Troubled Maine Newspaper Chain Now Being Run by a Breakfast Chef — No Yolk!

If you think it’s hard running Maine’s biggest embattled newspaper chain, try doing it while you’re also flipping two eggs over easy with an order of toast.

That’s the plight of Stefanie Manning, who took over just weeks ago as the top manager of the Portland Press Herald in the wake of the resignation of the paper’s CEO, and who also has a side hustle owning a breakfast diner

Manning takes the reins even as the paper is suffering a flood of executive resignations, as well as staff and budget cuts.

Not to worry.

The mainstream media, aka The Boston Globe, just ran a soufflé-like quote from Manning as part of its piece speculating about layoffs.

“We can’t say that there will be staffing impacts in the near future, but we also can’t rule out that tough decisions will be required for getting ourselves to sustainability,” Manning the short-order cook was quoted as saying.

But even as she was obliquely warning the reporting staff about the dire outlook for the paper, she was earning a second income running Miss Portland Diner, which she owns with her husband just blocks from the paper.

Talk about a scrambled mess…

Manning, a longtime newspaper advertising executive, was promoted to “managing director” when Lisa DeSisto suddenly resigned in December as CEO of the Maine Trust for Local News.

Besides running the diner, Manning had also been the chef of staff – sorry, chief of staff – for the state’s largest newspaper chain for several years.

So how do you run a newspaper while you’re trying to juggle breakfast orders?

It’s apparently not easy, judging from the state of affairs at the Portland-based newspaper chain that the “non-profit” trust bought in 2023.

Just days ago, the Poynter Institute reported that the National Trust for Local News had embarked on a “community journalism” experiment in Maine that apparently turned rancid as it tried to manage the large group of newspapers – including several dailies and weeklies – without having to make a profit.

But once the founder of the national trust, which is the parent of the Maine group, resigned unexpectedly last month, the responsibilities on the woman slinging hash at Miss Portland Diner became all the greater.

Manning prominently reports on her own LinkedIn profile that she bought the 1949 Worcester Diner Car, a longtime breakfast staple in Maine’s largest city, in 2008.

“If you haven’t tried our corned-beef hash you don’t know what you are missing,” Manning says proudly on her profile.

Can’t make it up folks.

Quality corned beef hash aside (sorry, couldn’t resist), Manning is trying to figure out how to keep the trust’s flagship daily newspaper afloat while she handles breakfast orders.

In just the past few weeks five top-level executives have quit the paper, including DeSisto, national trust co-founder Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, executive editor Steve Greenlee, managing editor Nita Lelyveld and Jody Jalbert, who was the publisher of the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Though Manning the newspaper executive transparently features a description of the Miss Portland Diner on her LinkedIn page, her husband Tom makes no mention on the eatery’s website of her involvement in the management of the restaurant they apparently bought together.

When Manning was serving (sorry) as the Press Herald’s marketing director 10 years ago, the paper carried a glowing review of the diner she co-owns.

“You won’t find much that’s cutting edge or modern at the Miss Portland Diner, but that’s the whole point,” restaurant reviewer James Schwartz wrote with a straight face in 2015. “Nostalgia is alive and well, and Miss Portland’s the place to enjoy it.”

𝘞𝘩𝘰’𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘺𝘢 𝘺𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦?

Apparently there’s not much of an appetite for nostalgia among the worried newspaper staff, who recently received a scary forecast from Manning about the future of the paper

The Miss Portland Diner menu says the Manning’s “signature hash” comes with “two eggs your way and choice of toast.” ($15.25).

If you prefer just the hash without the eggs and toast, figure on $8.25. The dessert menu, meanwhile, includes a “two-scoop sundae with one sauce, whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry” for $7.75.

Now 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 a scoop.

Editor’s Note: Ted Cohen is a former, long-time Portland Press Herald reporter.