BETHEL — Syd Hagenbuch and Sammy Sirois like to bake bread, which is one reason they started Gamut Goods, “naturally leavened here in Bethel, ME.” Now, Gamut Goods has been selected as New Ventures Maine’s spring 2022 Western Maine Marketing Mini-grant recipient.
“They were selected from a strong group of small business applicants from Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford counties,” said Karleen Andrews, a microenterprise specialist with New Ventures Maine.
Gamut Goods was founded in 2021 by Sirois and Hagenbuch. They offer naturally leavened sourdough breads and cookies made with organic, local ingredients.
“We are lucky that one of our housemates has a lot of experience doing grant writing,” said Sirois. “They found this grant and offered to apply for it for us – something we don’t have a lot of experience in.”
The New Ventures Maine Marketing Mini-Grant, made possible with support from Norway Saving Bank, will be used for a targeted campaign to elevate Gamut Goods to a regionally known brand as they expand their retail and wholesale bakery. The marketing project includes brand signage for mobile retail space and displays for wholesale sales, partial support of a graphic designer, local advertising, and website updates.
“It means we’ll be able to pay the friend who did the design work. Part of this [grant] is to pay for the cost of what we’ve been doing as well.” said Sirois, “stickers, labeling, the yearly costs associated with having a website, that kind of thing.” Hagenbuch created their website, gamutgoods.com, which went live about four months ago.
They are a small business that is just getting started, but they have big dreams.
“Our name comes from the phrase ‘run the gamut,’ which is what we hope to do,” said Hagenbuch. “We want to do a little bit of everything! Make you an awesome sourdough, fry you up a doughnut, make a pastry.”
Both come from culinary backgrounds, spanning from restaurant kitchens, small and large bakeries to coffee roasting and full-on farming. They moved from Philadelphia last summer but both have roots in New England.
“The pandemic helped re-frame some things for us – where we wanted to be, what we wanted to spend our time doing,” Sirois said. “While we have spent time working in kitchens, bakeries, and on farms run by others, this is our first venture building a project for ourselves, guided by our people – and food-first philosophy. We are excited about building something from the ground up that we can feel good about.”
“All our breads are sourdough, we have a couple of starters that we use. The flour is from Maine Grains in Skowhegan, so it’s all local,” said Hagenbuch. They believe in working with organic, local, and seasonal food. They were also “interested in engaging around food up here,” and encouraged by Maine’s recent food sovereignty law.
The food scene is not as saturated as it is in the city,” Sirois said. “It’s been rewarding.”
They have a licensed home processing kitchen that they made out of one of the bedrooms in the house they share with friends. “It was very gracious of our friends to let us transform one of the spaces into our own little mini-bakery,” Sirois said.
Their baked goods are available at the Good Food Store, where they both work, or through their website. Orders need to be placed by Thursday for pick up on Sunday at Gamut Goods, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
You can place a one-time order or sign up for a 15-week subscription through Morning Glory Farm’s CSA, from June to September. A large share, “ideal for a family of bread-lovers,” includes two loaves of bread, 3 baguettes (or 6 burger buns), and 6 sweets/pastries (you can specify a preference) and there are smaller options as well.
They have also done a number of one-off events, like the BAAM markets, another at Mountain Greenery. They are in the process of building out an airstream as a standing retail space – a self-serve store with breads, prepared foods, maybe partner with local farms.
The focus is on bread but there are other things they’re experimenting with as well.
“We do cookies, hand pies, a lot experimentation right now,” said Sirois, “things that feel nostalgic to us or things we’d like to eat and putting our own spin on it. Our housemates are very glad to be the guinea pigs!”
You can follow the action on Instagram @gamutgoods.
In addition to mini-grants, New Ventures Maine also offers other programs, classes, and resources “to educate entrepreneurs and small business owners and to help them reach their goals,” Andrews said.
A statewide organization serving all 16 Maine counties from 10 centers and outreach sites, New Ventures Maine offers skill development and support in the areas of career planning, entrepreneurship, and financial management. For more information, visit newventuresmaine.org
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