Dean’s Sweets, makers of hand-dipped truffles, caramels and butter creams in Portland, plans to open a second location in the city’s East Bayside neighborhood this spring to provide more production space and a second retail shop.

There are no plans to close the existing 475 Fore Street location, said Dean Bingham, owner of the business. Bingham said the new space, at 54 Cove St. and owned by a friend, suddenly became available “and we moved a little bit quicker than we were anticipating.”

“… We did it because we’ve been thinking about adding space for quite a long time,” he said. “We feel cramped where we are.”

Bingham said he needs one or two more employees in the short term, and his part-time employees will be adding more hours. The new space will allow him to increase production “I would like to think by 50 percent, in part because we will be adding some things that we don’t currently do here.”

One product he plans to add is a sweet he made for the Crave event for Maine Restaurant Week, held Sunday at Coffee By Design on India Street: Caramel corn with bittersweet chocolate and a dusting of Coffee By Design Italian roast.