Yukon Express Services: Fairbanks grocery firm is coming up fast.

• Author: Martin, Ingrid
• Position: Yukon Express Services Inc.'s food distribution services in Fairbanks, Alaska - The New 49ers - Company Profile

Nestled in the back of an industrial complex in south Fairbanks, Yukon Express Services Inc. does not boast the appearance of a booming business, nor is its name a household word for the many thousands of people who are among the end-users of the groceries the company distributes. But, based on revenues posted in the three short years the company has existed, YES Foods has made its mark on the industry and is a player with which to reckon.

What allowed the company to thrive, according to its owners, and key to survival at a time when even established businesses were folding, was its primary commitment to customer service, on par with good-value pricing and product quality considerations. Making that commitment was a core staff with extensive experience and connections in the Fairbanks wholesale grocery industry. Add a hard-working crew and a no-frills facility, and the net result has been a profitable "lean and mean" operation that has grown significantly.

The 100 percent Alaskan-owned wholesale grocery distribution corporation, in the hands of president David Kilbourn, doubled its gross revenues from just more than $9.34 million in 1990 to nearly $18.78 million last year. "We've been more successful than we anticipated when we started out," Kilbourn says.

The four-man corporation includes Kilbourn, brother Randy, Charles Rex, and Jerry Maloney.

"YES" is a nickname for Yukon Express Services but oddly, the proper nomenclature evolved only after the fact. "If you want to know the truth, we thought of "YES Foods" first and we kind of had to go backwards," Kilbourn says.

The company has operated from its Van Horn Road address since startup. Two years ago, having already expanded its Fairbanks warehouse space from 10,000 to 13,000 square feet, YES expanded into Anchorage with a similar-size facility. Last year, the firm established an 8,000-square-foot freight-forwarding and consolidation facility in Tacoma, Wash.

The Beginnings

Company president Kilbourn, 44, has lived in Fairbanks for more than 30 years, working 17 of those years for a wholesaler that is now one of his competitors.

In 1989, the Lathrop High School and University of Washington graduate decided to venture out on his own, a move that -- given the state of the Alaska economy at the time -- was risky at best. But Kilbourn believed he could carve out his own niche in the industry, and called on the talents and resources he had discovered over the years to nurture the fledgling...