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 Inland Cold Storage started operating its first cold storage warehouse facility 26 years ago in Riverside, California. Founder William “Bill” Hendricksen opened the doors in 1979 with the initial development of a 47,250-square foot cold storage building.
The primary focus of the company at that time was to contract with caterers in the airline industry to store and distribute frozen and refrigerated foods to their airport kitchens in 11 western states. The original facility was doubled in size to 93,250 square feet by the end of the second year.
The business strategy was changed to cold storage in 1981 to accommodate a growing demand for commercial storage in the rapidly expanding Southern California market place. The company opened its first freezer facility in Ontario, California in 1982, again doubling the size of the Company with the 94,000 square foot freezer building. This facility was specifically designed for cold storage users such as frozen food processors/manufacturers, growers, and local and national retail chains. The Ontario complex was expanded three additional times in the mid 1980’s, bringing the total to more than 500,000 square feet of cold storage warehousing capacity. The complex was sold to United Refrigerated Services in 1987.
Meanwhile, at the original site in Riverside, the Company continued its operations and expanded again with the development of a 74,000-square foot freezer facility on an adjacent lot. The expansion was opened with the original business concept of supporting the frozen and refrigerated inventories of the retail grocery industry in Southern California. The foresight of this location is evident as ICS is now within eight miles of the frozen distribution centers of Ralphs Grocery Co. (Kroger), Vons (Safeway), and Stater Bros. Markets.
The growth of the Company continued in 1999 with the purchase of an additional 18 acres of land adjacent to the existing facilities in Riverside. A freezer expansion totaling 293,000 square feet of convertible frozen / refrigerated space was completed in 2001.
In 2002 ICS developed and opened a new 135,000-square foot frozen/refrigerated warehouse in Vernon (Los Angeles), California. The purpose of this expansion was to better service the Company’s foodservice customer base.
In 2004 ICS opened its first dry warehouse in Fontana, California. The facility totals more than 300,000 square feet and is contracted with a major retailer for warehousing and distribution services. Also in 2004, ICS acquired the frozen food distribution center of Specialty Brands, Inc. The 85,000-square foot frozen food warehouse facility is located in Rialto, California.
Today, ICS is focused on being the best regional operator of temperature controlled and dry warehouse space in the Southern California market place. Currently, ICS operates seven strategically located Southern California facilities with more than 34 million cubic feet of storage capacity, and employs over 400 team members.
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