No where near the scale you guys are...but just as a comparison, no one near me sells AM. To start my pond off, I bought 5 lbs of AM 500 shipped to me for over $20. I did just find the same for $16, and 20 lbs for $41. I wish I could find it local for the prices you guys mentioned...though I think 50 lbs would go bad before I used it all.
I did have blue gill spit out AM 500 and swim away when I started feeding....but as they went through the natural forage in my small pond, they are more aggressive about eating it now.
What kind of a timeline are they looking at for the new feed? 20 lb bags would be great for my scale...if they are still figuring things out.