Driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to healthy meals, Innovation Food Service (IFS) provides nutritious, high-quality meals to schools, childcare centers, senior living facilities and businesses. Founded in 2002 by Thomas Lane, a trained chef, the Twinsburg, Ohio-based company has been growing steadily since its inception. Last year alone it served 7,000 daily lunches to schools in northeast Ohio.
To scale further, IFS is entering the wholesale space with Safe Bites, a new line of allergy-friendly meals with three categories: vegan-vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free. Key to this product launch, IFS has invested in high pressure processing (HPP) equipment, which uses cold, purified water to kill bacteria and extend the shelf life of food while preserving nutrients, texture and freshness. With its new equipment, IFS can stretch the shelf life of meals from 7-10 days to more than 60.
Packaging is another hallmark of Safe Bites. Instead of a single product, each stock-keeping unit (SKU) features a month’s worth of meals (20 trays with five different menus per week). This novel approach not only simplifies ordering and distribution for schools but also provides greater safety. “Each carton can be dedicated to an individual so there is no chance of accidentally giving someone a meal that might trigger their allergies,” Lane explains.
Instead of needing to secure federal contracts with schools, Safe Bites will be sold through a distributor, which enables IFS to embrace a more predictable and scalable business model. Indeed, Lane anticipates being able to take annual revenue from the current level of $6 million to $20 million within the next five years.
Providing high quality meals to children is a personal mission for Lane, who spent his K-12 school years eating free lunches. “We’re driven to make sure underserved kids get the best nutrition possible,” he says. “It’s about trying to help improve their lives, one meal at a time.”
In addition to its creative, healthy meals, IFS has built dignity into its distribution system. When serving meals at schools, IFS tracks children by their student number so there is no transaction of money — and no one carries the stigma of being a “free lunch kid.” The company also operates a summer meal program and on-call service, which delivers food to rural students’ homes so that hunger is not a barrier to learning.
To accelerate growth for IFS, Lane has been participating in programs co-hosted by the Edward Lowe Foundation and Burton D. Morgan Foundation. Among these, the foundation’s System for Integrated Growth (SIG) has enabled Lane to tap business experts on very specific topics, such as developing a strategic marketing plan for Safe Bites.
Because IFS’ new equipment has additional production capacity, Lane has launched a sister company, Hydro Pressure+Pack, to offer cold pasteurization services to other food manufacturers and generate additional revenue. With that in mind, SIG experts developed a database of potential manufacturers to approach, along with contact information and geographic maps showing concentration of markets.
Having access to the SIG experts has been “life-changing” for his company, Lane says: “There were some real aha moments. In particular, the perspective that Jaci Russo brought to the table about branding blew us away.”
In addition to working with the SIG experts, Lane attended a leadership retreat at Big Rock Valley, the Edward Lowe Foundation’s learning campus in southwest Michigan. This experience led to his participation in a CEO roundtable with other second-stage business leaders.
“The focus on second-stage businesses provides unique opportunities,” Lane says. “There’s a depth of learning you don’t get with other types of programs, and there’s also a tremendous network — a sense of belonging as an entrepreneur and being part of a family.”