Lancaster firm makes logistics easy for small, emerging brands

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A Lancaster company strives to help emerging brands find success by helping them get their products to market.

Alex Thompson, co-owner of Founders Market & Co., Lancaster, said he and his partners created the company to help small businesses and entrepreneurs navigate the logistics of warehousing and distributing products, whether they produce one jar or truckloads of goods.

Thompson said most specialty brands rely on a mix of vendors to get their products to market.

“We combine all the services under one roof and help them save time and money,” he said. “These are all very small retailers, most of whom use home equity lines of credit to run their business.”

The company was founded in 2017 when Thompson, who was working for his family’s business, Lancaster Fine Foods, realized the family wasn’t interested in getting into distribution but needed to move its products.

“It was really a side project to the family business,” he said, adding partners Scott Martino and Matt Stargel all have backgrounds in food production.

Surviving COVID and a slowdown in business, Thompson said the business has started growing in the company’s Old Tree location in Lancaster which they acquired in 2020.

“We saw a need in the space where companies are brand focused,” he said. “We are not fee-based so we’ve done a lot of fundraising to figure this out.”

Thompson said Founders Market charges a set price based on the individual customer’s needs.

“We are transparent on what we charge so the customer knows what he needs to sell the product for,” he said.

Currently, Founders Market has 12 major warehouse customers and works with around 300 grocery stores. Last year, the company made $2 million in top line sales, Thompson said. That is up from $300,000 in 2018.

This year, Thompson said the company is on track to make $3 million and the partners are looking at $5 million in 2025.

“We just got a $250,000 loan from the EDC Finance Corporation and a $250,000 line of credit from LINK Bank to grow the business,” he said. “And we carved out 15% to create an employee ownership pool.”

Thompson said once an employee works for five years, he is eligible for employee ownership. The company currently employs 11, two of whom are vested and one very close.

This year, Founders Market plans to hire three additional staff.

“Food distribution is kind of funky,” Thompson said. “No one touches central Pennsylvania well. We are a full-service DSL. We deliver and put things on the shelf.”

The company also stores inventory for customers, many of whom have no space to store it themselves.

Some customers send full pallets and others just a few samples, he said.

Founders Market will ship the full pallets or break them down and package what Thompson calls e-commerce. They will even send individual samples to prospective clients, he added.

“We do it all for the smaller brands with white glove communication,” he said.

Recently, Founders Market started offering to do projects for its customers. Thompson said that includes variety packs, promotional items and packaging for QVC and Amazon. Currently, they have five consistent brands using the service.

“Brand owners go on TV and tell their story to get exposure,” he said. “When they sell, those orders need to be ready to ship in 24 to 48 hours, which is labor intensive. We know the procedure and can get it done for them.”

With the new funding in place, Thompson said Founders Market is adding a 20,000-square-foot addition onto the building and seeking new customers.

“We want to grow at a pace we can sustain,” he said. “We generally get customers by word of mouth, but we will be doing some advertising on social media platforms.”

Thompson said he thinks a big part of the company’s success is the personalization to the customer.

“We do a lot of teaching,” he said. “Most of our customers are new to this so we walk them through the entire process.”