Missoula Business Summer 2021

n Inside:

new Thyme Out Cafe in downtown Missoula

Glow-in-the-dark indoor sports arena opens

Summit Beverage moves into massive new Missoula headquarters

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Economic indicators 2021

$450,000

Median home sales price of all 156 residential homes sold in the Missoula urban area in May of 2021.

2020

$332,500

$325,000: Median sales price of all homes sold in Missoula County in between January 1 and March 31, 2020, according to the Missoula Organization of Realtors

2019-2020

11.1%

The percent increase in median sales price of all homes sold in Missoula in 2020 compared to 2019, the largest year-over-year increase in at least 20 years.

2020

6.7%

The average increase in rents in Missoula in 2020.

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+

Index:

Economic indicators Summit Beverage Party bus entrepreneur Office City, a family business New eatery: Thyme Out Cafe Sports Barn Bathing Beauties

6 10 12 14 16 20 22

On the cover:

In coordinated fashion, workers use forklifts to transport and move cases of alcoholic drinks around Summit Beverage’s cooling depot.

Photo by Antonio Ibarra-Olivares

Jim Strauss Toni LeBlanc David Erickson

Publisher Advertising Business editor

For questions about news or pitches, contact David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com, 406-523-5253.

For advertising information, contact Toni LeBlanc, Toni.leblanc@missoulian.com, 406-523-5242.

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ANTONIO IBARRA Missoulian Summit Beverage's new location on Flynn Lane in west Missoula occupies more than 100,000 square feet and is built in a way that is energy efficient.

Summit Beverage moves into massive new Missoula headquarters DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

In 1968, Joe and Ruth Markovich bought a tiny wholesale candy and tobacco operation in Anaconda. They only had four employees and two delivery vans, but they grew the business steadily every year.

Today their son, Dale Markovich, is the CEO of what is now called Summit Beverage in Missoula, and they still have operations in Butte.

Dale’s children Greg, Mike and Rachel are now executives at the company, and they recently moved into a new state-of-the-art, 10 MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

110,000-square-foot headquarters on Flynn Lane.

The project cost over $20 million, but the family wanted to have permanent roots in the community they love.

“We’re a locally owned, family business that’s three generations deep,” explained Mike Markovich, who is now the vice president of community relations.

The company takes beer, wine, cider, hard seltzer and other beverages from manufacturers and distributes those products to retailers in a 13-county region.

“We have a little over 1,000 customers,”

Markovich said. “And we employ about 170 people year-round, and they’re good jobs.

They’re good-paying jobs with full benefits and 401k and health insurance. We’re firm believers in taking care of our employees.”

Markovich said they donate “six figures” to community organizations and events every year, from youth sports to Griz athletics to performing arts studios.

“So we’re super big on taking care of our employees and the other thing we’re really big on, it’s been instilled in us by our grandparents and parents, is you have to give back to the community,” he said. “You’ve got to give back

ANTONIO IBARRA Missoulian

ANTONIO IBARRA Missoulian Summit Beverage distributes alcoholic drinks across the state.

and invest in the communities in which we operate and those that our buying our brands and supporting us. And we’re huge on that."

"So we support causes and really help those that don’t have the means to help themselves," he said.

Many people aren’t aware that alcohol distributors like Summit Beverage play a key role in ensuring variety for customers and fair competition for smaller manufacturers, he explained.

The federal government implemented a three-tier system after the end of Prohibition to break up the power held by beer manufacturers. Essentially, distributors were created to act as a sort of “middle man” between manufacturers and retailers, Markovich explained. That way, large brewing companies can’t pressure bars and grocery stores to only sell their beer.

He pointed to an old photo of men drinking only Miller Lite in a bar that sold only that beer.

“Next time you’re at the grocery store, walk down the beer aisle and look at all the variety, all the stuff you can get,” Markovich said.

“Then turn the corner and walk down the soda aisles. It’s only two companies, Pepsi and

Markovich said the company's massive new location is the "Fort Knox of beer distribution and supply" throughout Montana.

Coke. Because it’s an unregulated market. The same thing would happen in the beer market if you removed distributors.”

Summit Beverage plays a “very critical role” in providing market access to small, local Montana breweries, wineries and cideries, Markovich said.

For those small businesses, it doesn’t make sense to drive a van all the way to Superior or Darby to drop off a keg or a case of beer.

That’s where Summit Beverage and its fleet of trucks come in. The company also has a huge temperature-controlled, energy-efficient warehouse to store all the product so it’s completely fresh when it reaches the customer.

They can distribute about 15,000 cases a day most of the year or 20,000 a day when it’s busy.

Linda McCarthy, the executive director of the Downtown Missoula Partnership, recently took a tour of the new facility. It was designed by an architecture firm in St. Louis that specializes in beverage distribution buildings.

“They started construction at the beginning of the pandemic,” McCarthy said. “It’s unbelievable what they have done.”

McCarthy noted that the old Summit Beverage building on Great Northern Avenue

was recently torn down to make way for a massive new expansion of the Costco store next door.

Markovich added that executives at Costco played a huge role in helping Summit Beverage work through all the complications of building a new facility. The new warehouse was designed to look appealing to people driving by rather than just a functional grey box, he said. The interior is full of photography and paintings by local artists.

The area around Flynn Lane is expected to absorb the bulk of Missoula’s residential growth over the next two decades, so Markovich said they want to be good neighbors and installed sound-dampening barriers around the truck bays.

Markovich didn’t get an “automatic bid” to be a part of the company just because of his last name and had to learn every aspect of the business, from sweeping floors to management, he said.

“I am super thankful and fortunate to be a part of this thing,” he said.

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MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

Tom Allison has made it his mission to cut down on drunk driving and have a little fun in the process.

The owner of Aspen Sound recently poured tens of thousands of dollars into converting a school bus into the Montana Party Bus. He hired local welders, electricians, painters and other contractors to completely remodel the vehicle into a luxurious mobile event space.

It's got LED lights, a 4,500watt stereo, a bathroom, three big-screen televisions and inwardfacing bench seats.

“We want to provide a safe and fun experience for people to get home safe,” Allison said. “That was the whole reason we built this.”

The bus can fit up to 30 passengers, and Allison supplies the driver and a security staff member who rides in back and DJs. It rents for $700 for four hours, $1,300 for 8 hours or $1,800 for 12 hours.

Customers are allowed to bring their own alcohol on board, and there are sinks and coolers next to the DJ booth.

Allison knows that people in Montana often go to events and weddings in rural areas, and there’s often lots of alcohol involved. He’s hoping people can use the bus as a fun alternative.

“My wife and I got married in 12 MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

2017 and rented a school bus,” he said. “Gosh, that was fine and dandy but there’s gotta be a more fun way to get people from ‘A’ to ‘B’ and discourage people from drunk driving. We want to give them an entertainment experience on top of driving them and it’s going to be a lot more inviting.”

Allison said already this summer, they’ve provided transportation at several weddings where they convinced people who planned to drive to just get on the bus instead.

Maya Vaello-Davis was one of Allison’s first customers. She got married near St. Ignatius and had all her guests dropped off at a central location in Missoula after the event.

All her guests had a great time hanging out together on the ride back instead of driving individually, she said, and nobody got behind the wheel after drinking heavily.

“I don’t think we had anyone unaccounted for, which was nice,” she said.

Allison said they’ve had the bus booked for fishing trips, bar crawls and sports events.

The bus has air-conditioning and heat, so it’ll be able to handle anything the weather in Montana can dish out. There are also vertical poles and ceiling poles for people to hang onto to avoid injury.

“We don’t serve alcohol but they can provide their own alcohol as long as there’s not a beer within

Tom Allison, owner of Aspen Sound, spent tens of thousands of dollars to convert a school bus into the Montana Party Bus with the hopes of cutting down on drunk driving.

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

Missoula entrepreneur builds party bus to cut back on drunk driving

"We want to provide a safe and fun experience for people to get home safe," Allison said.

"That was the whole reason we built this."

reach of the driver,” Allison said.

“We also recycle cans and clean the bus.”

The driver will be sealed off from the passengers during the trip for safety reasons.

“We’ve had a lot of people stoked on the idea that you can provide an entertainment experience on top of safe transportation,” Allison said. “It’s been fun, that’s for sure.”

Missoula Chamber of Commerce CEO: Workforce initiatives underway Kim Latrielle Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce

Summer has arrived and life in Missoula is slowly returning to normal. More people are out and workers have been returning to the office — though some will likely continue to work from home and some will work a hybrid schedule from now on. The past year has changed the way we all work. Some things remain the same, however.

The Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce continues to serve its members by being the voice for business in the community. Despite the many challenges Covid-19 presented, the Chamber has remained strong and continued to advocate on behalf of its members.

As the Chamber’s new board of directors begins their year of service, the Chamber is excited to continue the work on its initiatives aimed at creating a better Missoula community in which to to live, work and play.

In our child care initiative, I will be working with DPHHS as part of their early childhood education advisory council. The goal is to assist DPHHS in the promotion of new models of child care to grow the availability of care in Missoula and statewide. I was invited to be part of the council thanks to the efforts the Missoula Chamber has put forth in the past few years on this issue.

The Chamber regularly connects people and businesses in our community. In that role, we will continue to help connect child care

providers and programs to resources local Chambers of Commerce they need to grow and improve throughout Montana to create strong their business, including funds relationships to help improve the appropriated through efforts by the state the American Rescue government and Plan Act. bring good jobs to In addition to our Missoula and the rest work to increase the of Montana. affordability and Our final availability of child workforce initiative care in Missoula, we’re is centered around also partnering with career pathways. other organizations Many businesses to help businesses in Missoula (and understand family Montana) have begun friendly policies creating programs Kim Latrielle they can adopt to help that allow graduating parents within their organization. students to earn a paycheck while These policies can help businesses they learn the skills necessary retain their employees at a time when for a career. Together with the the availability of workforce is a Montana Department of Labor and challenge facing all businesses.

Industry, we launched the Montana The Missoula Chamber is also Workforce Connections website working with several organizations to highlight these opportunities, in the community to help people (WorkforceConnections.mt.gov). dealing with addiction and mental We encourage students and parents health issues find recovery and to take a look at the site and see if remain in the workforce or return there are opportunities available they if they’ve had to leave. We’re also may be interested in. We’re working compiling a list of resources to with Chambers across the state and share with Missoula businesses on our own membership to encourage how they can help workers facing businesses to continue creating these addiction issues. These resources programs and adding them to the will help employers retain valuable website. This is a way for them to workers while helping the employee connect with tomorrow’s workforce and their families. and ensure their success both today We’re also stepping up our and in the future. collaboration with the Montana On a local level, we recently began Department of Commerce. The holding networking events after department has been tasked more than a year off. Our Business with increasing efforts to attract After Hours events allow business new businesses to Montana. people from throughout Missoula We’ve collaborated with other to connect and build valuable

relationships that help them grow their businesses. There has been a strong desire for networking events to return and we’re excited we have been able to start them back up while keeping attendees safe.

The Chamber’s Leadership Missoula program is finally wrapping up Leadership 37. This dedicated group of future Missoula leaders saw the end of their leadership year heavily impacted by Covid-19 and our inability to gather as a group. We are excited to be able to conclude their program and hold their graduation ceremony at the University of Montana.

We have also taken the year off to begin retooling the leadership program to better serve the needs of our members and the community.

We will be including additional leadership training while maintaining the incredible historical lessons the program has always offered. Most importantly, Leadership Missoula participants will still build the great relationships that will serve them well in their careers now and in the future.

The Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to be a convener of experts, a catalyst for change and a champion for the Missoula community. As we continue working on these important workforce initiatives, our goal remains the same; to make Missoula a great place to live, work and play.

Kim Latrielle is CEO and President of the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce.

MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

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BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian Presley, Hadli and Livia Hughes, granddaughters to Richard Hughes, wash the windows at Office City, a sixth-generation family-owned business in downtown Missoula.

Office City: Missoula family celebrates six generations in business downtown DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

Richard Hughes smiled as he watched two of his granddaughters, Hadli and Presley, giggle and wash 14 MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

windows at the family-owned company on a recent sweltering afternoon.

“We start them young working in the business,” he said, grinning.

In fact, Hughes’ granddaughters

represent the sixth generation of the family that’s worked in the downtown area.

Office City, at 115 W. Broadway, is a Missoula institution and celebrated its 100th anniversary in

2016.

Hughes, now 70, still helps out at the store with his son, Brian, the current owner.

“I still do building maintenance and accounts payable,” he explained.

multiple decades, let alone a century.

“It’s pretty amazing to be in Missoula over 100 years,” Brian Hughes said.

The company has grown from its humble roots and now offers a huge variety of same-day shipping via their website. They sell furniture and supplies to many businesses in town, including Stockman Bank and the Missoula International Airport.

After growing up in town and owning a downtown business for so long, Richard Hughes personally knows an amazing number of other longtime business proprietors in Missoula. He’s friends with judges, lawyers and brewery owners and keeps up on all the latest gossip.

If there are changes afoot, chances are Hughes already knows about them and has the inside story.

He’s also seen plenty of storefronts come and go over the decades.

“It’s changed a lot over the years,

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

His great-grandfather, Sam Elder, had a blacksmith shop at 218 W. Main, just down the street from Office City’s current location. Elder’s son, Claude Elder, purchased The Office Supply company in Missoula in 1916 from Joseph Dixon, who later became governor of Montana.

Then Hughes’ parents, Catherine and Blaine Hughes, owned the company before passing it on to Hughes and his wife, JoAnn. Now Brian and his wife are running the place and having the kids help out, as every generation before them has done.

“I’ve been working here ever since I was little,” Brian Hughes explained. “We used to have Jelly Bellies, and so maybe my parents got rid of that because I ate them too often. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.

I got to know a lot of the longtime customers.”

Not many businesses survive

The family business has been operational for over a century.

but Missoula’s a magical place,” he said.

One thing that hasn’t changed in a long time is Office City’s presence downtown, and if he and his family have anything to do with it, it'll last another century. The young granddaughters, still toddlers, are

washing windows for now, but Richard and Brian both get a gleam in their eye as they talk about the future.

“We hope one or more of them will take over eventually,” Richard Hughes said. "We have a lot of downtown history."

MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

15

New eatery in downtown Missoula: Thyme Out Cafe & Local Market Kim Agnew kept extremely busy during the pandemic as she hustled to create a new downtown Missoula café featuring healthy pre-cooked meals, boba tea, coffee and other local products.

She's finally finished, and now her passion project — Thyme Out Café & Local Market — is located at 420 N. Higgins Suite B, just to the east of Jimmy John’s in the same commercial complex.

Agnew has been selling her pre-made meals via delivery since 2017, but she finally decided to open up a brick-and-mortar location this year where customers can get grab-and-go meals or use the microwave and tables inside for a heat-and-eat option. She uses a commercial kitchen just across the alley to prepare more than 1,200 meals every week.

“A real convenient space came up and I was like, okay, I don’t have a plan yet but we’re gonna do it,” she said. “It’s not a bad spot at all and where do you find a downtown spot with parking?”

None of her meals are ever frozen, and her recipes include chimichurri steak with sweet potatoes and asparagus or slowcooked shredded beef enchiladas.

“Right now we have a Thai peanut butter chicken with a spicy lime sauce,” she said. “We do nutritionally balanced meals, Whole 30, keto and plant-based 16 MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

Kim Agnew spent the last year creating a new downtown Missoula cafe Thyme Out Cafe & Local Market featuring pre-cooked meals, boba tea, coffee and other local products. Agnew has been making and selling pre-made meals since 2017, though she decided to open up a brick-and-mortar location this year.

meals. We do individual and family-style meals.”

She offers everything from a four-ounce meal for $8.99 to custom-sized meals for families and gatherings.

“People order lunches for work or order for like a couple or a family,” she said. “We have a lot of customers who are police officers, firemen, engineers. People just

don’t have time during the day to cook. And it saves money on groceries and wasting food.”

Agnew is glad to finally have a space where she can meet her customers face-to-face as they sit down to enjoy her cooking, she said. The cafe will feature a shelf of games, local artwork and Friday night “mocktail” events for people under the age of 21.

“We try and use as many local vendors as we can, especially during the summer,” she said.

“Vegetables and that kind of thing. Basically, we take everybody’s favorite recipe and just put healthier ingredients into it."

Agnew has spent her life trying to help others achieve their wellness goals.

"I come from a background

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian Customers will be able to get grab-and-go meals from a cooler or use the microwave and tables inside for a heat-and-eat option.

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

of 25 years in fitness and personal training and the biggest caveat with all my clients was failure in consistent nutrition," she said. "And that’s when I started this."

She was born and raised in Missoula and also spent many years making cabinets, so she knows how to remodel a commercial space. The new location is larger than she needs, so she’s collaborating with Pearl Boba Tea and Montana Made Coffee Company.

They’ll both have locations inside Thyme Out Café, along with other local vendors selling everything from kombucha to eggs.

Asia Caluori and her partner are starting Pearl Boba Tea after a successful launch of a mobile shop recently.

“It’s gonna be an awesome community here and Kim has a great vision,” Caluori said. “We source the majority of our ingredients locally.

Our tea comes from Lake Missoula Tea Company. So for us it’s good to have the local partnerships and we’re focusing on the local community a lot. And I’m hoping that this is the community’s center.”

Shannon Fifield and her business partner, Janele Buckhold, own the drive-through Montana Made Coffee Company shop in Hamilton.

“We were wanting to expand in Missoula anyways and I’m from Missoula,” Fifield said. “Kim reached out looking for a vendor in her shop, so we’re excited.”

Agnew said in mid-June that she was hoping to open the café in early July, but that depends on getting the needed city health department permits.

The space features a lounge area where customers can eat and play games. Agnew said she was hoping to open the cafe in early July.

MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

17

Sports Barn to offer sports leagues, glow-in-the-dark activities Ryan and Amy Hanavan are in the midst of upgrading and improving Missoula’s only indoor turf field and have a goal of giving kids and adults more options for year-round exercise and fun.

The Sports Barn is located at 2811 Latimer Street at the facility formerly known as the Missoula Indoor Sports Arena.

The Hanavans are installing professional golf simulators and blacklights for glow-in-the-dark sports to give customers more options.

“We’re very focused on just developing play opportunities for youth and adults,” explained Ryan Hanavan, who at one time was the University of Montana lacrosse coach.

The Sports Barn will be the official home of Griz lacrosse, he said. The facility will also offer in-house leagues for soccer, co-rec lacrosse, flag football, kickball, wiffleball, spikeball, dodgeball, cornhole and any other sport that can be played on turf.

They also hope to rent out the field for birthday parties or events.

“I mentioned that we were doing glow-in-the-dark sports to my hairdresser, and she already called me asking about renting it,” Amy Hanavan explained.

The blacklights are installed around the field and the couple will provide lighted wristbands and legbands for players. They 18 MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

Ryan and Amy Hanavan and their children — Cameron, left, and Logan — show some of the glow-in-the-dark sports equipment available at The Sports Barn, an indoor turf field in Missoula.

have a lighted football and reflective jerseys along with all kinds of lighted toys and glow-inthe-dark equipment.

“We just feel like that’s going to be a whole new level for both adults and kids and birthday parties,” Ryan Hanavan said. “We can attach glow sticks to lacrosse sticks. We can light up the nets and everything and it’s just a really cool thing, this glow thing."

"We just started to think, why can’t we just play all kinds of glow-in-the-dark sports?" he recalled.

They’re going to work with the Missoula Parks and Recreation Department to offer leagues that don’t overlap with city programming.

“We know people might want to play soccer two nights a week in the winter, so we don’t want our

league to be on the same night as Parks and Rec,” he explained.

Amy Hanavan said they’d like to be open from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. once they get fully operational.

They’ll offer the glow-in-the-dark sports from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“And then during the day on the weekend we do clinics and drop-in sports,” she said. “People keep hearing about glow-in-the-

dark and asking if they can book their kid’s birthday party. So we hadn’t even planned on that but that’s not a bad idea.”

For more information visit missoulasportsbarn.com

Logan Hanavan catches a glow-in-the-dark football thrown by his dad Ryan at The Sports Barn.

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

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You can see it everywhere you look: safety, and how it’s protecting all kinds of work all over our state. The proof is in how we’re getting back at it – creating, tending, teaching and building. Montana State Fund is proud to help protect work and workers, and it’s clearer than ever that safety works here. See how Montana companies are putting safety to work at safemt.com.

MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

19

TOM BAUER, Missoulian A marijuana dispensary offered the owner of the Bathing Beauties Beads location at 501 S. Higgins three times the current rent for the space.

After 30 years on Missoula's Hip Strip, Bathing Beauties Beads moves DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

After nearly 30 years on the Hip Strip block in Missoula, Bathing Beauties Beads is moving to a new location. A marijuana dispensary offered the landlord more money for their current location at 501 S. Higgins.

20 MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

But owner Katie Ghen-Simpson has a positive outlook on the situation because she found a new location in the Toole Crossing building. The address is 812 Toole Ave. Suite E, right behind Hunter Bay Coffee.

“I’m excited,” she said. “Toole Crossing has a beautiful space that offers me the opportunity

to teach a lot more classes. We’ll have our own classroom space and a lot of bike and car parking. It has an amazing vibe in the neighborhood.”

Ghen-Simpson said her landlord, Kirk Duce, approached her recently saying that an offer for the space had come in from a marijuana

TOM BAUER, Missoulian Katie Ghen-Simpson, owner of Bathing Beauties Beads, said the store's new location will allow her to offer more classes.

company.

“Apparently, they offered three times as much for this space specifically,” Ghen-Simpson said. “So we had a respectful conversation.

It’s a historic building that needs a lot of maintenance, and I know his property taxes have gone up.”

The Hip Strip location is right on the corner, with high visibility and a new plaza constructed by the Montana Department of Transportation.

“It’s hard to move away from,” Ghen-Simpson said. “It’s really easy to get sad, despite all the good that comes from this, about the changes that are happening in Missoula. I won’t deny that. I’m all for cannabis being legal but a lot of them are taking the prime spots.”

Kirk Duce said no other tenants are moving out.

“Just that tenant,” he said. “The company moving in is called Montana Dispensary. They’re going to remodel that space.”

Ghen-Simpson said her new location will allow her to “do something bigger and better.”

“We love working with people in all types of mediums,” she said. “We do beadwork, metalwork and we’ll have a kiln running. The neighbors in the old space are amazing, but the neighbors in the new space are amazing and we look forward to that cultivation again.”

Ghen-Simpson said she’s hoping to have First Friday celebrations at the new spot and she’s had meetings with Draught Works Brewery and Hunter Bay Coffee about collaborations. She’s proud of her success on the Hip Strip.

“We’ve played a huge role on the Hip Strip and we really look forward to the new location,” she said.

MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

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Stronger Together.

PayneWest Insurance begins the next chapter in our history as we join Marsh & McLennan Agency (MMA) as its Northwest region hub. For our clients it means the same great local team—but now powered by MMA to offer more solutions, more specialized knowledge and more resources to invest in our people and technology.

PayneWest Insurance & Marsh & McLennan Agency—stronger together in the moments that matter.

Call us today at (406) 532-5911.

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2925 Palmer St, Missoula, MT

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A ssistants

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Gordon Gilchrist IT Manager

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Brittany Scalise Jeremy Schultz Roxanne Shelly Will Windham CORE Support Broker/Manager General Operations Digital Marketing Manager Manager MISSOULA business ∙ SUMMER 2021

23

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