diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e09384cb..e5cd3bcd 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ WORKDIR /caikit
 
 COPY --from=poetry-builder /caikit/.venv /caikit/.venv
 COPY caikit.yml /caikit/config/caikit.yml
+COPY --chown=1001:0 --chmod=554 utils/wait-modelcar.sh .
 
 ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=/caikit/.venv
 ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
@@ -38,4 +39,5 @@ USER caikit
 ENV CONFIG_FILES=/caikit/config/caikit.yml
 VOLUME ["/caikit/config/"]
 
+ENTRYPOINT ["/caikit/wait-modelcar.sh"]
 CMD ["python",  "-m", "caikit.runtime"]
diff --git a/utils/wait-modelcar.sh b/utils/wait-modelcar.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..a89f06e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/wait-modelcar.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ "${MODEL_INIT_MODE}" = "async" ] ; then
+  echo "Waiting for model files (modelcar) to be present..."
+  until test -e /mnt/models; do
+    sleep 1
+  done
+
+  echo "Model files are now available."
+fi
+
+echo "Starting model server..."
+eval $@
+