Working in a physics lab, becoming a marine engineer and producing sprouts in the family basement is a roundabout route to running a super-premium juice company. But that's how Michael Carter '80 became president of Fresh Samantha, Inc., a Maine-based company that produces smoothies, "body zoomers," soy shakes and other natural juices distributed along the entire East Coast. Carter jokes that being president means he's a jack of all trades, master of none.

In 1970 Carter's father lost his job in Illinois. With no immediate job prospects, the entire family–including four kids, a dog and a cat–drove to Maine, where they had spent summers. Carter's mother grew alfalfa sprouts in the basement for the Gorham food co-op. The venture became so successful that her husband was able to quit his insurance job and join her. In addition to local supermarkets, Seiler's (then Colby's food supplier) bought the sprouts and Carter was able to eat his mom's vegetables when he arrived as a freshman in 1976.

After graduating with a physics degree, Carter found that a five-month stint in a windowless physics lab was not for him. He liked boats and working with his hands, so he earned an associate's degree in marine engineering and worked on supply boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Between constant trips he met his future wife, Martha, in Maine He now had to choose between her and a job that took him away for six months at a time. Carter chose Martha and says it's the best thing he's ever done.

In 1984 Carter started working in his parents' sprout (and now dip, hummus and tabouleh) business, still in the basement. Carter's sister, Abby, and her husband, Doug Levin, quit their New York City advertising jobs, and Doug joined the business. In 1993 Carter and his parents cashed in an insurance policy and bought 24 Carrot Juices, a small fresh-carrot-juice processor in Portland. Carter became head of production. "I've always enjoyed being hands-on," he said. The sprouts subsidized the carrot juice.

The company was renamed Fresh Samantha after Abby's and Doug's then-2-year-old-daughter. Abby, a children's book illustrator, designed fun, simple labels, which became part of the company's identity.

When the basement became crowded, Carter bought land in Buxton and built his home and a new facility next door. By 1996 the company had grown to employ 30-40 people. Fresh Samantha leased a "real plant and became a real business," said Carter

Fresh Samantha first developed flavors, like carrot-orange and raspberry dream, by mixing them in the kitchen. The company now has a full-time development team. Carter's favorite flavors include mocha millennium and banana strawberry, but his favorites change as Fresh Samantha launches new products.

Realizing the need to build the brand, Levin and Carter have pushed Fresh Samantha into new markets along the East Coast. This February the company merged with Odwalla, Inc., a similar juice company based in California.

Carter says running a business is fun and credits his family's complementary skills for Fresh Samantha's success. "Family businesses inevitably have issues you have to deal with,
but you get through it," he said. "In the end it is very rewarding."