Thank you for the responses from last week’s column about third places and combatting loneliness! I feel so strongly about the chamber’s role in being a place that is not work and not home that can give you a space for meaningful engagement.

Before that, though, last week’s column got us a response from New York City as advocates for the National Restaurant Association asked me to clear up some points, which I am very happy to do. If I ever cite information incorrectly, I do like to have it corrected so I can be sure I’m giving the best information out to all of you.

Last week, I was summarizing a statistic I had heard on a podcast and slightly misquoted it. I stated “In 2023 (again the last year with full data), the National Restaurant Association said that in all restaurants, 74% of the sales were for off-premises — so, takeout.” In actuality, the National Restaurant Association said that quote was about traffic not sales. Traffic is the number of occasions/customer visits, while sales is a dollar amount (and can be considerably different when you consider customers buying rounds of drinks while on the premises).

Additionally, using the phrase “in all restaurants” could imply that all types of restaurants have the same amount of traffic, but of course fast-food restaurants see more traffic than many sit-down restaurants. The more accurate statement should have been: “74% of all industry traffic is off-premises.” This statement still accentuates the overall point, though, in that 74% of traffic is off-premises, which isn’t something many may think of when they hear the word “restaurant” — or at least, I do not.

Last week’s piece, in total, focused on the idea that loneliness and a lack of third places have real outcomes for our economy and our region. Thus, I’m focusing in 2025 on opening our chamber’s arms just as wide as possible to bring as many people who want to build community together under our welcoming umbrella. Here are a few ways to do that.

January After Hours

Join us for January After Hours from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the Brunswick Landing Y. The event doubles as our Annual Meeting of the Membership. For those unaware, every nonprofit and not-for-profit is mandated to hold an Annual Meeting of the Membership once per year, where the incoming Board of Directors needs to be accepted and any other chamber business can be brought up by any member present. Due to that, this January After Hours is typically very well attended, often getting up to 100 attendees or more.

This big attendance makes it the ideal time to come out, in a low-stress environment, for an after-work drink and meet other local business leaders. There are few better ways to meet and great a cross-section of businesses every month. These are member events, however prospective members are encouraged to attend (which means if you are in business, we’d love to see you). You can register on the chamber website at midcoastmaine.com or just show up with a business card.

STEM Fair Night at Mt. Ararat High School, Jan. 30

The administration and team over at Mt. Ararat is putting on a great STEM Night at the school this Thursday from 4-7 p.m.. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the night is designed to showcase many regional STEM businesses to students and their families. We have a unique section of the STEM market here in the Topsham region with Bath, Brunswick and many other communities being home to some industry leaders and entrepreneurs that simply don’t exist in other pockets of Maine.

STEM is a key and growing market for Maine, and it’s just as worthwhile for parents and community members to know about some of the great local industry leaders that call the Midcoast home as it is for the students. There will be businesses with tables, along with breakout classrooms for more immersive demonstrations. It’s free to attend and another great way to plug into what’s happening in the community.

Workforce program partnership with the BBRC and the United Way

Our chamber is partnering with the United Way of Mid Coast Maine on two programs through the Working Communities Challenge grant put forward by the Boston Federal Reserve Bank. For many of our local businesses, this is a great tangible way to directly engage with the workforce of tomorrow.

The first program is an internship program where we have partnered with Morse, Mt. Ararat, Brunswick and Richmond high schools. Through their schools, identified students will register for a half-time (20 +/- hours) or whole-time (40 +/- hours) internship to be embedded in a local business to learn about that career pathway and what it takes to succeed in that industry. Students who complete this will receive a monetary stipend paid for through the grant. We have business registration forms for employers looking to offer these opportunities to students that we are putting the final touches on and will be releasing this Friday, Jan. 31 (on our website, Facebook page and through our chamber e-newsletter).

The second program is to highlight businesses who have inclusive work policies. The next generation of workers are looking for employers who care about their needs, and early adapting businesses are getting a head start on being a preferred workplace for those employees. This is a film-based project where students will interview businesses with inclusive policies which will culminate in a film festival in May. This should be great promotion for the businesses and a good learning experience for the students.

More ways to engage next week!

Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce.