Fired for Growth: Maine Beer Company’s Journey from Parking Lot to Powerhouse
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“Folks… love letting us know, ‘Hey, I’m from New York and that pizza is better than the pizza in New York,’” says Operations Director Ryan Connery-Poulin with a grin. “My other favorite is, ‘I just got back from Italy, and that pizza was better than anything I had in Italy.’ So we love that.”
Inside the Freeport tasting room, nearly everything at Maine Beer Company is designed with intention; the clean lines, the stainless vessels, the bright open layout, and the steady rhythm of the brewhouse and kitchen visible to guests. At the center of that kitchen sits their Model 180 Copper Allagash wood-fired oven — a build designed specifically to echo the polished stainless look of the brewhouse while delivering the throughput a space like this demands.
It’s not flashy; it’s functional art.
From a Parking Lot Trailer to a High-Capacity Kitchen
Maine Beer Company’s pizza journey began in 2018 with a mobile wood-fired oven parked out front. It was a rented trailer from another customer of ours, built under our former name, Maine Wood Heat.
That little parking-lot setup proved something big: pizza wasn’t just a complement to the tasting-room experience, it was a driver of it. Demand grew fast, and it became clear they needed a permanent kitchen built for higher volume.
“We realized we could no longer keep up with the demand we had out of a parking lot”
A year later, the Freeport kitchen opened with its first permanent oven, paired with a custom stainless-inspired facade that visually tied the oven to the brewing vessels behind the glass. It was a design choice, but also an operational one: clean, bright, durable, and easy to keep pristine.
Built for Throughput and Built to Last
For Maine Beer Company, speed is a form of hospitality.
“It’s really important to us to keep our food lead times down so that when you order food, you’re receiving your food within, at max, 30 minutes,” Ryan explains.
Their Model 180 makes that possible. Turning out more than 600 pizzas a day, plus warm olives, sandwiches, and appetizers all from the single oven.
And for guests with dietary needs, the team has created one of the most-loved gluten-free pizzas in Maine; an offering their staff hears about again and again.
A Kitchen That Feels Connected
The oven’s placement wasn’t an afterthought, it was part of the guest experience from day one.
“It’s visible from almost anywhere in the facility,” Ryan notes.
Guests can see the flame from the bar, from the dining area, and even while waiting for beer at the counter. It mirrors the transparency of the brewing process: you see the craft, you feel the care, and it shapes the entire experience.
Growing With Purpose
Since that first trailer in 2018, pizza has become as synonymous with Maine Beer Company as its beer. Sales have grown every year, and plans are already in motion to add a second oven in the coming years.
For us at Maine Oven Craft, that’s the kind of success story we love to help build: designs that perform beautifully on day one and keep performing as businesses grow.
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