Had a family member approach me about getting into mobile refrigeration over the weekend. Interesting industry that I don't have much experience in and wanted to reach out here to see what made sense.

Does anyone on the OB own / run refrigeration trucks / units?
Is it better to buy a refrigeration truck already or retrofit a regular box truck?

Other things to think about? I have about a day's worth of research so far in regards to costs and what not, but wanted to see if there were any other opinions out there.


Thanks!

Are you talking as a motor carrier or renting out pull behind trailer refers like this?

What's the customer for something like this? I know the Brazos Valley Food Bank had some rented trailers for a while when they were moving into their new space.

There's got to be a huge surplus of refer trailers after the covid morgue overflow crisis.

Are you going to contract deliver…rent units…or what?

I would buy a unit that is already done vs retro-fitting. To retro-fit, you will have to buy the reefer, modify the box for it, etc, etc. You will have to find one with a metal floor. Lots of aggravation.

this is an option, the first thought was doing just full trucks

he owns a restaurant and the idea was to do something like catering / big order delivery because he gets alot of that already and just takes the orders in his truck. they dont always arrive cold for the consumer and has gotten some negative feedback on that.

he also had the idea of renting out reefer units to other restaurants when power goes out or their walk-in goes out. which is pretty common according to him


i spoke to several folks today and i came to the same conclusion - buying one already is the way to go so thank you for confirming that!