Because 2020 is Refrigerated & Frozen Foods’ 30-year anniversary, we take a look back at the evolution of technology in lift trucks, and what current trends will shape the future of forklifts.

Refrigerated & Frozen Foods catches up with Palermo Villa to see how the company has grown since it was named our 2016 Frozen Foods Processor of the Year, and learn more about its latest pizza innovations for the freezer aisle in 2020.

See what best practices companies like Hormel, KanPak, and A M King have implemented to improve sustainability and achieve real results.

In this exclusive excerpt from Refrigerated & Frozen Foods’ From the Cold Corner podcast, Lowell Randel from the GCCA details how the cold chain pivoted to meet retail demands and protect workers during the crucial early days of COVID-19.

Editor-in-Chief Michael Costa details the cold chain's historic disruption and opportunities created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frozen food sales rose significantly the final week of April, according to new research by the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), 210 Analytics, and IRI. The +50.3% increase was the highest since the height of mid-March stockpiling by consumers, when frozen food sales peaked at +94.4% compared to 2019 sales for the same time period. The +50.3% increase translates to $1.3 billion compared to $442 million in 2019.

This week on our From the Cold Corner podcast, I talk washdown motors for food processing with Regal Beloit’s John Calloway. We also discuss how the IoT (Internet of Things) is creating new efficiencies for motors, and how Regal Beloit is pivoting its business strategy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

I read the recent quarterly reports from Tyson and Sysco (Q2, and Q3, respectively) and both reflect the deep impact of restaurant, hotel, catering and other volume foodservice shutdowns on each of their businesses (and by extension, the cold foods supply chain) due to COVID-19. Here are my thoughts on the future of foodservice and what companies along the cold chain can do prepare for it. 

This week on our From the Cold Corner podcast, I spoke with Josh Knott, president of the Refrigerated Foods Association (RFA) and Knott's Fine Foods in Paris, Tennessee. We discussed worker safety, supply chain slowdowns due to COVID-19 precautions, and how panic buying and fear of perceived food shortages by consumers can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The adage, "shoot for the moon and you'll still land among the stars" comes to mind when assessing frozen food sales since early March. The rocket launch of consumer stockpiling created astronomical sales figures that were impossible to sustain, but now that buying has leveled off, the year-over-year numbers look like they'll be hovering around +30% over 2019 sales for weeks to come, if not the rest of 2020, according to new data from the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and 210 Analytics. That means the meteoric sales arc created by panic buying in March has a long way to go before it comes down to normal levels.