RealCold Acquires Forte Frozen to Strengthen National Cold Chain Footprint

LAKELAND, Fla. and LOCKHART, Texas, Dec. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- RealCold, a Florida-based cold storage provider, announced that it has acquired Forte Frozen ("Forte"), a leader in national temperature-controlled warehousing and fulfillment services. The transaction, which closed today, gives RealCold five currently operational, high-throughput facilities in strategic markets including Dallas, Texas; Ormond Beach, Florida; Clearfield, Utah; Clackamas, Oregon; and Colton, California.

This announcement follows RealCold's October announcement that the company acquired 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.

In addition to the facilities in Texas, Florida, Utah, Oregon, and California, RealCold will leverage Forte's best-in-class operating platform, which is comprised of traditional cold storage and transportation services, as well as industry-leading, high touch, fulfillment activities including direct-to-consumer ("DTC"). Furthermore, Forte's team, in total, are now 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 slated to open in early 2025, RealCold have will 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.

About RealCold
Established in 2022, RealCold was founded to address the unmet needs of the food cold chain sector. By combining high-growth strategic locations, state-of-the-art Class A facilities, and a diverse offering of value added services, the company has positioned itself as a collaborative and integrated provider for food retailers, producers, and distributors. This mission is reinforced through its highly bespoke solutioning and customer-centric approach. The RealCold platform will ultimately operate a national, multi-channel network providing 1 or 2 day ground service for the majority of U.S. consumers. For more information on RealCold, please visit www.realcold.com.

About Forte Frozen
Denton, Texas based Forte Frozen was established in 2017 by Dan Forte. The company has become a trusted name in the cold-storage sector due to its emphasis on direct-to-consumer and e-commerce order fulfillment. The company's warehouse network spans the US, from Ormond Beach Florida to Colton, California.

SOURCE RealCold