The Wrap: Mainely Provisions comes to Westbrook, chef Matt Ginn leaves Prentice Hospitality

Jan. 5—Maine-based grocer Mainely Provisions has opened a third location, this one in Westbrook.

The new store is located at 110 New Gorham Road, formerly home to Digby’s Variety, a convenience store and sub shop that was in

business for 27 years before closing in September. The City of Westbrook held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the latest Mainely Provisions on Dec. 20.

Mainely Provisions launched its first location in Kingfield in 2020, and added a second store in Bethel in 2023. The stores sell meats, fresh produce, deli and prepared foods, baked goods, local products, organic foods, beer, wine and liquor.

Joe Christopher, co-founder of Upward Management Group, which owns Mainely Provisions as well as Three Dollar Deweys, Saltwater Grille and other hospitality properties, said it made sense for Mainely Provisions to expand into Westbrook.

“We really needed a Southern Maine place where we felt like a neighborhood grocery would work,” Christopher said, noting that they gutted and renovated the building, adding new coolers and a walk-in refrigerator/beer cave.

The 3,000-square-foot Westbrook location is considerably smaller than Mainely Provision’s Bethel and Kingfield stores. “It’s like grocery stores used to be before they became these behemoth box stores.”

Like the other locations, the Westbrook Mainely Provisions will carry as many local products as possible, Christopher said. The store has a Carrabassett Coffee Bar, for instance, and also offers vegan and vegetarian fresh and frozen foods from Maine-based Veggie Life.

Christopher said Mainely Provisions will also try to help the community by supporting local sports teams and donating to charity events and local food banks. “If you want things better around you, you work hard in your community, and that’s the type of company we are,” he said.

CHEF MATT GINN LEAVES PRENTICE HOSPITALITY GROUP

Chef Matt Ginn announced on social media Sunday that he has left the Prentice Hospitality Group after 10 years, saying it’s “time for a change.”

Ginn had been corporate executive chef at Prentice, whose stable of upscale venues includes Chebeague Island Inn, Evo Kitchen + Bar, and Twelve in Portland, as well as The Good Table in Cape Elizabeth.

“I am grateful to the group and ownership, and my colleagues (and) coworkers for all the opportunities these properties have given me,” Ginn wrote in his Instagram statement. “I am proud of what we have accomplished in the hospitality industry on many levels… I look forward to new challenges to come and a little break with my family.”

Ginn could not be reached immediately to ask what his next professional move may be.

A Cape Elizabeth native whose first job was picking strawberries at Maxwell’s Farm, Ginn worked at acclaimed Boston restaurants Harvest and L’Espalier before returning to Maine in 2012 as chef de cuisine at Five Fifty-Five. In 2015, he helped launch Evo as its executive chef.

Ginn made multiple appearances on the Food Network’s “Chopped” show, winning $10,000 on the televised cooking competition in 2018. Last March, Ginn relaunched The Good Table; Prentice had bought the 38-year-old restaurant in late 2023.

WINTER SUPPER CLUB EVENTS RETURN TO BUXTON

Flanagan Farm in Buxton starts its third season of winter Supper Club events on Sunday, Feb. 2.

Chef Rafael Zimmerman of Magnus on Water in Biddeford will be the evening’s guest chef. Zimmerman’s menus at Magnus highlight the diversity of Peruvian food and show how it has been influenced by Japanese and Chinese cuisines.

Before heading up the Magnus on Water kitchen, Zimmerman introduced the area to Peruvian flavors through his Lost Llama pop-up private dinners and events. He started his Maine culinary career at Portland’s Artemisia Café.

Tickets for the dinner, which begins at 4 p.m., are $190, available through the Maine Barns website.

The next three dinners in the series are set for Saturday, Feb. 8, Thursday, Feb. 13 and Sunday, March 2, featuring food from Big Tree Catering, Deer Isle’s Aragosta at Goose Cove and Rockport’s Nina June, respectively. Those dinners have already sold out, but interested parties can add themselves to the online wait list.

Supper Club evenings start with fireside cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, with optional ice skating in Flanagan Farm’s forest grove. Guests then gather in the heated barn for a four-course communal dinner with wine service.

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