Formally expanding the reach of its operations in Florida, Burris Refrigerated Logistics celebrated the grand opening of its newest warehouse in Orlando on February 15, 2002. The new location near the Orlando International Airport gives the company a total of 13 facilities along the East Coast with five of them in Florida.
Burris Refrigerated Logistics is one of three food warehousing and distribution businesses held by Burris Foods Inc of Milford, Delaware. The family-owned corporation also operates Burris Retail Food Logistics and Glacier Refrigerated Express. In addition, Burris Refrigerated Express provides transportation services from Burris facilities to retail customers in the Mid-Atlantic region. Glacier Refrigerated Express provides transportation for Burris Refrigerated Logistics and general refrigerated trucking throughout the Eastern US.
Burris Foods was founded in the 1920s to deliver fresh bread from Philadelphia to customers in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula. Three generations of the Burris family, the third through the fifth, are still active in the business. Now, one of the largest refrigerated logistics providers on the East Coast, Burris has more than 30 million cubic feet of warehousing ranging from Pennsylvania to Florida. Each of the 13 warehouses in the network was designed from the beginning for expansion. Depending on the location, expansion potential ranges from 50% to more than 100%.
Purchased Florida facilities
The Burris move into Florida began in early 2001 with the purchase of five facilities from South Atlantic Cold Storage, a public refrigerated warehousing company. Purchasing existing facilities gave Burris the option of beginning work on the first day of ownership. At approximately the same time, work began to replace the two facilities in Orlando with one new warehouse. According to Frank Nardi, facility manager, work on the new warehouse was completed in 20 weeks and two days, an extremely short building schedule.
The new warehouse totals 210,000 sq ft with 176,340 of that in four refrigerated rooms. The building is served by 23 shipping and receiving doors. Ceiling height throughout the warehouse and dock is 42 ft, which gives Burris storage capacity for 24,000 pallets. Building construction is insulated metal panels and includes a sprinkler system throughout. The facility is designed to include blast freezing in the future.
Operation in the new Orlando warehouse began on August 22, 2001 with the shipping of the first load. B J's Wholesale Club is the anchor client for the new warehouse, which provides dedicated distribution throughout the Southeast. Services for B J's include purchasing, order selection, and store door delivery for a full range of frozen and refrigerated products. For that operation, Burris owns some of the merchandise, while other portions are consigned to the warehouse by vendors. At present, Burris serves 24 B J's Wholesale Club stores from Orlando.
Supply three ice cream routes
In addition, the warehouse serves three routes for Edy's Grand Ice Cream. Store orders are picked from the -20° F ice cream room and shipped to distribution points where they are cross-docked to wholesale route trucks.
Running the warehouse for 16 hours a day, six days a week requires a staff of 70 employees. It is presently operating at roughly 30% of design capacity and is expected to be fully utilized by September 2002.
A fleet of 10 tractors and 24 refrigerated trailers is assigned to Orlando. Delivery routes range from Charlotte, North Carolina, on the northern edge of the trade area to Miami in the south. Most outbound loads require more than one stop with the maximum number set at five. Burris attempts to keep the fleet loaded at all times, seeking backhauls to Orlando and providing truckload refrigerated service for third party shippers and receivers.
Orlando now is the third largest facility in the Burris network. The largest was built in 1973 in Harrington, Delaware, and was last expanded in 1995. Harrington has eight million cubic feet of refrigerated space with the capacity to handle 39,325 pallet positions. It can load seven trucks simultaneously at its refrigerated dock.
The smallest warehouse is among the five purchased in Florida. Located in Jacksonville, Florida, it covers 50,802 sq ft and can hold 4,394 pallets. The smallest facility by Burris was constructed in Benson, North Carolina in 1997. It has 129,127 total sq ft with 118,448 sq ft of refrigerated space. It has a blast freezer and capacity for 15,384 pallet positions. Storage rooms in Benson have 43-ft ceilings, and the dock with its 24 doors has a 25-ft ceiling. Most of the warehouses in the Burris Refrigerated Logistics network are more nearly the size of Benson than the size of Harrington.
