Maine Business Consulting Services

About Us

About the Business

We’re a locally owned consulting team with Maine roots and a broader reach. MBCS helps businesses secure funding, win contracts, and grow with confidence in Maine and beyond. From lender ready business plans to government contracting, marketing, and project management, we deliver practical solutions that strengthen companies without adding unnecessary costs.

About Norma

Norma brings something rare to consulting: she is not just advising businesses on how to grow, she is actively running one. As co-owner of Buen Apetito in Waterville, she helped lead the acquisition and expansion of the restaurant from day one, managing vendor relationships, community presence, and daily operations. With a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Leadership and a minor in Project Management, Norma is the person who makes sure strategies actually get executed. She specializes in branding, marketing, employee communication, and the organizational clarity that turns good ideas into working systems. Her clients value her for being direct, organized, and genuinely invested in their success. If you have ever felt like a consultant handed you a plan and disappeared, Norma is the reason MBCS does not work that way.

About Shawn

Shawn is a Navy veteran, co-owner of Buen Apetito, and the founder of Maine Business Consulting Service. He combines military discipline, advanced business training, and hands-on consulting experience to help Maine businesses secure funding, win contracts, and expand with confidence. Shawn Collins grew up in Skowhegan, Maine, and spent 8 years in the U.S. Navy, including a forward deployment to Yokosuka, Japan, before coming home with something most consultants do not have: the discipline to see a problem clearly and the drive to solve it completely. After earning his MBA, Shawn founded Maine Business Consulting Service and co-acquired Buen Apetito, a restaurant in Waterville. Not as a passive investment, but as proof that he practices what he preaches. He knows what it feels like to sit across from a banker, manage payroll, and build a business plan that actually has to work. Today, Shawn is also pursuing an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Maine, applying data analysis and quantitative methods to real business problems. When he builds your marketing strategy, he backs it up with UTM tracking, statistical modeling, and measurable ROI. He has helped Maine businesses secure over $750K in financing, navigate government contracting, and build strategies that hold up in the real world. He also founded Acadia Engineering and Research LLC, supporting engineering and research initiatives across the region. Whether you need a bank-ready business plan, a government contract strategy, or a data-grounded growth roadmap, Shawn has done it firsthand.