Up next in 10
Alaska's Food Crisis: The SOLUTION No One Expected
3 views
May 16, 2025
In this exclusive interview, I explore how Alaska Food Co. is transforming food accessibility in America's most isolated state. Founded with a mission to create food resiliency for Alaskans while celebrating local producers, this veteran and women-owned business is pioneering advanced freeze-drying technology that's changing the way Alaskans access nutritious, locally-grown food year-round. This interview offers valuable insights for anyone interested in food security, entrepreneurship in challenging environments, or innovative applications of freeze-drying technology through commercial freeze-drying by companies like Parker Freeze Dry. https://parkerfreezedry.com/ Want to meet companies like Alaska Food Co and others operating successful businesses in freeze-drying? Book Your Ticket to the Freeze Dried Summit (September 22-23, 2025). Visit https://freezedriedsummit.com/ TIMESTAMPS: 1:22 - Who is Alaska Food Co? 3:34 - Alaska's Isolation Challenges & Impacts to Food Accessibility 5:58 - Why Freeze-Drying? 11:14 - Growing Beyond a Home Freeze Dryer Business with Parker Freeze Dry 12:51 - Quality of Products with a Commercial Freeze Dryer vs Home Freeze Dryers 15:09 - Running a Business as Commercial Freeze-Drying Company 17:51 - Biggest Mistake & How to Avoid It 19:03 - Advice for New Entrepreneurs 19:43 - Advice for Getting Sales as a New Business 21:17 - Why Freeze-Drying is a Rewarding Business Discover how https://alaskafoodco.com/ is pioneering Alaska's freeze-dried revolution while addressing critical food sovereignty and security challenges. Their DEC-certified facility ensures the highest quality and safety standards for every product they create, making nutritious Alaska-grown food available to local communities regardless of season or supply chain disruptions.
View Video Transcript
0:00
starting a freeze drying business is not
0:01
easy especially when you're trying to
0:03
solve a much larger issue well today's
0:05
video is a conversation that I had with
0:07
a freeze dried meal company in Wasilla
0:10
Alaska this is Alaska food company
0:12
they've invested in an advanced freeze
0:14
drying facility using Parker freeze
0:16
dryers that doesn't just preserve food
0:18
it's preserving an entire agricultural
0:20
community and you're going to learn more
0:21
about that they've got a great story and
0:23
Mission in their business and I think
0:25
you're going to be inspired if you're
0:26
looking at starting a freeze drying
0:27
business as to what's possible for you
0:30
in this industry we also explored how
0:32
they went from the home freeze dryer
0:33
side all the way up to commercial so
0:35
that they could Advance their demand for
0:37
their freeze-dried meal products also
0:39
I've included the timestamps below in
0:41
the video description so if you want to
0:42
jump around to different topics now
0:43
let's jump into the interview with
0:44
Alaska food company to find out how
0:46
they're helping the agricultural
0:47
community in Alaska through freeze
0:49
drying hey welcome to the freeze drying
0:52
entrepreneurship podcast and introduce
0:54
yourself tell us kind of who each one of
0:57
you are what you do for Alaska food
1:00
company so I'm Josh wisman with I'm the
1:05
president of laska food company I'm
1:08
Sammy weson Josh's wife and the
1:10
co-founder and I'm a chief collaboration
1:12
officer and I'm Cheryl mativa and I am
1:15
the director of sales and marketing hi
1:17
David I'm Marty mativa I'm her other
1:19
half and I'm the CEO of Alaska food
1:22
company where are you located and you
1:25
know what does Alaska food company
1:28
represent in the freeze drying Market
1:30
we're in Wasilla Alaska and yes I do
1:33
know Sarah Palin she used to be my
1:36
babysitter no big deal so wh why you're
1:38
freeze drying is Alaska Imports about $3
1:43
billion of uh food up to Alaska helping
1:47
our Farmers grow a capacity so that
1:49
they're utilizing full production and
1:51
yield to their fields right and so much
1:55
is imported that we want to increase
1:57
that ability for Alaskan grown products
1:59
within our state you and David there's
2:01
such a need here um in Alaska because
2:04
like Josh say like every state we import
2:06
so much food but it's more costly up
2:07
here um and our farmers do not grow to
2:11
their capacity so if you look at it our
2:13
our purpose is is to get you know uh
2:16
nutritious Alaskan grown uh shelf stable
2:19
food on every every Alaskan shelf on a
2:22
year- round basis um and that's kind of
2:25
what we're what our focus is what our
2:27
purpose is is trying to do is there's a
2:29
huge food security issue here because
2:31
we're you know we're land we have an
2:33
earthquake you know we we barge our food
2:35
in if there's a a a strike in Seattle or
2:38
Tacoma or an earthquake or anything like
2:40
that or a bridge goes out we don't have
2:43
we got food for you know two to three
2:44
days so there's a real big need and
2:47
that's kind of you know how Josh and
2:49
stmy started the company what they saw
2:51
and we're just kind of throwing that and
2:54
drying is really going to just give a
2:56
value to the current supply chain that
2:58
we already have
3:00
so it'll kind of mitigate the waste we
3:02
can put a shelf life on the food that
3:04
we're already growing and then grow to
3:07
the capacity and guarantee that we can
3:09
you know value add to that free R it you
3:11
know make sure that we can get it to
3:13
where it needs to go before it goes back
3:15
and not to beat a death Force here but
3:18
in 2018 we had an earthquake school
3:21
districts couldn't feed the kids so they
3:24
now see the value of it I want to say
3:28
and I know what she's going to say if
3:30
you lock in today's meat price you're
3:33
beating inflation when when Co hit and
3:35
the P pandemic kind of shut things down
3:37
did you see similar uh shortages like
3:41
you saw with the 2018 earthquake
3:43
absolutely I mean absolutely our shelves
3:46
were empty we are so reliant on that b
3:49
we're very similar to help you David
3:51
think about Hawaii Hawaii and Alaska
3:53
have a lot of similarities Hawaii is
3:55
locked by the Sea we we're landlocked by
3:58
Canada if you will and so for us the
4:00
barges weren't running the Casco shelves
4:03
were empty and fortunately a lot of
4:06
alaskans are resilient a lot of people
4:08
can their Foods we all hunt we fish uh
4:11
you know fortunately uh the electricity
4:13
kept going and so we were able to to
4:16
have food source but people got to the
4:17
point where they were sharing their food
4:19
with family and friends to assure um
4:22
that they were being fed so that is
4:23
definitely for all of us not only after
4:26
the earthquake we went from the
4:27
earthquake to a huge windstorm that
4:30
closed production down or closed
4:31
Transportation down and then we went
4:33
into covid so for us it was it was
4:36
staring Us in the face that there had to
4:38
be a better approach yeah freeze drying
4:41
it's it's it's a generational project
4:43
this this isn't anything that's problem
4:45
that's going to go on continually into a
4:46
legacy project is for our kids and for
4:49
future Generations I mean we have less
4:50
than a million people here but we're the
4:52
largest state in the in the union and so
4:54
many of our uh of our communities are
4:57
off the road system so the two biggest
4:59
challenges you have of getting food off
5:01
those Road system is you know Freight
5:03
the cost of weight the of freight and
5:06
spoilage except the power goes out and
5:09
you know they their food is going to go
5:11
bad so that's that's a huge Niche and
5:13
that's a huge thing that freeze dry What
5:15
will what we you know already we just
5:18
eliminate those two prods cuz you can
5:20
ship 400 serving of mashed potatoes in
5:22
in in a bag that's only 12 lb and we can
5:25
get that to any any Community we Alaska
5:27
that easy and and the length of life
5:30
that that bag of potatoes is going to
5:32
take yeah yeah I mean you're a free
5:34
strier and and your listeners are
5:36
obviously Abid fans as well but I look
5:38
at Josh and Samy's children um you know
5:41
age age 12 down to age five and the food
5:45
that we're freeze drying today can feed
5:47
them when they're you know in 10 15
5:49
years when they're adults we've got food
5:51
that there's that funny thing like okay
5:53
you could catch salmon and feed it to
5:55
your grandchildren like well after
5:57
you're gone walk us through the Journey
6:00
of saying we're going to buy a freeze
6:02
dryer and we're going to start a freeze
6:04
drying company what did that look like
6:07
give us a picture of that so we
6:08
originally started off looking at the
6:11
need all the rural areas in Alaska and
6:14
then we started off with dog food in
6:17
general with Harvest rights and with har
6:20
Harvest rights and then we kind of
6:22
jumped into paying a chef to create
6:25
meals and we realized that it was a
6:29
better need for
6:31
Alaska to be able to subsidize itself
6:35
for food security purposes we started
6:38
out as as Sammy and Josh mentioned um in
6:40
in dog food right and then um in Hiring
6:44
Our Chef who is a food nutritionist he's
6:46
a CIA Chef um he's he works with us on a
6:49
weekly basis um working at different
6:51
recipe options of flavor profiles that
6:54
type of thing um because we realize that
6:57
food security first and foremost for
6:59
alaskans and for the human race are
7:02
crucial right so we're focusing
7:05
internally okay AK grown a AK
7:08
sustainability but we also know that we
7:10
have amazing products here that could up
7:12
the road eventually uh be exported for
7:15
example Alaskan Seafood shower um we
7:18
have plenty um of amazing resources that
7:21
could be exported outside um we grow
7:25
amazing root vegetables here we don't do
7:27
well um in like for example sweet corn
7:30
good for you cuz we don't grow sweet
7:32
corn right no but we don't have that
7:34
humidity you know we don't have the
7:36
humidity here but we do grow amazing you
7:39
know beets and potatoes and carrots and
7:43
uh our squash and pumpkin and that type
7:45
of thing is is just an incredibly high
7:47
standard so that's kind of where we've
7:50
come together to say what can we do in a
7:53
Broadway so we started with snacks it
7:55
was low hanging fruit if you will
7:56
something we could really you know sing
7:59
our teeth into and get started with how
8:02
that works in the market and how well
8:03
it's received and so forth so and get
8:06
our processes down we've learned kind of
8:08
how to package our products and and what
8:11
works and what doesn't inside our
8:13
facility one thing we've learned is this
8:15
is an ongoing process every day
8:16
something new you find something new
8:18
find a better way better way of doing
8:20
something couple things we've learned is
8:22
is we almost see two gets in the snack
8:24
line we see um a a children's line and
8:27
then we see adults which are driven a
8:29
little a little bit different direction
8:30
into what they may be looking for um we
8:33
learned that even though we are
8:35
Statewide we we are in three bears
8:38
Alaska stores which are Statewide um we
8:41
are in a number of health food stores
8:43
that type of thing um we have some large
8:45
chain stores that are waiting for our
8:47
product that would like our product and
8:49
and we're we're just slowing ourselves
8:51
down because we want to be able to to
8:53
handle that capacity but more
8:55
importantly we learned that the
8:56
packaging that is beautiful I'll show
8:59
you something they right this is one of
9:01
our packages and we've had tremendous
9:04
response to the packaging but it's too
9:06
large for the common market and so we're
9:09
like okay we need to scale that
9:11
packaging down to a smaller size that's
9:14
almost a two serving package and we need
9:16
to pair it down to a one survey um is
9:19
we've learned you know profitability and
9:22
where are the labor costs I mean I think
9:24
that's the mistake a lot of um cottage
9:27
industry businesses make in the
9:28
freeze-dried industry they say well I've
9:30
got this Harvest right this is my
9:32
product and they don't necessarily think
9:34
about what is your labor cost I mean you
9:36
know how many hours your prep your
9:38
freeze dry your your packaging and so we
9:41
as a commercial company using partner
9:43
freeze dryers um we really have to look
9:46
at every aspect of cost from electricity
9:49
to labor to you know floor space to
9:52
packaging and there's there's a lot more
9:53
to it than what I certainly originally
9:56
thought when I that's probably the
9:57
biggest challenge up here did is the
10:00
cost of doing business because we're you
10:02
know we're so isolated you know our our
10:05
utility costs are a little bit higher so
10:07
we we've learned you know how do we make
10:09
a better product and more cost effective
10:11
so we' we we've adjusted our recipes we
10:14
when we use homegrown when we use a Las
10:16
We Grown product we can we can lower our
10:18
labor cost because right now if we with
10:21
our fruit line for example our our
10:22
healthy snacks we we import strawberries
10:25
and and apples and pineapples um so
10:28
there's there's that additional cost uh
10:31
so we're we're refining on a day-to-day
10:33
basis getting better and get North
10:35
streamland the the last thing I would
10:37
add is maintenance cost nobody thinks of
10:39
those yeah Parker can't just drive up
10:41
here it's a right we just had Parker was
10:44
here recently and you know the the
10:47
expense of having them come to Alaska um
10:50
but the the advantage is of course
10:52
they're on call we can call them if
10:54
we're in the middle of running um a
10:56
batch and we have a question um they can
10:58
monitor our system from their corporate
11:01
office so we have a signed text that
11:04
work with us every day if if required
11:07
right and I know that you've talked to
11:08
Parker haven't you you've had that much
11:10
yeah and I've talked and I've talked to
11:12
Parker before I want to ask about that a
11:14
lot of people who are in the freeze
11:16
drying space who have a an actual
11:18
business and whether they're just doing
11:20
candy or whether they're doing meals or
11:22
whether they're focused on a recipe and
11:24
they're using that countertop freeze
11:25
dryer to Kind of Perfect their recipe
11:28
tell me about kind of a commercial
11:31
freeze dryer like Parker like how does
11:32
it do things differently since you're
11:35
the actual owners of a business how has
11:37
it really impacted your business and the
11:39
way you process a freeze-dried product
11:42
we we have two Parkers currently we have
11:44
a we have a six which is500 lb of wet
11:47
wet food going in and Sammy had a great
11:49
idea and we've implemented we just
11:50
bought a it's called the summ which is
11:52
only 97 lb 100 lb which gives us a lot
11:56
more flexibility so I think the volume
11:58
wise when you have a lot large
11:59
commercial uh free driver like The
12:01
Parkers that gives you the ability of
12:03
getting the volume up um it's also a
12:05
challenge of getting that much you know
12:08
that much raw product in there but we've
12:10
we've kind of overcome that work with
12:12
local grows but probably I think we'd
12:14
all agree that it's the support that
12:16
Parker gives us that really helps you
12:18
know um there a phone call away they've
12:20
got a Parker University training they
12:22
give us a training video that's that's
12:24
how we train our staff and when we hire
12:26
anybody they sit down and look at how do
12:28
you run the Parker why do do this how to
12:30
read you know cuz it's all computerized
12:31
this isn't like that uh Harvest Right
12:34
This is Everything is computerized and
12:36
we can see when the moisture hits level
12:38
how long the recipes are are programmed
12:41
into the computer and every computer
12:43
reads they're they're the same ones no
12:45
matter which which SI you get uh the
12:47
internal works the computers are the are
12:49
the same you just plug your recipe in
12:51
what differences have you seen when you
12:53
freeze dried your strawberries with
12:55
Harvest Right years ago to to now with
12:59
more commercial freeze dryer like Parker
13:01
I kind of want to know what that what
13:02
does that look like consistently we find
13:04
that the products coming out of the
13:05
Parker are brighter they retain their
13:08
shape a little bit better you know
13:10
sometimes in freeze dryers it tends to
13:11
bring it down so tight um we find that
13:14
it's a brighter a little brighter color
13:16
and I think there's sometimes a little
13:18
more intense flame yeah brings out the
13:20
sugars more but so you talked about the
13:22
Harvest our sh you know R&D in in a
13:24
hover R he has at home we we purchase
13:26
for him that he has it so he'll he'll
13:29
try out a recipe he'll he'll perfect it
13:31
and then he'll scale it up for us for
13:33
the for the for the Parker but it it the
13:36
Parker because it's all computerized we
13:38
know this recipe is going to take it up
13:40
from it's going to takes it all the way
13:41
down to uh 40 below to start with and
13:43
then it slowly starts bringing it up to
13:45
that that kill of 165 and it and then
13:49
all the moisture comes out just slowly
13:52
at the right time and it is brighter
13:54
it's so you could tell the difference
13:55
from a harvest R to his R&D to when we
13:57
pull this out of the for the Parker it
14:00
is brighter it's the the flavor get
14:02
brings out more sugar it's sweeter it
14:04
pops better um and it keeps the the
14:07
texture better than it does out of a
14:08
harvest r a little bit less rubbery you
14:11
know what I mean when I say that
14:12
sometimes with Harvest R you'll get a
14:14
little more of that rubbery texture
14:15
which we don't have as much but but
14:18
absolutely we believe there there's a
14:19
time and a place for everything our Chef
14:21
couldn't do what he does for us without
14:23
that that Harvest Right In His for us be
14:26
that longterm sustainable company we
14:29
have to look at that high volume
14:31
commercial correct the seven Harvest
14:33
rights on the counter were kind just
14:35
bust busting some circuit like it's kind
14:37
of got a little to my yes yeah it's more
14:40
cost effective do the large if you're
14:42
looking at one of your recipes that
14:44
involves multiple ingredients outside of
14:47
just fruit what does perfecting a recipe
14:50
look like for a company like you like
14:52
what does that actually entail you know
14:54
the the again it goes back I'm going to
14:55
give Parker a lot of the street CPS cuz
14:58
cuz they can can they can log into our
15:01
into in into our six or the the summit
15:04
any one of our our products or our
15:06
equipment and they can tell they can
15:08
watch the moisture context too what's it
15:10
like running a a business that has a a
15:12
commercial freeze dryer but has a lot of
15:14
products glad you ask that because
15:15
that's one of the things we learned we
15:17
first started we kind of uh got ahead of
15:19
ourselves so we're much more deliberate
15:21
much more focused we we we put a
15:22
production sced together and you know um
15:25
you don't want to make anything or
15:27
process anything it's not going to set
15:28
one of the things we've done in the past
15:30
couple months and just become more
15:31
focused more deliberate knowing that uh
15:34
we're only going to get things on the
15:35
market that are going to S and that's
15:37
kind of where we're going so we're not
15:39
running 24/7 yet because we're just
15:42
we're building that demand we're working
15:44
right now with the an school district
15:45
and on carrots they came to us and they
15:48
you know they liked our carrots and now
15:50
we're doing two special recipes for them
15:52
in the summit because of smaller orders
15:54
that's where we're going we're going
15:56
more towards providing a service pleas
15:58
selling a we will be there eventually
16:01
but you never want to make anything that
16:02
isn't going to sell I think that's smart
16:04
cuz it's I I've talked about this in my
16:07
videos before to everyone who wants to
16:10
look into freeze drying is uh don't
16:12
overwhelm you there's a lot of things to
16:14
freeze dry but if you're going to run a
16:15
business focus on focus on perfecting a
16:19
recipe and a recipe could just be your
16:21
simple strawberry freeze-dried freed
16:23
strawberry but focus on those things so
16:26
that you know exactly what to do and you
16:28
know the process every single time lot
16:30
of the things we've learned too um is is
16:33
having the right commercial equipment
16:35
right cuz everything we're doing we have
16:37
a a pretty good size facility what's our
16:39
square footage uh
16:41
3,300 yeah yeah 3,300 square ft is our
16:45
facility which we're out growing that's
16:48
the tough part um cuz that that perker
16:50
that does you know 1,500 lb of of wet is
16:53
about the size of a small conx so um
16:57
there's there's a lot of of um
17:00
efficiencies that we've been learning as
17:02
we go and with those efficiencies um are
17:05
getting the right equipment and like and
17:07
the and for example um theming our yeah
17:10
the potatoes we used the Tilt skillet
17:12
for our for our mashed potatoes so we'd
17:13
have to slice them and you know cuz we
17:16
don't peel them but you you wash them
17:17
slice them and then we we boil them so
17:20
we're in the process of it'll be here
17:22
this week a commercial steamer which you
17:24
can take your potato put it in hole it
17:26
steams it use a lot less water lot a lot
17:30
less time and then we mix it up we you
17:32
know exactly cuz time is labor labor is
17:34
money try and perfect your recipes in
17:36
your process because when you get that
17:39
down then your margins will go up and
17:41
you will actually be able to produce
17:43
more product because you're you're
17:45
spending less time on the prep or on the
17:47
the processing and more time on the
17:49
packaging and getting the product in
17:51
what's like the biggest mistake you've
17:53
made so far in your freeze drying
17:55
business and how did you overcome it
17:57
when what can we learn from it we learn
17:59
that to slow down cuz you it's like any
18:02
business anything startup you get real
18:04
excited oh you know everyone's going to
18:06
buy this you know that it's it's
18:08
wonderful well we were we thought
18:09
everyone was like us but we we we've
18:12
learned that uh to we've got to meet our
18:15
Dem our Market demands and so we've
18:17
slowed down we've been much more
18:19
strategic but in this industry because
18:20
it's ever changing I think this is one
18:23
of the most dynamic but Ever Changing
18:26
Industries there is right um we're all
18:29
at that cusp of a second phase growth in
18:31
my opinion and if we're not
18:33
communicating and and keeping up to
18:35
speed with each other we start working
18:37
in silos and if we work in silos then
18:39
we're not a cohesive unit and I would
18:41
say one of the biggest mistakes we made
18:43
is the investment we have beautiful
18:45
packaging right but we over ordered
18:49
really I would say one of the biggest
18:51
lessons we learned is we have too much
18:53
invested in packaging and is the market
18:55
and is we've learned and changed some of
18:58
our products we're stuck with packaging
19:00
we don't necessarily need and that's a
19:02
big expense what advice would you give
19:04
someone who has a lot of counter toop
19:07
units they haven't purchased a
19:09
commercial freeze dryer like a Parker
19:11
they really have got a lot of excitement
19:13
and aspirations for actually creating a
19:16
business using freeze drying what advice
19:18
would you give them if they were
19:20
listening to this today you're all
19:21
excited yay created your beautiful
19:23
product that's only the beginning you
19:25
still have so much more work to do you
19:27
have to to move it
19:29
just getting like that's not that's
19:31
that's the St and so you think you've
19:33
made it at that point and that's that's
19:35
not it to have a commercial unit you
19:38
better be moving all of your products
19:42
out of your Harvest rate did you already
19:43
know who you're going to approach to get
19:45
your product on those shelves How do you
19:47
know who to go talk to to get your
19:49
product sold to other than trying to
19:51
make it on the online site cuz it's
19:53
really tough to get online sales
19:55
organically how do you go about that
19:57
what's your advice well first of all we
19:59
learned pretty quickly that because we
20:01
went to this originally thinking that
20:03
the online sales were going to be our
20:05
our bread and butter and for the cost of
20:08
shipping yes it's a lightweight product
20:11
but if you're only going to buy Six of
20:13
these bags right um what you're there
20:16
still the the packaging you have to get
20:18
the boxing you got to what are you going
20:20
to pay for that postage right so to make
20:23
it reasonable for online sales you
20:25
really have to get the volume up right
20:27
because the the the it takes to send six
20:29
of those I should be sending you a case
20:32
writing if it's a mix case so first of
20:34
all we thought online we learned pretty
20:37
quickly that that there's a versatile
20:39
market and that's where I come in and we
20:42
all do because we're all well known
20:45
within our community but I've happened
20:47
to be fortunate to have done a lot
20:49
Statewide and so um I've been able to
20:52
reach into the large retail market and
20:56
also that small you know the the health
20:58
food store that isn't going to do huge
21:00
volume but they're giving us that shelf
21:03
space and that exposure and it's a
21:04
really well-known um company and so they
21:08
get a lot of foot traffic so it's
21:10
understanding that there's various um
21:14
various markets and they're all viable
21:17
what's the most rewarding aspect of
21:19
running this freeze drying business
21:20
specific to running freeze drying uh you
21:23
know there's a lot of rewards for
21:25
running a business but when it comes to
21:27
freeze drying what's been the most
21:29
rewarding aspect of of this so I I I'll
21:33
go ahead and start off Community hand
21:35
something off to the community's
21:37
children um and have sustainability I'm
21:40
really excited about getting healthy
21:43
nutritious food into the schools into
21:46
the villages um and making a difference
21:49
from like the youth up or the ground up
21:51
making the forarms a opportunity to grow
21:53
to their capacity and just letting
21:55
everybody be successful
22:03
[Music]
#Farms & Ranches
#Food