Great things are possible at Panera.
That’s where David Rogers – co-founder and retired CEO of Life Storage – met local entrepreneur Gabe Bialkowski.
Bialkowski, founder and CEO of vertical farming startup Ellicottville Greens, was at the cafe a few years ago with local businessman Richard Saffire, the brother of Life Storage CEO Joseph Saffire, who called Rogers over to the table.
Rogers is immersed these days in numerous boards, including Catholic Health, Read to Succeed Buffalo and The Old Fort Niagara Association. Life Storage, one of the country’s largest self-storage companies, “is the easiest board I’m on because things are going so well,” these days, Rogers said.
He was referring to the company’s $118 share price despite a 3-for-2 stock split in November (creating more shares at a lower price – shares for Life Storage were valued at $80 after the split).
A member of the Buffalo Angels and mentor to several local high-growth teams, Rogers doesn’t consider startups a major focus of his retirement.
But Bialkowksi’s mission – a fresh, organic and efficient indoor farmiong operation – spoke to the father in him.
“I keep my kids in mind with these kinds of investments these days,” Rogers said. “My daughter is a vegetarian. She’s all about sustainability and the environment. The story resonated for me on all of those fronts.”
Rogers became an investor and sounding board for Bialkowski, who has been unshakably confident in his ability to produce high-quality produce from shipping containers, but subsequently struggled with the capital-intensive cost of putting hundreds of farming operations into new regions across North America.
It helps to have people who have scaled the heights of their own industry in your corner.
Rogers said he shared the story of Life Storage, then Sovran Self storage, with Bialkowksi. It went something like this: “The old Sovran model, every time we saw a property we liked, Ken Myszka and Chuck Lannon would run out, raise equity and create a limited partnership. I was responsible for debt financing, and Bob Attea was responsible for the properties themselves. So we formed a bunch of individual partnerships to buy these things. They were different partners and different investors, but we always used the same management contract. Sovran was the managing partner and property manager. I told Gabe, “Get different equity vehicles in place but keep as much in common as possible, Don’t reinvent every wheel for every new project.”
Rogers downplays his role in what happened next, but Bialkowski pivoted his business, and directly credits Rogers and Richard Saffire.
Ellicotville Greens now basically builds farms for community partners in different regions, who fund the upfront costs of the operation, find real estate and connect with regional buyers. The first such project, Fillmore Farms, is expected to come online this summer. Another pilot project will take place in Louisville, Kentucky, on behalf of a salad bar chain that can put its own brand on locally produced vegetables.
Bialkowski told Business First recently that it’s the way to fulfill his ambition of becoming a major national indoor farming company. He’s had plenty of other supporters in Buffalo along the way, but there’s no denying that one meeting at Panera made a big impact.
“He knows his technology and he knows how to grow it, but he needs those local contacts,” Rogers said. “That’s the key.”
