International Business Exchange (IBEX) successfully brokered the sale of the business Pawhuska Hometown Foods in Pawhuska, OK on May 24, 2011 to a private individual. IBEX acted as the merger and acquisition advisor to the deal, helping the business owner list, market, wade through buyers, due diligence and a close the deal. The store was established in 1988. It is a full service grocery and the only grocery store within a thirty-mile radius. The store services outlining rural communities as they do not have grocery facilities available to them and rely on this community store for their groceries. The products offered are full service grocery product offerings consisting of meat market of high quality meats, fresh produce, floral/gifts, fresh bakery offering baked goods daily, catering, and deli that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared fresh each day. The meat market employs six full-time employees and the meats are custom cut to the customer’s request. The meats are of the highest quality and are purchased in box from the grocery wholesaler. Additionally, the meat market prepares smoked meats both for resale over the counter and custom to customer’s specifications. Meats are also prepared for the catering department for all of their functions. The meat market cost center represents 26% of the total gross sales of the store. The produce is brought in daily by the wholesaler and is all stocked on the shelves for the customer selection. There is no produce that is stored whatsoever as the customer selection is fresh daily and the owners take pride in providing this service to their customers. All grocery items are replenished daily. The store does not have any backroom stock. The store orders daily and receives from their wholesaler daily at 6:00AM their shipments. Stockers unload the trucks at 6:00AM and put all stock received out on the shelves by 9:00AM each day. The owners take pride that they operate the store with a “Just In Time” Inventory and all products out on the floor for the customer to purchase. The floral/gift department orders flowers with special order for large projects, such as weddings, special parties, and funerals. This department also delivers to the customers. The bakery department bakes their products daily and the store takes pride with being able to offer their customers fresh baked goods daily. The deli is full service offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. The deli is an asset to the community as most of the community takes advantage of the fresh food products on the menu offered for all three meals. Catering is a cost center that is very profitable. Weddings, special events, holiday parties, and company outings are all areas in which the catering department participates. This year the catering department has booked for the Christmas Holiday the company party for the Wal-Mart Distribution center 45 minutes from the store. This will service over 1,000 employees. The store was fully remodeled in 2009 and replaced all of the frozen foods freezers in the cold section of the store. All produce display racks were replaced with spray systems. The cold section for dairy was rebuilt and more cold storage added. The store has plenty of cold and frozen storage in addition to the display units. All new kitchen appliances were added during the remodel. The store has several smoking pits for the processing of the meats with a portable smoker for on site meat preparation for catering.