11/5/2009 6:00:00 AM Prison commissary company moving to business park
Pictured at a groundbreaking ceremony held recently at the Stoughton Business Park for Stellar Services are (from left): Stellar Services co-owner Patty Bierer, Chamber Ambassador Tim Strandlie, Stoughton Mayor Jim Griffin, Chamber Ambassador Mickey McCormick, Stellar Services co-owner Ed Bierer, Stellar Services co-owner Bruce Chapman, Chamber Ambassador Linda Olson,√Stellar Services co-owner Linda Budnar and Chamber Ambassador Joe Alexander.
Experiencing the kind of growth that would leave most people starry-eyed, Stellar Services, a company that specializes in providing commissary services and inmate banking software for correctional facilities, recently broke ground on a new, 28,300-square-foot building in the City of Stoughton Business Park.
"We started this business in McFarland in 2001 in a building measuring about 1,500 square feet, and about five years ago we moved to a larger building in McFarland with about 7,500 square feet," said Ed Bierer, vice president and co-owner of the company. "Since then we've been growing so fast that now we're basically walking on top of one another! It'll be good to move to Stoughton."
Stellar Services, LLC purchased 3.7 acres from the city earlier this year. A groundbreaking ceremony, attended by city and Chamber of Commerce officials, well-wishers and company representatives, was held Oct. 23 at the business park site. The new facility will be open about April, 2010.
Bierer said Stellar Services rapid growth is due to the company having been on the ground floor of - and now a recognized leader in - changes in how correctional facilities and prisons run their commissary programs, as well as how the finances of inmates are handled.
Until recently in many facilities - and still common in many states - correctional facilities ran their own in-house commissaries: basically small on-site stores from which inmates could place orders and purchase a limited range of essential items such as toiletries, stationery and snacks.
Historically, most commissaries were run by prison staff, including corrections officers, who often also had to deal with handling financial exchanges with inmates.
"For many correctional facilities, running the commissary - which was basically a store - along with dealing with the inmates' finances, was really a headache," said Bierer. "Well now, we do it for them. For the jails, it's a win-win situation: we get them out of the grocery business; they don't have to worry about invoicing or handling money; and it allows them to free up space they used to use for their commissary. On top of it, we've developed software to handle and track the inmates' finances."
Because of Stellar Services' volume buying power, the company also can purchase commissary products at a reduced rate and pass those savings on to the institution, said Bierer. "Some of them are making 20 to 35 percent on sales," he said.
Bierer explained that the Stoughton facility will essentially serve as a large warehouse and distribution center.
After inmates from any given facility place their order, an order file will be forwarded to Stoughton via the internet.
