THE ENTIRE Gagne family has been a part of the resurgence of the Dolan Flavoring Company, with Mat running the business and website, Christina in charge of marketing and Marc and Charles helping package and label bottles. (Noah Greif Photo)

Published in the January 22, 2019 edition.

By NOAH GREIF

WAKEFIELD — Charles and Marc Gagne, along with parents Mat and Christina, use their family-made Mount Vanilla vanilla flavoring for just about anything. Of course it is frequently used in baked goods but it can also be added to your morning coffee and even, as Marc and Charles suggest, your scrambled eggs. That is just a small drop of how good this historical, organic, local product really is.

Harry A. Dolan, the great-grandfather of Wakefield resident, Mat Gagne, founded the company more than a century ago. Dolan got his start with an ice cream store, located in the quaint town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Unfortunately, the ice cream store was devastated by a fire, and he was never able to recover. However, something came out of the fire, and would lead to the creation of the company.

Dolan and his family moved to Portland and decided to focus on developing vanilla flavorings, a key ingredient used in the ice cream they previously made. The family bought a house at 41 Williams St. in Portland which had a large barn in the back. That space would eventually house Dolan’s shop where he would create a variety of flavorings including vanilla, almond, lemon and even root beer. Dolan also made a concentrated artificial maple syrup called “Maple O,” as well as cough medicine.

Dolan, a jack-of-all trades, worked hard to make sure his company maintained
a local charm. In the 1890s, he was a chemist’s apprentice in the Spanish-American War and he used much of what he learned about chemistry in his business. After his products gained popularity in Portland in the 1920s, Dolan was faced with an issue as a result of Prohibition. Because Dolan’s extract contained alcohol, he needed a special license to legally obtain the alcohol he needed. At the time, it could be a dangerous business to be in possession of alcohol as it was still in high demand.

But Dolan was persistent and created the Mount Williams Original Vanilla Flavor and Autumn Lane Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract. Dolan eventually passed the company on to his son John, who then passed it on to his son Philip “Jack” Dawson. Jack then recruited his nephew, Mat Gange, and his family to join the business. Although Dolan Flavoring Company has a new look, it still has the same great taste.

For the first 60 years, the product was sold in local grocery stores run by George C. Shaw (of Shaw’s) and the Hannaford Brothers. However, with the modernization of supply-chain logistics, local products were negatively impacted and were no longer carried at large grocery chains. After the product was off grocery store shelves, customers began asking what happened to their beloved vanilla product. With the pressure building, Mat Gagne’s Uncle Jack stepped up to the challenge to bring back the vanilla. Jack, who is now 84 years old, knew he couldn’t do it alone so he brought on his nephew, Mat, who has an MBA and decades of business experience. Mat is now considered the “next steward of the business.”

The company has kept their brand with same two vanilla-based products over generations, Autumn Lane Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract and Mount Williams Original Vanilla Flavor. The vanilla extract comes from the bean of the orchid of the vanilla flower, a very delicate flower only found in particular parts of the world. To make the vanilla extract, the company takes the vanilla bean, splits it, opens it up and adds in grain alcohol. From there, the alcohol “extracts” the vanilla out of the bean, the bean is filtering away, and what is left is the vanilla extract. In order for it to be considered extract, there has to be 40 percent alcohol. But what separates Autumn Lane Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract from its competitors is the vanilla bean is the bourbon vanilla bean, a quality bean named for the kings of France who owned property in Madagascar.

“In my opinion, the Mount Williams Original Vanilla Flavor is the better tasting product,” said Gagne. “Without the alcohol, it has more of a pure, sweet taste. The product is often called imitation vanilla, but it isn’t the right word to describe how the product is made.” To make the signature vanilla flavoring, the vanilla is drawn out through a chemical process, and water, caramel color and a stabilizer are added. For the Dolan Flavoring Company, this is done through a lab in Illinois.

Despite the vanilla flavoring now being made across the country, the company still has a local market in both Portland, Maine with the family’s Uncle Jack and now in Wakefield with the Gagne family. In Portland, the company serves several gourmet shops in the area. They include Bow Street Market, Rosemont Market, LeRoux Kitchen, as well as candy makers, ice cream shops, and other bakeries.

With the location in Portland, the Gagne family considers themselves to be the “Wakefield office.” Their main focus in Wakefield includes operating the website, marketing and packaging. Mat Gagne is in charge of the website as well as assisting his uncle in running the business. Being the current CFO of a software media company as well as the former CFO of a software company that helped groceries sell online, Mat has experience in finance and running a business. Unfortunately, the vanilla company isn’t his full time job, but he enjoys it tremendously and calls it his “full time hobby.” Now that bigger grocery stores are taking over the market and pushing out local businesses, Mat is looking to help make the online push as the company is in transition to the next generation.

In terms of marketing, Mat’s wife, Christina, leads the effort. The company works with a small independent marketing firm called Saltbox Marketing. Christina was able to hire them through her friend Greg Gonser, who is the head of the firm. Gonser has helped the company develop creative and technical marketing through the website, Facebook and now Instagram. The company also believes in grassroots and guerilla marketing, where instead of launching a message you hope will appeal to many people, you target your efforts to a small group and hope the group will spread your message to a much larger audience. “Christina has been key is spreading the word about the company. She is a great writer, and produces creative content for the website, and has great vision for the recipes featured on the website,” said Mat of his wife. “Christina keeps the information flowing.”

Although the company has no full-time employees, sons Marc and Charles have also been a part of the family business. Having the entire family working together is very important to Mat, as he also worked for the company when he was a kid. Marc and Charles are considered part-time employees, and their jobs include putting labels on the bottles, packing the bottles and delivering the bottles in both Wakefield and Portland. From this experience, they are learning how the business works. The company chooses to not have this done by the bottlers, as it adds a personal touch to the look of the bottle and the overall company feel.

In terms of pricing, the extract is sold for $25 for 5 ounces online, while other vanilla companies range from $4.50 to $8 an ounce. With the extract, Dolan Flavoring believes they offer the same quality product for a better price than their competitors. The price of the flavoring is $12.99 for 6.75 ounces ($1.92 an ounce), while other flavorings range from $0.80 to $2 an ounce. The Gagnes believe that with their bourbon flavoring, they offer it for roughly the same price as their competitors, but at a much higher quality.

Now that the company has established itself in the 21st century, improvements are still looking to be made. The product is hand delivered and can be ordered on the website. The Gagne family hopes to get the product in more stores in Wakefield and has recently collaborated with Sweetbay to have it sold in their shop in downtown Wakefield. They have had future thoughts about possibly offering the product on Amazon Prime, as well as going into the cocktail or coffee flavoring market. However, the overall goal is to keep the focus local. The whole family has a passion for business and want to see this legacy continue as they know the product is excellent and affordable. The family wants to keep the business intergenerational and focus on providing a product for those who love baking, don’t want to overpay and are looking for high quality vanilla.

Both Mat and his uncle want to see their vanilla products in Maine and New England homes, with a goal of having it in 1 out of every 10 homes in Wakefield and Portland. In the words of Mat, the Dolan Flavoring Company wants to “keep supplying it to the people who love it.”

Editor’s note: visit their website at www.dolanflavoring.com.