Missoula Fresh – Confidence & Risk

Craig Holtet and Ron Ramsbacher are busy guys. As owners of
Missoula’s Orange Street Food Farm, they just made one heck of an
impulse buy: two more grocery stores that suddenly came up for
sale
because of a merger of two national chains.

"There just aren’t many opportunity to purchase grocery stores, " Holtet
said. "A lot of things in life come down to luck and timing. Often
when people want to start a business, they have the money but n
ot the
knowhow, or the other way around. We’re really fortunate to be in the
position to make everything come together with this acquisition
."

Holtet and Ramsbacher may have timing in their favor, first
purchasing the Food Farm in 2014 and now the two Missoula Fresh
Market http://missoulafm.com/ locations — formerly the town’s Safeway stores — but the
longtime friends who met during their years at the University of
Montana certainly have the knowhow. Ramsbacher brings a career in
finance and accounting to the company and Holtet has experience
in
distribution, retail and grocery management.

"Our new office at Missoula Fresh Market is the same office where
I first interviewed for the Safeway job," Holtet recalled about
a store
management job he took in Colorado. "About a year into that, I
called
Ron and said ‘Hey man, let’s look for something to do.’ He called a
year later when Orange Street Food Farm came up for sale."
Soon Holtet was back in Missoula and, not long after, grocery
titans Albertsons and Safeway announced a merger, requiring some
locations to be divested, including Missoula’s Safeways. Now the
goals for the pair are to infuse the newly branded stores with
local
personality and Montana-made products, and manage a massively
expanded operation less than a year and a half after they took the
reins of their first store.

"Over the 20 years, how many grocery stores have sold in
Missoula? It’s all about timing and knowing the right people;
people you trust, he said. "At some point in business, decision
s
are built on somebody’s word." Of course it helps that Holtet and
Ramsbacher have the confidence to assume the risk and the skills
necessary to reap the rewards.

University of Montana School of Business Administration Dean’s Report 2014-2015 – http://www.business.umt.edu/Portals/0/deansreport/deans14/SoBA%20Deans%20Report%202014-15.pdf