Florida-based cold storage provider, RealCold has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Forte Frozen (“Forte”), a leader in national temperature-controlled warehousing and fulfillment services. The transaction, which has closed recently gives RealCold five currently operational, high-throughput facilities in strategic markets including Dallas, Texas; Ormond Beach, Florida; Clearfield, Utah; Clackamas, Oregon; and Colton, California.
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This announcement follows the announcement made by RealCold in October that the company has purchased land in Lakeland, Florida and Lockhart, Texas for the construction of 376,000 and 310,000 sq. ft. cold storage facilities, respectively. Both projects have broken ground and are scheduled to be operational in the first quarter of 2025.
Apart from the facilities in Texas, Florida, Utah, Oregon and California, RealCold would be leveraging Forte’s best-in-class operating platform that is comprised of traditional cold storage and transportation services, as well as industry-leading, high touch, fulfillment activities including direct-to-consumer (“DTC”). Additionally, Forte’s team in total are currently employees of RealCold.
RealCold CEO Keith Goldsmith stated – “We are thrilled to welcome the talented Forte team to RealCold. We sought to acquire an enterprise that had an incredibly skilled workforce, a reputation that embraced exacting measurements of execution, and which embodied customer-centric values. In acquiring Forte Froze, we will further our mission to deliver the highest service levels in the sector, expand our coverage area to reflect locales where our customers need to be, and scale best-in-class processes.”
Dan Forte, CEO of Forte Frozen echoed the sentiment, noting – “RealCold and Forte Frozen have a shared vision of what cold storage can look like in the future. It is one in which value added services like DTC play a critical role in the supply chain. We are excited that this transaction will allow us to execute this vision on a grand scale, as it provides resilience, innovation, and robust demonstrability, all grounded in an uncompromising customer-centric mindset.”
Key Benefits of the Acquisition:
Enhanced Service Offerings:
The combined resources will provide new and existing customers with an opportunity to engage in a highly collaborative design process that produces custom and highly flexible cold storage solutions regardless of complexity. Offerings include traditional services such as cold storage and transportation, as well as value added services, inclusive of e-commerce fulfillment, advanced kitting, layer and case picking, and specialized pack-out activities, which leverage optimal ice and freezer pack management.
Expanded Geographic Reach:
With Forte Frozen’s footprint, coupled with the two facilities set to open in early 2025, RealCold is set to have over 54 million cubic feet of warehouse space, which can reach 77% of the U.S population in two days or less with ground parcel delivery.
