Maine For Keeps – Details, episodes & analysis

Maine has the *location*, the *workforce*, and the *quality of life*—so how can we get more businesses to choose Maine??In this episode of *Maine For Keeps*, Jonathan Bush sits down with Peter DelGreco, CEO of Maine & Company, to unpack the hard truths about why economic development is so damn hard. From regional energy policy to regulatory gridlock, to anonymous lawsuits that try to kill projects even after they’ve been approved, Peter breaks down Maine's competitive landscape—and where we go from here.They also revisit the inside story of how Peter helped Jonathan relocate Athena Health to Belfast, ME—creating nearly 1,000 jobs and proving what’s possible in Maine when everything aligns.If you care about Maine’s economic future, this is the episode to watch.🔧 Topics include:- The spaghetti handshake of New England energy policy- Why Maine wins on workforce—and loses on litigation- How outside money is blocking our towns from building.- What industries could *thrive* here with the right infrastructure- Why Maine should be the “Plan B” factory for America

Maine is full of hardworking entrepreneurs, but too often, they have to leave the state to build something big. Luke Holden is one of them.

He grew up in Cape Elizabeth, a third-generation lobsterman with Maine roots as deep as they come. But when it came time to start Luke’s Lobster, he didn’t do it in Portland. Or Rockland. Or Bar Harbor.

He went to New York City.

Why? Because Maine made it impossible.

In this episode of Maine For Keeps, Jonathan Bush sits down with Luke to break down:

🔥 Why Maine businesses struggle to scale—and what has to change

🔥 The red tape, taxes, and regulations that keep entrepreneurs out

🔥 How Maine’s housing crisis is blocking economic growth

🔥 Why Luke eventually came back—and what it’ll take to keep the next generation from leaving

If we want to restore the Maine dream, we need to fix the structural issues that push our best and brightest elsewhere.

Can we actually make Maine a place where entrepreneurs thrive? Let’s talk about it.

Maine isn’t just losing opportunities. We’re driving them away—with energy policies, regulatory gridlock, and a learned helplessness that’s sinking our economy.

In this episode of Maine For Keeps, Jonathan Bush sits down with Matt Jacobson, Director of Sales & Marketing at Summit Natural Gas of Maine (and former CEO of Maine & Company), to have a brutally honest conversation about:

• How Maine’s energy costs got so out of control

• Why we’re importing natural gas from Trinidad instead of Pennsylvania

• The real math behind solar and wind (and why it’s not adding up)

• How rigid ideology crushed projects like Dragon Cement — and what it’s costing all of us

• What “learned helplessness” looks like at the state level—and how we break free

• Why nuclear and pragmatic energy investments could be Maine’s ticket to a real future

• And how the American dream shouldn’t require leaving Maine to achieve it

If you’re tired of seeing Maine fall behind while politicians pat themselves on the back, this is the episode you don’t want to miss.

We’re not here to complain—we’re here to rebuild.

🔔 Subscribe and join the conversation about Maine’s economic future.

Andrew Bonarrigo isn’t a venture-backed CEO. He didn’t get a grant. He didn’t inherit a business. He started out cleaning antique bricks from the Rockland Jail, selling them for 35 cents apiece—and used the proceeds to build his own masonry company from scratch.

Today, he runs one of the most respected construction crews on the coast of Maine. Year-round work. Eight full-time employees. On time. On budget. Every time.

In this episode, we go deep on what it really takes to run a small business in Maine:

⛏️ How he bootstrapped from a salvage yard to a 401K-equipped team

📈 Why going legit almost bankrupted him

💸 His take on Maine’s new paid family leave policy

🏡 The hidden pitfalls of “affordable” housing initiatives

🏗️ And why closing Dragon Cement might be the most backwards policy decision in decades

This isn’t just a story about bricks and mortar. It’s a story about grit, pride, and what it means to bet on yourself—especially in a state that makes it harder than it should be.

Timestamps:

0:00 – From bootlegging bricks to building a business

5:00 – Going legit: The moment he formed a corporation

11:00 – The impact of Maine’s paid family leave law

19:00 – Building his own home after work, in the dark

23:00 – North Haven housing and the fairness dilemma

25:00 – The Dragon Cement shutdown

27:30 – What needs to change for Maine builders

Subscribe for more conversations with the real Mainers building the future of this state.

Everyone agrees Maine needs more housing. So why isn’t it getting built?

In this episode of Maine For Keeps, Jonathan Bush sits down with Matt Marks, a lifelong Mainer and construction industry veteran, to pull back the curtain on the real reasons development in Maine is so painfully slow—and what we can do to change it.

They cover:

🛠️ Why developers are walking away from projects before they start

🌲 When environmental policy turns into performance art (Christmas tree seawalls?)

📈 The bright spot: trade school apprenticeships and a booming construction workforce

📉 The dark spot: permit backlogs, regulatory death-by-a-thousand-cuts, and “not in my backyard” politics

🚧 How to fix the system without sacrificing Maine’s environmental values

If you care about Maine’s housing crisis, workforce future, or economic development, this episode will both frustrate you and fire you up.

Subscribe for honest conversations with the people who are fighting to make Maine a place we can all build and belong.

Maine is a state built on small businesses—so why did Forbes rank us 45th out of 50 for small business friendliness?

In this episode of Maine For Keeps, Jonathan Bush sits down with Nate Cloutier, government affairs director for Hospitality Maine, to unpack the absurd barriers holding back Maine’s restaurant, hotel, and tourism industries—from soda fountain laws still on the books, to family leave mandates that punish seasonal businesses.

They discuss:

⛔ Why running a coffee shop in Maine could get you fined for not having a soda fountain

💸 How well-intentioned policies push employers underground

🍽️ The surprising apprenticeship programs fueling Maine’s food scene

🏠 Why lack of workforce housing is Maine tourism’s #2 bottleneck

📉 And how regulatory red tape is stifling growth in one of Maine’s most essential sectors

This episode is a must-watch for anyone who wants to see Maine actually support the small businesses it claims to champion.

🔔 Subscribe to Maine For Keeps and never miss an episode: www.maineforkeepspodcast.com

📌 Timestamps:

00:00 – Nate’s backstory: from French teacher to policy advocate

03:20 – The economic footprint of tourism in Maine

06:30 – How Maine became a food destination

08:30 – Why young people aren’t staying in Maine

11:00 – Family leave and seasonal work don’t mix

14:00 – Maine’s “whiteboard of shame” for small business laws

21:00 – Can we make it easier to start a restaurant?

27:00 – Why workforce housing is the key to Maine’s future

33:00 – The mindset shift Maine desperately needs

Melissa LaCasse left public radio in New York to build Tanbark, a Maine-based startup replacing single-use plastic with sustainable molded fiber. The catch? She’s doing it in a state with almost no growth capital, aging manufacturing infrastructure, and endless red tape.

In this episode, Jonathan Bush sits down with Melissa to talk about:

• Why Maine’s forests are our best climate asset

• What it actually takes to build a manufacturing startup in this state

• Why “stewardship” doesn’t mean “don’t touch anything”

• And the frustrating lack of funding that keeps Maine businesses small

Melissa doesn’t just talk sustainability—she lives it. And this episode is a masterclass in what’s possible when a big idea meets the right place… and still has to fight like hell to survive.

📍 Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro + how Jonathan and Melissa met

01:15 – What is Tanbark and why does it matter?

05:30 – Why Melissa built this company in Maine

07:00 – How molded fiber is made (and why it’s so hard)

12:30 – What makes Maine a great place to start—but a tough place to grow

16:00 – The “valley of death” no one talks about

23:00 – What Maine’s environmentalists get wrong

27:00 – Melissa’s big vision: a new molded fiber mill in Maine

35:00 – Final thoughts on stewardship, stagnation, and economic hope

📢 Subscribe for more conversations about building a stronger, freer Maine.

Full episodes drop weekly.

When athenahealth opened a small office in Belfast, Maine, no one expected it to become one of the state’s largest private employers. But under the leadership of Jonathan McDevitt, that office grew from a couple hundred people to nearly 1,000—creating real career paths in a rural community that had long been overlooked.

In this episode, Jonathan Bush sits down with Jonathan McDevitt, former Senior VP at athenahealth, to talk about:

• What it really takes to scale a high-growth company in small-town Maine

• Why word-of-mouth—not headhunters—was their most powerful recruiting tool

• How Maine’s “hidden talent” could become its greatest economic asset

• The workforce challenge no one can solve: 9% of young men not working, not in school, not even looking

• Why the next economic boom may come from the people already here—if we know how to activate them

If you care about innovation, rural revitalization, or building companies in Maine that actually last, this is one you don’t want to miss.

Subscribe for more unfiltered conversations about Maine’s future.

What happens when a seasoned CPG operator and Liquid Death investor comes home to launch her own brand in Maine?

Jen Millard is no stranger to growth. She helped take Bed Bath & Beyond public. She sold startups to Mastercard and DoorDash. And after decades of success, she returned to her home state to launch mainelove — a fast-growing canned water company that taps into Maine’s most undervalued natural asset: its water.

In this episode, Jen joins Jonathan Bush to talk about:

• What makes Maine’s water the best in the country

• Why our 20-year economic plan doesn’t mention water once

• What it’s like to scale a consumer brand in a state with no startup infrastructure

• How we can build a real entrepreneurial ecosystem in Maine

• Why most of our natural resources still leave the state unprocessed

This is a conversation about optimism, frustration, and the untapped economic potential right under our feet.

Listen in, and then ask yourself: why hasn’t Maine built the water economy yet?

What happens when the boats disappear, the buyers retire, and the next generation doesn’t come back?

In this raw and revealing conversation, Jonathan Bush sits down with Martin Molloy—a Navy vet turned legendary lobster buyer—to unpack what’s really happening to Maine’s working waterfront.

They talk about the hard truths behind the decline in young lobstermen, the quiet collapse of Matinicus and North Haven’s fleets, and why labor shortages, pricing pressure from Canadian seasons, and outdated state policies are making survival harder than ever.

But they also spotlight what’s still working—and what might save the fishery.

Key themes include:

• How Matinicus went from 20 boats to 10—and what that says about the future

• Why Maine lobstermen are struggling to find crew (and how “Probation Point” became a labor pool)

• The market dynamics driving lobster prices from $9.50 to $5 in weeks

• The cultural tension between stewardship, competition, and survival

• What aquaculture and bait diversification are teaching us about adaptation

This isn’t just a story about lobster.

It’s a story about rural economies, generational handoffs, and whether Maine can hold onto the soul of its coastal identity.

⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – Matinicus memories and how they met

04:00 – What a lobster buyer really does

06:00 – The Navy, the transition, and family legacy

13:00 – The decline of the island fleets

16:00 – The labor shortage no one’s solving

22:00 – Why Canadian supply crushes Maine’s lobster price

27:00 – The lost opportunity in processing and exports

32:00 – The case for diversification (bait, mussels, aquaculture)

35:00 – Reflections on stewardship, policy, and the fight to stay in business

Subscribe for weekly conversations on the real challenges and future of Maine’s economy.

🎧 Search Maine For Keeps wherever you get your podcasts.