Running on Ice: Cold chain gets royal treatment

In this edition: Dutch royalty comes to christen a new cold storage warehouse, supply chain wins at VC competition and a frozen food rebrand.

Blue Truck on a sheet of ice over a blue background and Running on Ice Logo

The place for all things cold chain.

All thawed out

(Photo: NewCold)

Big happenings in McDonough, Georgia as NewCold opens another new warehouse. This time the grand opening featured special guests. Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands inaugurated the new warehouse as a part of their working visit to the U.S. NewCold is a Dutch-based company and is quickly expanding to additional locations in the U.S. 

The new warehouse is one of the most advanced in the world, featuring proprietary cutting-edge technology. The facility builds on NewCold’s partnership with Conagra Brands, one of North America’s leading branded food companies. The large-scale warehouse is now one of the most advanced facilities in Conagra’s network.

Bram Hage, NewCold founder and CEO said in a press release: “The entire NewCold team is honored to have Their Majesties inaugurate our facility. NewCold is proud to be among the cohort of innovative companies from the Netherlands growing in the United States and globally by offering solutions that make things better – for our customers, our people, and our planet.” The opening ceremony was part of the Royal couple’s visit to Georgia, aimed at strengthening economic ties between the Netherlands and the United States.

Temperature checks 

(Photo: FreshX)

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business holds an annual competition called the New Venture Challenge, which is a competition among MBA students. The competition is considered an accelerator program for startups, with some of the previous winners being GrubHub, Venmo and Simple Mills.  


This year the winner was FreshX, a startup developing a supply chain software which helps food companies and freight brokers book and manage cold chain transportation and storage. The prize was a $1 million investment, which is the most ever given to a single team in the competition. Of the 11 teams in the finals of the competition FreshX was the only supply chain solution, the rest of the teams spanned a multitude of industries. 

Clay Curran, MBA ’23, founder and CEO of FreshX. “It’s exactly what FreshX needs right now and this investment will go a long way in our success as we continue to develop our product and look to grow.

Food and drug

(Photo: Shutterstock/Prostock-studio)

In the words of Ross from TV show Friends, “PIVOT!” That’s exactly what Providoor has done. The company started out as an online marketplace for restaurants’ celebrity chef recipes to be delivered straight to consumers’ doors. The company offered both frozen and cooked meals but after experiencing a host of issues with the delivery aspect of the business the company has shifted to frozen food delivery. 

Providoor managing director Sam Benjamin said in a Financial Review article, “His change in strategy was due to both the inefficiency of the home delivery takeaway model, and a surge in popularity for pre-prepared frozen meals, which he said is currently growing 30% each month.”


Providoor focuses on family-sized meals, less of a HelloFresh situation and more of a fun for the whole family. Because they are a representation of chefs’ brands, it’s important that their quality lives up to that of the chefs. It’s unlikely that Providoor will get back into the cooked food space until the last-mile becomes more reliable. 

Cold chain lanes

SONAR Tickers: ROTVI.JAX, ROTRI.JAX

This week’s reefer market heads south to Jacksonville, Florida. Reefer outbound tender volumes have dropped 16.27% week over week. As outbound volumes have dropped, reefer outbound tender rejections have increased 1,111 basis points going from 7.32% on June 6 to 11.40% on June 12. As rejections continue to increase as a result of produce season it’s likely to see some capacity constraints in Jacksonville. Should the ROTRI stay above 10% for a week or more, that signals that spot rates can become inflated in the market. This blip in rejections is likely a result of produce season. However, should it stay elevated through the Fourth of July holiday that would be a sign of the market turning. 

Is SONAR for you? Check it out with a demo!

Shelf life

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Medical warehouse wins pitch competition

Hooters launches line of frozen appetizers and snacks 

GoodLife Foods to acquire Spanish frozen-food peer Audens Group

Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@freightwaves.com.


See you on the internet.

Mary

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