diff --git a/iris-mpc/src/bin/server.rs b/iris-mpc/src/bin/server.rs
index 2ba9c657c..760d67cb7 100644
--- a/iris-mpc/src/bin/server.rs
+++ b/iris-mpc/src/bin/server.rs
@@ -726,7 +726,7 @@ async fn server_main(config: Config) -> eyre::Result<()> {
 
     // Seed the persistent storage with random shares if configured and db is still
     // empty.
-    if store_len == 0 && config.init_db_size > 0 {
+    if config.init_db_size > 0 && store_len < config.init_db_size {
         tracing::info!(
             "Initialize persistent iris DB with {} randomly generated shares",
             config.init_db_size