B&M Baked Beans factory

The Burnham and Morrill Co. began in 1867 on Franklin Street in Portland as a canning factory for vegetables, meat, and fish. The company constructed the B&M Baked Beans factory in 1913. The factory first produced canned beans in 1927. It used a traditional open-pot baking process with iron cauldrons that weighed 200 pounds attached to a ceiling-mounted rail system. The cauldrons were filled with beans, molasses, and other ingredients on the top floor of the factory and baked for hours. The cooked beans were dumped into a chute and went down to the canning line.[1]

In 2021, owner B&G Foods Inc. announced that the B&M Baked Beans factory would close. In August of that year the company removed the factory's brick smoke stack.[2] In 2023, the new owner Roux Institute began demolition of ancillary factory buildings to make way for the construction of the Roux Institute campus.[3]

The closure of the plant moved the production of the baked beans to the midwest.

Products manufactured at the factory included multiple flavors of baked beans. The flavors were original, vegetarian, home style, country style, Boston style, bacon and onion, and maple flavor. The factory also made B&M brown bread, which comes in a can in plain and raisin flavors.[4] B&M Baked Beans are made with pea beans. By late 2022, after production moved to the midwest, B&M customers were reporting that the baked beans were undercooked, crunchy, and tasted different. Customers speculated that the beans were no longer being baked. Some customers were hoarding B&M bean cans produced at the Portland plant.[5]

After its closure, it was sold to Northeastern University, which plans to develop the Roux Institute on the 13.5 acre property. In 2022, it was designated a landmark by the City of Portland.[6] In 2023, the Portland City Council voted to rezone the property from industrial to mixed use and create an institutional overlay zone.[7]

43.6780°N 70.2548°W / 43.6780; -70.2548