Ribbon cut on Food Bank

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Food Bank will team with a former CFO in a first-of-its-kind private partnership to expand the bank’s operations.

The food bank — which serves about 3,000 customers — will provide labor and expertise for warehouse management strategies, and receives access to a prep kitchen, freezer, cold-storage facilities, and warehouse space without the expense of new construction (food bank staff have spent some time repairing the existing space) or long-term capital debt for new construction. Unified Operations LLC of Anchorage, led by president Terry Smith, will leverage that expertise, in exchange for donation derived from the operation’s profits as the warehouse ramps up from the start-up phase.

If successful, the nonprofit and for-profit partnership could serve as a model both for other local charities and for future expansion of the food bank itself, according to Mat-Su Food Bank Executive Director Eddie Ezelle.

“What we provide is the forklift and the equipment,” he said. “We’ll also do whatever we need to do to move product for our tenants.”

The food bank has been considering expansion for a number of years, both because of limited capacity at it’s current location at the Food Pantry of Wasilla, 501 Bogard Rd., and also because of concerns about local infrastructure, Ezelle said.

“We have a church nearby, and if we back in there with a truck, we can tie up traffic for hours,” he said.

The move also separates the behind-the-scenes distribution of foods to local pantries from its street-level distribution point in the pantries themselves, Ezelle said. The new warehouse is located at 4721 E Bogard Rd.

“If you show up at the warehouse looking for food, we’ll probably recommend you go to one of the food pantries,” he said.

The Food Bank now pays full price for the retail space and bears the cost of the repairs, in exchange for which they will receive the repayment, plus potential future contributions to the operating budget, Ezelle said.

Warehouse space with an owner-set minimum commitment runs about $12,000 a month, Smith said.

While the cost — exact figures for the food bank’s rent are comparable but not identical to that figure above — appears high at the outset, the ideal result would keep the food bank a step ahead of the Valley’s ongoing population boom, Ezelle said.

“I’m expecting to recoup that,” he said. “While it seems like a lot now, five, ten years from now, we’ll be right in line with where the population is.”

The partnership is made possible by the fact that food bank staff have accumulated years of professional warehouse management, Smith said. It also serves as an opportunity to maximize the return on a real estate investment, Smith said.

“I’m kind of an efficiency guy, and I like to do a couple things with one asset if I can,” he said. “I’m an Ex-CFO and an ex-banker. I like to maximize the utility of any given asset.”

Through the arrangement, both parties benefit, Smith said.

“They (the food bank) have an anchor-leased,” he said. “They have leased out a certain amount of square footage. They can do whatever they want with that space. They can’t afford that (regular rate).”

“What I need is people who know how to run a warehouse,” Smith added.

The business model aims to provide outsourced warehouse services to local businesses. For example, if you sell dog food, some portion of your stock could be warehoused at the Boden Street Location, provided you can commit to the minimum pallet size, and then pull stock from the warehouse as you need it, Smith said.

“I’m borrowing their available staff time temporarily,” he said. “I’m giving them the flexibility to grow on a variable timeframe.”

The new arrangement is a hybridization of Smith’s community-minded interests as a Rotarian and his accumulated years of business experience with Key Bank and also as the former CFO of Carlile Transportation Systems, Inc.

“They (the food bank) have the right expertise I need,” he said. “We’re working together. I’m not making a donation.”

The warehouse is currently going through the last stages of licensing. Officials expect to being stocking food at the new location in the next week or so.

In the meantime, the Food Pantry will serve lunch today starting at 11:30 a.m. for the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. Food bank officials will deliver a presentation about their new partnership between noon and 1 p.m.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com