A cottage business becomes a college business after seaweed snack company donated to UNE [Video]

When a small Maine nutrition bar company found itself at the crossroads of scaling up or shutting down, the owners instead forged a different path – they donated it to the University of New England.

The Portland company, SeaMade Seaweed Company, manufactures a snack bar made with cranberries, honey, almonds and, of course, the main ingredient: seaweed.

After eight years at the helm, co-owners Tara Treichel and Mark Dvorozniak handed the company over to the Biddeford university this summer. SeaMade’s next CEOs will be college students.

UNE students already grow and harvest kelp from the school’s aquaculture research farm, and they can harvest honey from the university’s two beehives, meaning two of the primary ingredients are already accounted for at no additional cost.

Business students will help run the financial and marketing aspects of the company, the university said in a news release, and nutrition and other health students will …