Food Safety System Supports Rapid Domestic Market Expansion

“When we purchased a new property, we were excited about the opportunity to create a new production space. Starting fresh is exciting, but also daunting. We quickly realized we needed help. We feel so lucky that we were connected with Bill Whittier and the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). They really helped us break down our production process to create a kitchen layout and flow that will help us reduce costs, create jobs, and scale our business.” -Jaime Shaw, Owner

ABOUT VEGGIE LIFE FOODS.

Veggie Life creates vegan food products that celebrate vegetables rather than imitating the flavors of meat. With humble roots making from-scratch Veggie Burgers for rafting guests in The Forks, ME, Veggie Life has grown to supply over 170 restaurants and stores with all natural and allergen free products.

THE CHALLENGE.
After launching her business in 2019, owner Jaime Shaw found success getting restaurant menu placements by selling her products through distributors. For 5 years Veggie Life operated out of shared kitchen spaces that were not optimized for production. This limited their production capacity and growth opportunities. In 2024, they purchased a new space to build a production facility designed specifically for their needs. With no real experience in food manufacturing planning, they were searching for professional expertise to help them stay clear of costly mistakes that could jeopardize their investment and the health of the business.

MEP CENTER’S ROLE.
After reaching out to Maine MEP, Jaime Shaw was contacted by Bill Whittier. During the initial outreach, Jaime asked for an expedited schedule. Within days, Bill scheduled 6 four-hour long consulting sessions with the Veggie Life team. The project was completed in 3 ½ weeks which reduced the time between our initial investment and getting production off the ground.

The sessions took place at the new facility as Bill and the Veggie Life team familiarized themselves with the space and its potential. Together, they meticulously laid out the step by step processes of production for Veggie Life’s top selling products. During this time, we identified more suitable kitchen equipment and developed procedures to reduce production costs and increase product quality. Many valuable insights were gained in this exercise. Session after session, we moved closer to understanding the best ways to utilize our new production space to boost our production capacities. These process improvements will allow Veggie Life to significantly increase revenue by entering into new retail markets while expanding food service offerings.