It’s Not Enough to Sell at Your Storefront! You Need to Sell Chilled and Frozen Food Products Nationwide to Boost Your Sales

Sep 06, 2021
In an age when selling at your storefront and selling online within your province isn’t enough for your business to grow anymore, expanding your delivery range is a good way to expand your business. In the past, delivering food meant trying to get the food into customers’ hands within 30 minutes, so the food would still be hot. However, when you’re delivering across provinces, or even regions, which can take several days, frozen food is currently an interesting sales method.
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Why You Should Sell Chilled and Frozen Food

Other than the increase in sales opportunities and the boost in online and social media sales, today’s delivery companies are also equipped for delivering chilled and frozen products for small businesses. In the past, only business-to-business deliveries were available, and the products were put in foam boxes with ice and delivered only by regular delivery vehicles. In addition, packaging technology and refrigerated vehicles are better than ever before.



Let’s Take a Look at 5 Delivery Companies Offering Delivery Services for Chilled and Frozen Products

1. SCG Express has a service called “Cool TA-Q-BIN” for delivering packages requiring temperature control such as fresh produce, seafood and fruit. The temperature inside the packages is controlled to be at the suitable range from source to destination. There are two types of temperature-controlled delivery services as follows:
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- Chilled delivery service is for products that need to be delivered at a temperature range of 0-8 °C.
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- Frozen delivery service is for frozen products with a temperature of lower than -15 °C.
The company offers delivery services to 70 provinces all over Thailand. It can support chilled and frozen packages with a size not exceeding 120 cm (in width, length and height) and a weight not exceeding 25 kg/package. Packages are picked up on Monday-Friday and require an advance notification of one day. Delivery fees start at 130-450 baht/package. Products must be chilled for no less than six hours and frozen for no less than 12 hours before delivery.

2. FedEx offers delivery services for chilled and frozen products and easily perishable medical products in a temperature-controlled and secure environment. Several delivery options, in regard to the temperature range, are offered as follows:
-    +4°C to +25°C: The container has a C-Safe compressor (+4°C to +25°C) which will stabilize the internal temperature without the use of dry ice.
- -20°C to -25°C: The container uses dry ice to maintain the delivery temperature in the specified range and the temperature is monitored from the pickup time to delivery time.
-    FedEx® Deep Frozen Shipping Solution utilizes dry vapor technology to maintain the temperature at -150°C for up to ten days without the need to use coolers and dry ice.
For FedEX delivery details click.
 
3.  INTER EXPRESS LOGISTICS has been offering temperature-controlled delivery services for over 26 years. They deliver essential medical supplies and equipment, vaccines and medicines that need to be stored at certain temperatures to every area and province nationwide. You can choose the product package temperature ranges as follows:
- Chilled (2°C - 8°C)
- Frozen (lower than -15°C)
They deliver products in foam and paper boxes in temperature-controlled vehicles to every province in Thailand. (Extra fees are required for some remote locations.) Service fees start from 70 to 720 baht, depending on the size and type of packages.

4.  JWD Express offers delivery services for chilled products at the temperature of 0°C - 8°C and frozen products at temperatures lower than -15°C. They use enclosed vehicles and cool boxes to control the temperature and cover 73 provinces. Note: JWD Express is currently working with Thailand Post Co., Ltd. and Flash Express Co., Ltd. and plans to change its name to Fuze Post which will initially offer services in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region and provinces along 6 routes as off 1 September 2021. (Click to view their current delivery routes.)
5.  NiM Express offers cold-chain delivery services. You can choose to deliver chilled or frozen products. They use special temperature-controlled refrigerated delivery vehicles that make door-to-door deliveries. In addition, they offer next-day temperature-controlled delivery services. You can choose from two delivery options as follows:
- Chilled (0°C - 8°C): The products must be maintained at 0°C - 8°C for at least six hours before shipping.
- Frozen (lower than -15°C): The products must be maintained at temperatures lower than -15°C for at least fifteen hours before shipping.
The package’s weight must not exceed 30 kg and the length of the longest side must not exceed 55 cm. Or, if the package is personally dropped off at a branch, the package can weight up to 40 kg. The service fees start at 100-480 baht, depending on the location and package weight.
 

Techniques for Packaging Chilled and Frozen Food

1.  Choose suitable food packaging. You should choose lidded plastic boxes that close tightly to keep out moisture due to the freezing and delivery processes. Otherwise, use plastic vacuum bags to prevent the growth of bacteria and extend the food’s shelf life. You should choose packages that can withstand the temperature range between -15°C and -30°C. The plastic boxes and plastic vacuum bags should be resistant to bumping and tearing to a degree. In addition, for the convenience of customers, the boxes should be microwaveable in case the customers want to heat up the food.
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2. Freeze the food and fresh produce for at least twelve hours at temperatures lower than -18°C. Although the normal temperature of refrigerators’ freezers is around -18°C, in reality the opening of the refrigerator door from the normal day-to-day use can make the temperature insufficient for freezing. Moreover, the space in a regular refrigerator’s freezer is insufficient for storing dozens of boxes. Therefore, investing in buying a freezer is an appropriate solution. Freezers can maintain a temperature range of -25°C to -30°C and the price range is 5,000 – 20,000 baht, depending on the size. (Click here for information on freezers.) As for regular chilled food products, you should refrigerate them to lower their temperature to 0°C to 8°C for at least six hours before shipping.
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3.  Package the food in a foam or paper box. Using foam packaging will help maintain the temperature for longer and nowadays paper cooler boxes are becoming more popular, especially with delivery companies because they are lighter in weight and can maintain temperature just as well as foam boxes. Otherwise, you could choose insulated paper boxes specially designed to maintain temperature.
 
As for foam boxes, if it’s necessary to use a cooling agent, such as ice or gel packs, the cooling agent should be placed inside a container or bag and sealed to prevent the liquid from reaching the food once the ice is melted. In addition, the food package containing the sealed bag should be placed in another bag and sealed. Once the frozen food is placed in a foam box, close the lid and seal the seams with paper tape or packing tape before shipping and check with the delivery company first to see if they can deliver chilled products in foam boxes.
Many delivery companies offer their own temperature-control packaging for customers. You can just choose to use the delivery company’s packaging because they can deliver those more easily and they usually have insurance in case of damages to the products inside as long as their packaging is used and the proper steps are followed.
4. You should provide the proper methods for thawing and heating the frozen food. You should specify every proper method for heating up the food clearly, whether it’s heating it up in the microwave or using other heating methods. Sometimes customers don’t buy the food for eating right away, so you should also specify freezing methods for after they receive the products. Furthermore, warn your customers that the food shouldn’t be frozen again after it’s been thawed because it could be contaminated by bacteria which can make the food spoil faster. You can provide all of this information in a pamphlet placed in a watertight plastic bag and sent with the products or specify it on your restaurant’s social media page.
 
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