As hunker down continues, two local businesses partner up to fulfill supply and demand

Alaska Mill and Feed and Salmon Berry Travel & Tours have teamed up to deliver gardening supplies and plants straight to the door of their customers (Photo courtesy of Alaska Mill and Feed).

A local travel and tourism company located in Anchorage has repurposed their eight 16-passenger vans to deliver everything from gardening supplies and plants to grocery boxes as far out as Girdwood and the Matanuska Valley.

Candice McDonald, co-owner of Salmon Berry Travel & Tours, says half their fleet is working with the Food Bank of Alaska to deliver senior citizen food boxes. They are also working with Alaska Mill and Feed to supply goods to their customers in Anchorage and neighboring areas.

“We have four vehicles doing [the Food Bank of Alaska], and then we have one vehicle doing the plant deliveries every day for Alaska Mill and Feed, and we have one vehicle doing weekly grocery deliveries down to the Turnagain Arm communities,” McDonald said.

Brooke Shortridge of Alaska Mill and Feed says the partnership between the two businesses started as a way to get plants and goods to customers without them having to come to their storefront.

“Right now… our greenhouses are closed to the public at this time, so that is why we partnered with Salmon Berry Tours — to make it easier for people to access all of our plants,” Shortridge said. “The sun is shining, it’s warming up, people are itching to get their gardens started. The way we made that partnership was to get people’s gardens growing with them feeling comfortable and safe at their own home.”

Like many tourism businesses feeling the pressure of the 2020 season, McDonald says Salmon Berry isn’t immune. Typically, she has 22 employees, but had to do a round of layoffs. 

“About half of our business is itinerary planning,” McDonald said. “So we actually plan full itineraries around Alaska for people with lots of other products. So we’ll book hotels, and the train and flight seeing and stuff like that.”

Salmon Berry operates year round; McDonald hopes that can offset some of the costs from cancellations and rescheduling. But being able to deliver for businesses in town has helped.

Alaska Mill and Feed Vice President Kimberly McCourtney says the move to deliver supplies to customers was a quick pivot.

“When this happened, we had committed to our growers last fall, so we knew we were going to need a different avenue to get to our customers,” McCourtney said.

They’ve been able to adapt in other ways, too. McCourtney says in the spring months, customers look forward to gardening classes taught at their storefront, but COVID-19 has halted large gatherings. Alaska Mill and Feed will be providing virtual gardening classes for their customers — everything from designing a hanging basket to deck gardening and creating herb planters.

“Instead of doing a basket class, we’re going to sell a little class kit, so you get everything you need, from your basket to your soil, your amendments, flowers, and then we’ll do a virtual class on how to put those all together,” McCourtney said.

“It’s wonderful that through making that choice to stay at home, you can support essentially three or more local businesses: the grower, us and Salmon Berry Tours,” McCourtney added. “It’s worth that investment — [that] those local dollars stay in the local community and help your neighbors.”

Alaska Mill and Feed is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.