RealCold, a Florida-based cold storage provider, recently acquired Forte Frozen, which offers national temperature-controlled warehousing and fulfillment services.
The transaction gives RealCold five currently operational, high-throughput facilities in strategic markets, including Dallas, Texas; Ormond Beach, Florida; Clearfield, Utah; Clackamas, Oregon; and Colton, California, the company reported.
“We are thrilled to welcome the talented Forte team to RealCold,” RealCold CEO Keith Goldsmith said in a news release. “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.”
This most recent development follows RealCold’s October purchase of 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, RealCold said.
In addition to the facilities in Texas, Florida, Utah, Oregon, and California, RealCold will leverage Forte’s operating platform, which is comprised of traditional cold storage and transportation services, as well as high-touch fulfillment activities like direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping. Furthermore, all Forte team members now are RealCold employees.
“RealCold and Forte Frozen have a shared vision of what cold storage can look like in the future,” said Dan Forte, Forte Frozen CEO. “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 collaborative design process that produces custom and highly flexible cold storage solutions, regardless of complexity, RealCold said. 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 slated to open in early 2025, RealCold have will have over 54 million cu. ft. of warehouse space, which can reach 77% of the U.S population in two days or less with ground parcel delivery.
