Fork Food Lab is a non-profit food business incubator and shared commercial manufacturing and processing facility focused on growing the local food economy. By providing entrepreneurs with work space, equipment, resources and access to locally sourced ingredients, we support the growth of sustainable Maine-based food businesses.
Fork Food Lab envisions a robust and sustainable food economy for Maine where food entrepreneurs are supported in their quest to produce high quality and sustainable products utilizing locally sourced ingredients.
Now based in South Portland, Fork began operations in 2016 in Portland’s West Bayside neighborhood and has hosted dozens of food business startups. Our members include consumer packaged goods, specialty food producers, mobile food units (food trucks, trailers, carts, etc.), bakeries, catering companies, prepared meal businesses, and more. The entrepreneurs, products, and services we support reflect both the innovation and diversity of our community, empowering a stronger local food system.
Here on our website you’ll find information you might be looking for if you’re interested in starting a food business or becoming a member with an existing business. Please sit back, have a snack, and explore all the resources we’ve gathered here for you, including how to join, pricing & membership tiers, frequently asked questions, and workshop replays!
Meet Our Team…
Bill is a serial social entrepreneur with over 50 years of experience in launching new enterprises and rebuilding old ones in the profit and non-profit sectors.
Bill is founder and President of the Sustainability Lab which created and hosted the New England Food System Innovation Challenge. In October of 2018 the Sustainability Lab took over operations of Fork Food Lab. Bill loves to cook in his well-equipped kitchen or over an open fire at a remote campsite on the West Branch of the Penobscot River while fly fishing for Landlock Salmon.
Executive Director
BILL SERETTA
CORINNE TOMPKINS
Corinne has been working with Fork since 2020. She is a professionally trained chef and spent 15 years opening food businesses from coast to coast. Although she wasn't born in Maine, she has lived here most of her life and wouldn't change it if she could. She looks forward to working on ensuring you have access to the tools, educations, and resources required to open a healthy food business. When she’s not supporting entrepreneurs, she often can be found purchasing fresh cucumbers for her guinea pig, Scary Movie.
Deputy Executive Director
BROOKS ROBERTS
For most of his career, Brooks was an Executive Chef who worked in almost every area of hospitality, from restaurants and hotels to healthcare. Brooks has both traveled and lived all over the country and through his experience he has built the skills it takes to run a kitchen smoothly. Now that he’s out from behind the line, Brooks likes to spend his free time fishing, hiking, and going on any other adventures he can convince his two sons to come along for. Brooks is excited to look forward to this new chapter and hopes to help everyone at Fork Food Lab be able to work and grow together.
Operations Manager
JILLIAN BRAZEL
Before joining Fork Food Lab in September of 2021, Jillian honed her myriad of skills in various roles both inside and adjacent to kitchens. She finished her Culinary Arts education in 2010 in St. Louis, and spent the following decade wearing different hats in natural foods co-ops. She has done everything from running a from-scratch production bakery, to overseeing a busy produce department, to (her favorite) marketing and design. Fork Food Lab is a wonderful fit for her, offering the unique opportunity to blend all of these experiences in her current role. Her favorite thing about her role at Fork Food Lab is getting to tell the world about the amazing things that the Fork Food Lab members are up to.
Outside of Fork, Jillian follows her love of art working as an illustrator with her own small biz called okay jillian, and can often be found drawing, painting exploring color palettes, brewing kombucha, or smiling at dogs. She moved to Maine in 2016 from her hometown of Ithaca, NY, and has lived in Portland since 2018 with her own dog, Cooper.
Marketing & Retail
ABBY SNELL
Supply Chain Coordinator
Abby has been working in and around the food industry for the past 20 or so years having grown up in the tourist town of Boothbay Harbor but discovered a real love for baking as a culinary student at SMCC. After graduating in 2007, she worked at such Portland establishments as Standard Baking Company and Rosemont before taking over operation of the Snell Farm kitchen in Buxton where she and a small but mighty crew created a myriad of value added products for 8 years. During this time she also taught baking classes, catered farm events, and expanded her skills in the Cooperative Extension’s Master Food Preserver program.
As COVID changed the landscape in Maine and made food access particularly challenging for so many people, Abby felt a calling to transition to food security and advocacy work and returned to school in 2022 attending USM for their Food Studies minor. During this time she participated in an internship involving the newly formed Maine Marinara Collaborative aiming to source local ingredients for a farm to school marinara sauce. Through the development of this and two additional grant projects finding their home at Fork Food Lab, Abby happily accepted a position after graduation sourcing the vegetables for these projects. She is passionate about helping to strengthen the local food system and excited to do this through the unique and diversified environment Fork has to offer its small business members and southern Maine.
JOSH GUSTITUS
As a Michigan Native, Josh grew up in Livonia, a suburb of Detroit, where he first became enamored with the culinary world. Beginning with high volume catering, Josh started his culinary career cooking on movie sets and for pro sports teams. From there he attended and
graduated with honors from Schoolcraft College Culinary School. After graduation he worked at a number of restaurants, garnering much recognition through the years including being on team for winning 3 Restaurant of The Year awards, as well as top 10 burger in the country. From There he began restaurant consulting, assisting in new businesses trying to open or purchase. This led to spending 5 years in US Virgin Islands as a Private Chef as well as Restaurant Chef.
Josh moved to Maine in 2017 with his partner Bridget and worked as an Executive Chef for few years until returning to catering and focusing on his own private catering and consulting business with his partner. Josh has been a member of Fork Food Lab for years before becoming an employee and brings laughter, jokes, and professional experience into every room that he arrives in. When he is not cooking he enjoys spending his time with his family as close to the ocean as possible, especially on the beach with his rescued pit bull Louise.
Operations Team
Scott Mazer fell into the world of professional kitchens in 2011 and almost immediately fell in love, being inspired by celebrity chef David Chang's career. From working in food co-ops to food trucks he has a wide range of experience and has been part of many award winning businesses including; B's Tacos, the Monadnock Food Co-op, and Bird & Co.
Since moving to Maine, Scott has utilized his culinary skills in several different non-profit roles including cooking for Preble Street kitchen, teaching workshops and catering the 2023 gala while serving on the board of Maine Foodscapes.
Scott is an avid gardener and forager, thoroughly enjoying not only cooking fresh food but preserving his various harvests. Scott has led several mushroom foraging walks and is the leader of the community garden at the Unity Center For Spiritual Growth in Windham.
Scott brings eclectic skills to Fork Food Lab in his new role of Processing Manager in the Tom Settlemire Vegetable & Fruit Processing Room that is currently under construction at Fork, implementing the Regional Food System Partnership grant received by Fork in 2023
SCOTT MAZER
Production Manager
SUE WOODS
Food is Health Ambassador
Susan Woods, MD, MPH, is Food Is Health Ambassador at Fork Food Lab. A physician, researcher, and entrepreneur, she is passionate about tailoring food and meals for better health. She was Director of Patient Experience at the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Connected Care, where she developed and deployed the VA patient portal, mobile apps, and telehealth services. Sue founded Generated Health, launching a messaging tool for patient self-care, and she now advises health startups. Sue is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Participatory Medicine and Senior Editor of the Journal of Medical Extended Reality. She serves on boards at New England Rural Health Association, Maine Technology Institute, and the Hanley Center for Health Leadership.
Board of Directors
Michael J. Walker, MBA - Chairperson
President, Data Made Useful
Peter Hall - Treasurer
Certified Public Accountant
Matt Chin - Member
President, Harvesting Good
(subsidiary of Good Shepherd Food Bank)
Penny Jordan - Member
Co-Owner, William H. Jordan Farm, LLC
Maeve McInnis - Member
Maine Course Director, Sodexo
John Naylor – Member
President & Co-Founder, Rosemont Market
Thomas Settlemire, PhD – Member,
Professor emeritus, Biology/Biochemistry, Bowdoin College
Rose Barboza - Member
Founding Chief Executive Officer, Black Owned Maine
Bill Seretta, Ex-Officio Member
Executive Director Fork Food Lab