NOMINATED BY NANCY STROJNY, SCORE
Hearing the phrase “Maine made” or “Maine grown” tends to evoke a sense of wholesome, quality products that are good for you. Kate Hall’s business, Graze, lives up to that reputation easily. Originally operating as a microgreen farm that supplied local restaurants and chefs back in 2017, it didn’t take long for opportunities to present themselves. At home, Kate had been juicing her microgreens and wheatgrass to help address symptoms associated with an autoimmune disease, and found that the results were great. With that in mind, she decided to branch out into healthy juices with no more than four ingredients each, in addition to microgreens.
With help from her SCORE mentor, Kate started producing her juices and selling them at farmers’ markets in 2018, and they were such a hit that she had to plan for a brick and mortar location. Within a year Graze had opened a standalone shop in Belfast that was a hit and was able to operate successfully until the disruption of the Covid pandemic forced it to close. Thankfully, Kate wasn’t someone who would let this setback discourage her from pursuing the goals she had set for herself and her business. Shortly after the closure, she began working on a revamp of the infrastructure on her farm so she could continue to produce and bottle juice on site. By 2021 she was able to relaunch Graze, with more of a focus on wholesale accounts rather than individual sales. Under this model she was able to secure 45 accounts and bring on 4 employees.
The growth did bring some added challenges to Graze that needed to be overcome. The Maine Department of Agriculture required the scaled up business to apply further food safety measures, as products were being shipped greater distances and needed to withstand longer times without refrigeration. To face this challenge, Kate and her father worked together with direction from Cornell University, the University of Maine and equipment engineers worldwide to develop ultraviolet transmission methods of pasteurization, which would preserve the nutritional content of her products, while inactivating the DNA replication of harmful pathogens. Now, with this system in place, Graze is poised for further growth, with plans to add a larger walk-in cold storage, increase distribution with Crown O’Maine and hire up to 4 full time and 5 seasonal employees in the next year.
Going from a small microgreen farm to a thriving and innovative juice business, Graze has demonstrated that some of the best ideas can come from the smallest of businesses. Kate has shown herself to be a leader in her industry and in her community, and for these reasons the SBA is pleased to name Graze, LLC as the 2024 MicroEnterprise of the Year for Maine.
