By Mike Hazlip—
A growing meal delivery company has purchased a 1.7-acre property on Greenback Lane that is home to its headquarters building, amid plans to expand operations.
MealPro announced acquisition of its building at 7433 Greenback Ln. last week for $3.2 million. The company was previously leasing space in the same building along with four additional tenants.
MealPro owner Andy Sartori told The Sentinel in an email Tuesday the acquisition will help the business grow. At $180-per-square-foot, he said the acquisition cost less than a residential home in the city, on a square-footage basis.
“The purchase allows a local business to more than double the square footage of its growing operation by taking the building’s previously vacant suites that include a soon-to-be retail store/kiosk,” he said.
In an interview Wednesday, Sartori said he has plans to expand his operation with the possibility of offering a retail store where customers can walk in and purchase meals. Due to shipping costs, the minimum order is currently 20 meals.
From last year: An inside look at MealPro’s new Citrus Heights headquarters
The Sacramento Business Journal reported escrow closed March 11 on the 18,209-square-foot building. Sartori said he plans to keep the existing tenants while expanding MealPro into a vacant space. A separate automotive building is also part of the nearly two-acre deal, he said.
Servicing the debt is about the same as the lease the company was paying, and Sartori hopes to be able to offer food directly to customers at below market prices in five to 10 years.
Sartori is also considering adding solar panels to offset the cost of running the cooking and freezing equipment and is toying with the idea of adding vehicle charging stations. Other potential improvements to the building include a loading dock for big rigs, he said.
The biggest challenge was getting a government loan and negotiating between three separate stakeholders, including the Small Business Administration, he said.
Currently the company employs 10 people who produce over 800 meals each day, according to Sartori. Employees have been going back and forth between the Citrus Heights headquarters and a storage building just outside city limits on Auburn Boulevard, a fuel cost he hopes to reduce as the business occupies the newly acquired space.
Sartori said much of the revenue generated by MealPro comes from outside Citrus Heights, providing benefit to the city. MealPro serves customers throughout northern California and other western states.
“A lot of the money that we’re generating is not just the neighborhood that’s buying from us that we recirculate internally, it’s money coming in from outside the Sacramento region,” he said.
