PORTLAND — The heady days of founding and running a regionally distributed beer brand — and the accolades that came with it — will always be a part of Luke Livingston.
In 2011, as the 27-year-old CEO of Baxter Brewing in Lewiston, he was named one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 under 30 entrepreneurs in the food and wine category, selected alongside entertainment and music giants like LeBron James, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.
He was also selected to Uplift L/A 40 under 40 in 2016 and to Maine Magazine’s 50 Mainers charting the state’s future the same year.
Baxter Brewing was a trendsetter. It was the first craft brewery in New England to package its beer in cans instead of bottles, something that is now standard industrywide. Within a decade of operation, it was the third largest craft brewery in the state, producing nearly 20,000 barrels annually.
But Livingston acknowledges there was job burnout, and some boredom, too. “I’d surrounded myself with people that were far more capable than I was. I’d sort of hired myself out of a job,” he said. “And I wasn’t crazy about the direction the beer industry was going as a whole,” calling it less congenial, and less fun than when he started. So, at 34, he decided to retire.
As he parted ways with Baxter, leaving it in the capable hands of his then operations manager Jenn Lever, Livingston said he wanted to do something entirely different.
Livingston recently spoke briefly about what he took away from the Forbes Magazine fame.
“You know, it brought a huge amount of national attention to Baxter, which was great from a notoriety and a sales perspective,” said Livingston, who started the company when he was 25. “But again, I was very young. I probably let it go to my head a bit.”
Life after Baxter
After taking some time off, Livingston reconnected with old friends Jacob Eslinger and Henry Gilbert. Eslinger is a Culinary Institute of America graduate and a former marketing director at Holy Donut.
Together, the trio formed Brickyard Collective, a business consultancy focused on brand development and distribution. Their timing, however, was unfortunate. As they opened for business in March 2020, the world was shutting down as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
Livingston says they did some projects, met some people, and added Dylan Veilleux, a former client who is now director of sales, but he admits that Brickyard Collective never truly found success.
The group had an aha moment after hitting a wall with an in-house effort to market a hemp-based fire-starter rope to a large, national campground distributor. There was no communication, Livingston said diplomatically.
Off they went to the New England Made trade show in the spring of 2023, where they kept hearing that, for small companies making local products, distribution was a problem.
Within months, the team decided that was the path forward, and Brickyard Brands was essentially born, focusing on Maine-made and regionally made products, startups and independent entrepreneurs who need help getting to the finish line.
By the end of 2023, Brickyard Brands got its first big break, getting some client products into Hannaford grocery stores through the Shop Local program, which offers products from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.
“We got an equity investment in the company, and we were able to expand — buy some vehicles, and additional space at that point. Been off to the races ever since,” Livingston explained.
Breaking through barriers
Getting a seat at the table is one of the most difficult aspects of bringing a new product to market. In the food and beverage world that means knocking on doors, giving out samples, and convincing grocery chains, retail chains and others to carry your product.
Space equals money in retail and every store has a finite amount of it. That’s where Brickyard Brands comes into play.
Among the locally made products that gained traction at Hannaford through Brickyard Brands is Rockland-based Bixby Chocolate. Founder and CEO Kate McAleer described her experience with Brickyard as “fantastic.”
“I think they are hardworking and excited to grow,” she said. “I think they really care about the products.”
That care and attention is what sets Brickyard apart from the mega distributors focused mostly on the dollar, they say. All four partners are hands-on — from stocking products in their modest warehouse, to walking clients through a pitch at Hannaford.
“To have local products in the local section, with a local distributor, I think it’s such a win-win, all around,” McAleer said.
Brickyard Brands is still growing, with nearly 800 products in its portfolio, mostly food and beverages. Livingston said their growth strategy moving forward has changed a bit.
“A commitment we have across the board right now is to go deeper in the stores we’re in currently, and the region we’re in currently,” he said. “I think early on when we launched, we were trying initially to go geographically.”
Brickyard Brands expects to finish out the year with $3 million in sales, but emphasizes that they are just getting started. For now, the focus will remain on food and beverage.
“Food is also constantly changing, and so are consumer habits,” Eslinger said. “So, that’s an ever-evolving thing. I mean, there’s gonna be new products all the time. There’s going to be changes in consumer desires and wants, so you wouldn’t rule it out doing other things other than food down the road.”
What Livingston says he took from his time at Baxter was dealing with brands, how their warehouses operated and how they went to market. Building relationships with retailers is another lesson he learned and that he leverages today with convenience chains Rusty Lantern and Big Apple.
Livingston said he’s learned a lot since those early days at Baxter. One lesson involves work-life balance, family, and quality over quantity, he says, something he attributes to his days as CEO of Baxter.
Another is the critical nature of connection and teamwork.
“I have learned through the importance of partner-to-partner communication,” he said. “I think we, as a founding team, the four of us are tight and work together.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Chris Wheelock can be reached at cwheelock@sunjournal.com