Manufacturers and Retailers: Portable Cold Storage

Picture of a Food Manufacturer
26-Jul-2019

It is rare that a food manufacturer or retailer that doesn’t have cold storage accounted for in their business plan. You might even expect a food manufacturer or retailer to be the last place to be investing in fridge or freezer trailer rental. But there are several reasons why this type of supplementary cold storage can be enormously beneficial to businesses like this, especially in terms of growth. Businesses need to be adaptable, and they need to adapt to the market.

This means weathering changes or unexpected problems, but also seizing opportunity when it arrives. Hiring a portable walk-in chiller or a fridge/freezer trailer can provide this adaptability, turning the unexpected situations a food manufacturer or retailer might be met with into raw opportunity.

The reasons for this rest on principles of mobility, adaptability, and flexibility, supplementing the standard warehouse model. Read on to see how temporary cold storage can be an answer to each of these situations.

High Seasonal Demand

Whatever their base of operations, a food manufacturer or retailer will have finite storage space, normally comprising of a warehouse with cold storage rooms. However, at certain times of the year, high seasonal demand can lead to a need for extra storage space. It doesn’t take particularly complicated mental arithmetic to work out that investing in expansion or relocation only to gain extra space which is only needed for part of the year is not particularly cost effective. Christmas demand, in particular, is only needed for an especially small portion of the year. It makes much more sense to rent a portable and temporary cold storage. This not only works out as a cheaper alternative to warehouse space, but allows you to prioritise sensitive, perishable or high demand products for the most mobile part of a warehouse, allowing for ease of access and freeing up space for the products which can stay on the shelves a bit longer. And when the space is no longer needed, it can go.

Growth Encouragement

For any food manufacturer, distributor, or retailer, one of the primary obstacles to growth is lack of infrastructure to handle larger amounts of stock. Yet an increase in stock (a solid barometer of business performance) can be transient, thereby rendering a warehouse or cold room expansion unprofitable. Yet if a business cannot accommodate the increased stock which comes with growth, then growth is impeded. Being able to rent temporary cold storage is less of a commitment and offers a safety net should the increased stock only be a passing phenomenon.

Food Fairs, Shows and Exhibitions

A final reason for businesses to consider temporary mobile cold storage involves commercial mobility. Whether buying or selling, moving your produce to and from exhibitions or trade fares is essential to grow a business. Being able to accommodate the storage and refrigeration requirements of all produce means the whole gamut a company’s products can be shown off to potential buyers anywhere and anytime.

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