Americold

AmeriCold Logistics LLC is a major temperature controlled warehousing and transportation company based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is in the business of modern commercialized temperature-controlled warehousing for the storage of perishable goods, one of the forms of Food Preservation.

When food preservation using ice became commercialized, cold storage companies began to appear. Ice was farmed from lakes during the winter, and stored, surrounded by straw to insulate it, so that it could be used well into early summer. Ice houses and ice warehouses began to appear and sold blocks of ice for domestic and commercial use. Then in 1922, Clarence Birdseye founded the modern frozen food industry, by pioneering fast freezing (now called blast freezing), based on learning the benefits of low temperature freezing of fish practiced by the Inuit in Arctic regions.

Americold's history began in the early 20th century, around the time of the first ice and coal companies. Americold came from mergers and acquisitions involving Atlanta Ice and Coal Company, Atlanta City Brewing Company (later known as Atlanta Brewing and Ice Company,) Versacold, Munford, Jackson Atlantic, United Refrigerated Services, Atlas Cold Storage (formerly known as Georgia Freezer), and others.

In 1903, entrepreneur Ernest Woodruff merged three cold storage warehouses to form Atlantic Ice and Coal Company. Later, Woodruff bought and ran the Coca Cola Company, among other projects and businesses.

In 1935, Atlantic Ice & Coal Company changed names to Atlantic Company and began to expand into a variety of different businesses, including cold storage and beer production, the latter contributing up to 50% of the company's revenues at its peak.

Atlantic Company diversified into ice convenience store development under the name EZ stores, before household refrigerators were commonplace. It also ran a fast food operation called Wishbone Fried Chicken.

Atlantic Company merged with Munford Do it Yourself stores and became Atlantic-Munford, rapidly developing its convenience store growth.

The company then merged with Jackson Minit Market and Handy Andy, and was renamed Jackson Atlantic, growing to 40 warehouses in the USA. It was one of the largest warehouse networks at that time. The company went public in 1968 and a few years later merged with United Refrigerated Services. The company then set out to develop the USA’s most comprehensive cold storage network.

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