Hello, and welcome to the coolest community in freight! Here you’ll find the latest information on warehouse news, tech developments and all things reefer madness-related. I’m your controller of the thermostat, Mary O’Connell. Thanks for having me!

All thawed out

(Image: GE)

GE Appliances has announced a $34 million investment to expand refrigeration manufacturing in Tennessee. This new facility will focus on GE’s premium brands Monogram and Cafe bottom-freezer refrigerators. The project is expected to add 15 new jobs in Selmer, Tennessee, in addition to the 1,150 employees already employed by GE in the state. Consumers have made a shift to frozen goods both prepackaged and fresh to frozen which has in turn driven up consumer freezer demand.

Also making big moves in the cold chain world, Envision Cold has launched its new cold chain platform. Envision Cold is a full-service cold storage developer. The company provides warehousing, import/export services, process improvements and sustainability services. The launch of the platform comes alongside a $500 million investment that will allow Envision to acquire and develop over $1.5 billion of cold storage assets. 

Temperature Checks

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

One partnership just isn’t good enough for Flowspace. Fresh off its partnership with Fresh Del Monte it has doubled down on its partnership with Pod Foods. Pod Foods offers insights to the grocery supply chain geared toward emerging brands. The Pod Foods logistics optimization has unlocked the ability for Pod to deliver products to retailers nationally in an expedited fashion. “Setup and fulfillment on Pod is easy — we were able to roll out a nationwide promotion from first conversation to the shelf in less than four weeks,” said Erik Lucas from Lifeaid Beverage Co. This partnership is the next step in food retailers moving on to the e-commerce bandwagon.

The ice pack manufacturer that appears in every meal kit delivery service, Nordic Cold Chain Solutions, has announced the expansion of its testing and lab capabilities. It has a new testing chamber, which simulates conditions a package and product will encounter during distribution. This chamber means that no longer will consumers have partially melted ice packs in their deliveries. This allows Nordic to put products through the ringer and to improve products to better serve a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and food and beverage.

Food and drugs

(Photo: Chipotle)

The internet has done it again. After a fajita quesadilla “hack” went viral on TikTok, Chipotle has officially made it a menu item. After employees were getting hammered with these customized off-menu items, some changes had to be made at Chipotle. Now that menus have been updated and trainings have been completed, the quesadillas are here to stay and the new dish came with a new way to know what customers want for Chipotle.

“TikTok has not only changed the way we communicate with Gen-Z, but it’s proven it can identify areas of opportunity within our business,” said Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer. “With the launch of the Fajita Quesadilla, we are celebrating Keith, Alexis, [the creators of the original off-menu quesadilla] and all our superfans who were craving this delicious customization, while prioritizing support for our employees.”

Cold chain lanes

(SONAR Tickers: ROTVI.MEM, ROTRI.MEM)

This week’s reefer market is Memphis, Tennessee. Capacity should be loosening in Memphis as both outbound tender rejections and outbound tender volumes have started to decline. Outbound tender volumes have decreased 13.51%  while outbound tender rejections have dropped 513 basis points, which brings rejections to 18.44%. When the the Outbound Tender Reject Index is that close to 20% rejections, it signals extremely inflated spot rates. Despite elevated spot rates, levels should be slowly crawling back down as a result of the loosening capacity, but still expect rejections to stay above 10%, especially as produce harvest season carries on through the Midwest.

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Shelf life

Kellogg Company and Kroger join forces to fight food insecurity

A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers

The future of cold storage is mobile

Estes sets floor to buy Yellow terminals at $1.3B 

Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at [email protected].

See you on the internet.

Mary

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