"The Kid with the Combine" Grows Up
And becomes an award-winning business owner

Farmers in Aroostook County (Maine) used to call Chris Durepo the “kid with the combine” when they hired Durepo & Durepo Enterprises to harvest their grain fields. They had known Chris’s dad, Paul, from his many years as a potato grower and later as Fort Fairfield’s fire chief, but they didn’t know Chris.

Today, Chris Durepo is 25 years old and recognized in the local area as an up-and-coming business owner. In fact, after just five years in business, the Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce named Durepo & Durepo Enterprises “Business of the Year.” Chris joked, “I was impressed, because I had been turned down by just about every bank in Aroostook County at one time or another.”

Chris is articulate, focused and a natural visionary. As a high school junior, he was already knocking on bankers’ doors looking for his first business loan. For him, the denials were all part of a learning process. He simply continued developing a reputation for hard work and reliability hauling potatoes for growers on his dad’s truck.

Shortly thereafter, he launched a custom combine business with his dad.

A first loan — from Farm Credit

That was in 2001. “At the time,” Chris says, “the Presque Isle area needed custom combiners, so we made the jump by investing in a $30,000 combine. I convinced our Farm Credit loan officer to lend us the money. He said that the numbers may not have been perfect, but if I had as much ambition paying back the money as I did borrowing it, I would be a good investment.”

Indeed he was. As the combine business grew, the family opened an office to product test a flour milling business and conduct market research with the help of grants from the Maine Department of Agriculture and the Maine Technology Institute.

Chris developed his vision of operating a grain mill while earning his associate’s degree in agribusiness at Northern Maine Vocational Technical Institute. “I had wanted to be a potato farmer, but decided that adding value to rotation crops was my future.We decided we could add value to small grains by milling them. So my dad and I visited mills, learned about milling and said, “We can do this.”

A year later, the Durepos introduced Maine Street Flour Company products (flour and pancake mix) to local markets with overwhelming support from area vendors. Through creative marketing and quality products, the retail company has earned one contract after another from large grocery chains, from Hannaford to Associated Grocers.

Chris says, “We bring a hot iron to sales meetings and cook pancakes right on the spot. Buyers won’t buy unless they taste our product. Otherwise, we have just another pancake mix. Competitor products are half the price, but we have twice the product with better ingredients and a value-added ziplock package.”

2005 was the Durepos’ most exciting year yet. They shipped their first railcar load of grain and moved offices to a larger facility to support their growth.

Persistence pays off

When asked about his success, Chris answers in one word, “Persistence!” He adds that he loves what he does and focuses on goals: To add value, to do better today than yesterday, and to stay ahead of business cycles through diversification.

“I’ve also received tremendous support from the Fort Fairfield community, my family and Farm Credit. Farm Credit took a chance on me when I was just 20. Matt Tremblay, my loan officer, and Pete Hallowell, the Presque Isle branch manager, care about what we do and have stood behind our ventures.”

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