55-Million-Dollar Potato Chip Plant Coming to Maine

New jobs and a whole lot of potato chips may soon be available in Maine.

According to a Bangor Daily News article, developers have chosen the old Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, as the site of a $55 million potato chip processing plant that could open in 2025:

Bruce Sargent and Jim Pelkey of Falcon Transportation in Presque Isle, announced Wednesday that they plan to locate Taste of Maine Potato Chip Co. at Loring Commerce Center, the 3,800-acre industrial and commercial park that opened after the base closed in 1994.

 

The current plan is to put an 80,000-square-foot Taste of Maine facility in the former Damon School, which served elementary school children of military families at Loring.

Yes, potato chips and a local company growing in Maine are great pieces of news, but the news extends beyond the beloved potato chip.

“[Taste of Maine] is about creating goodwill for the local community and well-paying jobs,” said Thomas Manning, a Green 4 Maine representative, to the Bangor Daily News.

Taste of Maine will employ 75 people at the start of production in 2025, but eventually expand to 100 employees, according to Pelkey.

In addition to the creation of more jobs in Maine, the company also has some plans to go green (which we love in New England).

Pelkey told Bangor Daily News that a $2.5 million solar garden adjacent to the production plant is a hopeful part of the space. He did not specify the solar garden’s projected size.

A meeting to vote on the tax increment financing districts was set for Wednesday, February 21, but has since been postponed to the 27th, according to Interim Town Manager Alan Mulherin.