Fat Pats Building Reopens as Wholesale Shellfish Operation, Plans 2026 Takeout Return

On December 11, 2025 the familiar Fat Pat’s building on Route 24 was brought back into commercial use when proprietor Russell Coffin and the property owners launched Fat Pat’s Shellfish LLC as a wholesale shellfish buying operation. The site sits on the Harpswell Brunswick town line and has long been a local landmark as a clam shack takeout. Owners told local officials they plan to add a processing operation this winter and aim to reopen the takeout window to the public in spring or summer 2026.

The Brunswick and Harpswell planning boards granted approvals for the wholesale activity after hearings that surfaced abutter concerns about parking, traffic and sight lines. To address those issues the owners committed to a one way vehicle flow on the site and to post a speed limit for vehicles moving across the property. They also agreed to relocate the small takeout shack 10 feet farther from the road to meet Maine Department of Transportation guidance on sight lines and roadside safety.

Those mitigation steps were decisive in the planning board actions. Local officials framed the approvals as balancing neighborhood safety with economic use of a legacy property. For residents and regular visitors the decision restores a piece of local food culture while creating a year round operating rhythm at a site long associated with summer seafood meals.

Economically the conversion to a wholesale buyer and processor could strengthen local shellfish supply chains by providing a nearby market for harvesters and a winter processing location for product moving to markets outside Sagadahoc County. Processing work planned this winter may generate short term seasonal employment and bolster revenues for local shellfishing permits, though exact volumes and job counts were not disclosed.

The owners’ timeline places the processing start in the current winter season and a tentative public reopening in late spring or summer 2026. For residents the revival represents both a return of a familiar roadside business and a potential stabilizer for parts of the local seafood economy that depend on accessible buying points and modest processing capacity. Local planners said they will monitor traffic and safety metrics once operations expand, and neighbors will be watching to see how the promised mitigation measures perform in practice.