food and dining options is clear, and the buzz about places like Fika and its Instagrammable Scandinavian pastries draws people from well beyond the town borders. “Because they’ve brought such a really cool menu to the area, folks are coming down from Portland or wherever, and they’ll stand outside, it doesn’t matter what the weather is, they just love what Fika is offering,” Presby said.

“We have a line wrapped around the corner every day,” Fika co-owner Kristina Alving said. “The public is really wanting more new places to go in Saco, and they don’t want to have to keep going up to Portland to get it.” Vacca said Swell also draws customers from surrounding communities.

“I know personally we’re bringing a few more people to Main Street just for a cup of coffee, which is really cool to see,” he said. “I’m hoping the extra foot traffic that places like us, Finestkind and Fika generate get distributed to other places as well.” Lizz Driscoll carries out a breakfast order and Tom Barthelmes works in the kitchen at the newly opened Finestkind.

Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer PLENTY OF TOWN SUPPORT Saco’s food scene started to freshen up several years before the latest influx of start-ups. Many locals point to the 2017 launch of Pepperell Square’s Quiero Café, which specializes in empanadas and other South American food. “We wanted this to be a casual and inviting place for people to try new flavors, and also to show that the Latin community is honest and hard-working,” co-owner Alejandra Herrera said.

“We live here, and we felt a need for it here.” Likewise, when she and her husband, Carlos Guzman, opened the upscale Latin restaurant Pacifico in a renovated mill building on Main Street in late 2020, they didn’t consider putting it in Portland – although they’d opened a second Quiero Café location there in 2019 – because they saw a hole they could fill in Saco. Herrera said locals were hesitant at first about their cuisine, “but people soon warmed up to it.

” She said the collective local palate may have grown more sophisticated in recent years, in part because social media and travel introduced residents to new food possibilities. “With all the exposure to more cuisines, diners are getting more adventurous,” she said. Indeed, townspeople now say they cherish the “authenticity” of local international eateries like Quiero and Jin Sushi and Ramen, where the chef trained in Japan to make ramen noodles.

Herrera said she and Guzman received key support from Saco town officials and booster groups like Saco Main Street when they were opening their venues. To a person, the owners of Saco’s new food spots say the town was extraordinarily helpful in their launches – in contrast to many restaurateurs in Portland, who often complain about cumbersome red tape and permitting holdups. “Before we put in an offer on our building, we wanted to get an idea of what it was like to work with the town,” Victoria Barthelmes of Finestkind said.

“So we went into the town hall, and we were immediately greeted by the economic development director. Everyone there was super-excited about our plan, and we left there with a pile of grant paperwork and business cards from every single department head in the town. “I can’t speak highly enough of everyone who works with the town,” she continued.

“They were professional and proactive the whole time, and they definitely made the whole decision feel right.” “Everybody we spoke to in all departments of the town loved the idea of us creating (Fika), and made every possible accommodation to help us get it up and running,” said Wiese. “Because getting through all of the permitting and red tape can be challenging, they’re trying to really streamline their process to get small businesses up and running,” Alving added.

“Saco Main Street has gone out of their way since we opened to include us in Main Street events and other events we can bake for, or by tagging us on social media and including us in flyers and in the town paper.” “We have a really strong economic development department,” Presby said of the city of Saco. “When businesses approach the city, there are facade grants and small business grants, opportunities to get some additional funding to move your business forward.

It’s really helpful to know you have the support of the city when you’re trying to start something new.” Yet even as the town’s food options grow, there are still large holes in its offerings. Longtime residents, like Deputy Fire Chief David Pendleton, are sk eptical that Saco can be a true food destination until those gaps are filled.

“I personally think we’ve got a little ways to go to catch Biddeford and all their options,” he said. Like many others, Pendleton sees a need for more sit-down dinner venues downtown. “There is a lack of nighttime dining currently,” agreed Ellis, noting that dinner in downtown Saco is mostly limited to the Italian restaurant Traditions, The Run of the Mill brew pub, Pacifico and pizzerias.

“We’ve got breakfast and lunch on lock. To get to that next level, we do need some places that are destinations for dinner. There’s a serious opportunity there.

” Many observers in town agree that restaurateurs and food-business entrepreneurs looking for a place to launch might want to steer clear of the stiff competition and higher real estate prices of Portland, and look instead at an up-and-coming community like Saco. Weise, noting that he and Alving aim eventually to open a sit-down location for Fika in downtown Saco, said he knows of at least three other restaurateurs and food business start-ups that are considering launching in Saco. “Portland is heavily saturated with a lot of food, and it’s very busy and expensive,” Alving said.

“So to be only 20 minutes south of Portland and on the coast is another great option for anyone looking to build a space.” Don Camire runs Rapid Ray’s, which his father, Ray, launched 71 years ago. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer ‘NOT A ZERO-SUM GAME’ Vacca sees the new developments in the town’s food scene “almost like a changing of the guard.

A lot of the business owners in Saco are older, and you see that anything that becomes vacant, the younger crowd is coming in and taking it over. The younger business owners are starting to see the potential of what Saco’s Main Street can be.” But this doesn’t mean generational conflict or a divide is at play.

Older residents seem to enjoy the new offerings as much as anyone else. “Finestkind is a very different menu from what New Moon was,” Saco Economic Development Director Tracey Desjardins said. “It’s more modern food.

When I go there, I see the older generation really enjoying that, and the idea of having something different here.” It helps, too, that the new spots aim to keep their prices as affordable as possible, given sharply rising costs for labor and food since the pandemic. Almost every breakfast and lunch main dish at Finestkind falls between $10 and $16, for instance.

“The consumer today has started to push back on inflation,” said Pizza by Michael’s owner Corey Johnson. “More and more, they’re looking for restaurants that can feed the family in a way that doesn’t break the bank, but gives them a quality experience at the same time. New places in Saco are absolutely focused on meeting the customers’ expectations.

” “Coming from the history of what Biddeford and Saco are, two towns built around the mills, you’re dealing with a mix of blue collar and white collar workers,” Vacca explained. “And throughout the two towns’ histories, they had to find businesses that gelled with everyone. What you’re seeing in new businesses popping up is taking that history into account and keeping prices affordable for everyone.

” Bryan MacDonald cooks burgers at Rapid Ray’s, a beloved burger institution in Saco. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer Few people are worried that the new restaurants and food shops will overshadow or threaten Saco’s beloved institutions; those dining staples have their loyal clienteles practically baked into their business models by now. “It’s not a zero-sum game on dining experiences,” Johnson said.

“Adding more dining experiences in downtown Saco makes it a more attractive destination.” “It’s great that these new places are opening – the more variety the better,” said Don Camire, who runs Rapid Ray’s, which his father, Ray, launched 71 years ago. “And competition is good.

The new places add to the whole flavor of the town.” “We worked hard for 52 years and we’ve seen a lot of changes in the marketplace,” said Vic & Whit’s co-owner Beth Johnston. “It’s very nice to see an influx of new small businesses trying to make their way.

” Presby said all the town’s food businesses – and local business in general, really – stand to gain from the new dynamic. “There’s this kind of cross-pollination,” she said. “If somebody comes down to check out Finestkind, they leave with a full, happy belly, but they look across the street and they go, ‘Oh look, there’s that Vic & Whit’s place, when I’m down here again I can go in and get a sandwich and some cool wine.

’ You’re bringing people downtown, and they will see what they can come back for, so it’s all in the long run very beneficial.” Buying coffee on a recent Wednesday at Swell, Stacey Nicholas, co-owner of the downtown Saco boutique Nabos, said she’s excited by the new openings and the potential they create. “The more traffic we have on Main Street, the better it is for all of us,” she said.

“The foot traffic has increased in the past year or two. People are interested in the Biddeford-Saco area, and they’re exploring it more.” Of course, there are also potential pitfalls.

Camire notes that the labor market, already stretched thin, may face even greater strain if the local food sector expands. “If you want to keep your employees, you’ve got to pay them,” he said. “You can’t pay a high school kid $15 an hour these days, they’re going to laugh at you.

You’ve got to pay them close to $20 an hour just to cook French fries. With new restaurants coming in, I think it’s going to make it that much more pricey.” Delilah Poupore, executive director of Biddeford’s downtown organization, Heart of Biddeford, said she’s noticed a self-correcting effect at play as Biddeford blossomed into a food destination over the past 10 years.

“As the bar for quality raises, sometimes business that have been able to operate on the margins, they will find eventually that they can’t pull that off,” she said. “They’ll have to innovate or put in capital and invest in themselves or sadly, at some point in the evolution they will end up not being able to make it.” Poupore pointed to Reilly’s, a Biddeford bakery more than 100 years old, as an example of how to update and rebrand successfully.

“Reilly’s has gotten a lot more attention in the last 10 years, and it has inspired them to completely build out their cake and cupcake design business, where it’s more like what you see on those cake-making TV shows rather than the traditional cake frosting designs that might have been their practice before,” Poupore said. “In the ideal scenario, the newcomers benefit the longtime businesses by bringing more attention, and it also inspires them to up their creativity or make sure they’re noticed too.” Johnston of Vic & Whit’s said she’s seen a fresh enthusiasm among Saco visitors lately, who seem energized by exploring the town’s food options, both new and old.

“Sometimes the newer places tend to get more attention for a period of time because they’re new,” Johnston said. “But I see new people come in our door almost every day, so something is working right.” We invite you to add your comments.

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