John Naylor

John Naylor of Rosemont Market and Bakery shares his love for local food. John was featured in Maine Magazine in August of 2010.

What he’s done with his three Rosemont Market and Bakery stores is bring Maine’s expansive but close-knit world of talented local farmers to a larger audience by fashioning a true community-based enterprise. The lettuce you purchase is no longer an anonymous vegetable—it comes with a face and a story. It’s courtesy of Penny Jordan of Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, which, according to John, has the best lettuce-growing conditions in the world.

Rosemont’s employees, hired for their 
love of Maine food, are eager to show off their favorite olive oil, or let you in on the secrets of their green curry paste. It was John’s audacity to imagine a store driven, not by price, but by intimate connections, that allowed him and his partner Scott Anderson to set the bar for quality local produce, meats, cheese, and wine.

From growing up on a farm with 12 siblings in Massachusetts to his job at the Portland Greengrocer, John’s life has revolved around large families and fresh food.