Longtime Maine lobster supplier sold

One of Maine’s largest lobster suppliers has a new owner. New Meadows, a fixture on the Portland, Maine, USA, waterfront for 62 years, has been sold to the DiMillo family, which operates a famous “floating” restaurant on the other side of the pier.

The sale, which includes the lobster pound and property on Portland Pier, closed on Tuesday. Terms of the deal will remain private.

New Meadows has grown from supplying a handful of local restaurants and supermarkets to become one of the larger lobster distributors in Maine, supplying northern New England’s largest supermarket chain, Hannaford, and restaurants all across the United States. The company sells about 2 million pounds of lobsters annually.

Pete McAleney, the owner and operator of the business for 36 years (with his wife Kathleen), will be taking more time to spend with family, but will still run the day-to-day operations along with his son, Matthew. Pete McAleney served as the president of the Maine Import-Export Lobster Dealers Association until last year.

“When we started here there were only 20 million pounds of lobsters landed each year. Now there are 120 million pounds,” said McAleney, adding that the industry remains in good shape. “The problem is, as with this year, you never know when the lobsters are going to hit. This year it wasn’t until after the Fourth of July. Now they’re coming on strong but all the tourists have left.”

Much of the existing staff at New Meadows will also remain in place; the new company will be named New Meadows Lobster LLC.

DiMillos on the Water, opened by Tony DiMillo, has been an icon on the Portland waterfront in its current location for the past 32 years; DiMillo opened Anthony’s restaurant in 1954 on nearby Fore Street. The seafood restaurant is housed in a 206-foot ship originally named “The New York,” commissioned in 1941. It first served as a car ferry between New Castle, Del., and Pennsville, N.J. It seats up to 600 guests.

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